do other countries use words like we do in the US, like how we say hola or oui?

Question

i was wondering, because when we speak english, sometimes we use little words from other countried, the german no, the sppanish yes, the french me...do any other countries do that, except with english?? or am i just the only one in the world who uses other languages when i talk in english?

im american and say i went up to a freind and said, bonjour, como estas? (hello, how are you). that's what i mean. i dont mean originations or anything like that, i mean do they use our words like we sometimes use theirs???

Answer 1

All languages in the world have borrowed words from other languages. This is the process in its earliest stages--when we purposely use a foreign word, either because we don't have the word in our own language, or because the foreign word just sounds cool. Eventually, if the word is used long enough, the sounds of the word are adapted to our own sound system. Other changes eventually take place so that it becomes increasingly difficult to tell that the word was borrowed in centuries past. Words such as copper and mile look and sound just like ancient English words, but they were borrowed from Greek and Latin about 2000 years ago. ALL languages borrow words from other languages. My girlfriend's daughters speak Russian and Ukrainian natively, but they answer the phone with "Allo". The word for "yes" in Ukrainian is borrowed from Polish. The word for "thank you" in Kiowa is borrowed from Comanche. This is a very common process in all the world's languages.

EDIT: I knew exactly what you meant and answered your question "yes". This is part of a common, massive, world-wide process.

Answer 2

Among the (many many) ways in which the German spoken in Switzerland is different from standard German are all the borrowings from French and Italian.

English German Swiss
bicycle Fahrrad Velo (French)
chicken Hahnchen Poulet (French)

There's a bunch more but they're not coming to mind.

Answer 3

I got to tell you I am from Puerto Rico and here we use a lot of words from different countries, but more from English language and from Arabic we used in Spanish we used the words:
Ok- "Esta todo bien"
sandwich- instead of "emparedado" (we don't use the Spanish word like other countries)
hamburger- (we don't use "hamburgesa" like other countries)
Closet ("armario" we don't use it and this word world came from Arabic language)
ciao- instead of goodbye
Also there are another words we used from French, Arabic and more!
You are not the only one look at us we speak Spanglish most of the time! :) Just kidding we speak Spanish with a lot of words in English, good luck in your reseach!

Answer 4

Dutch borrows from English, French and German. Also from arab (algebra alcohol alkoof almanak divan karaf koffie )
Some dutch words have been introduced in Roemanian, Russian and Japanese, a few terms on ships in Spanish.

Answer 5

Yes, of course, we use some foreign-borrowed words to spice up the language or make it funnier:

Some Russian samples:

okeichik - from English "OK"
chao - from Italian "ciao"
bonzhur - from French "bon jour"
banzai - from the same Japanese word
hende hoch - from the same German words

Answer 6

It is absolutely done in other languages. In many parts of the world, English is very trendy, and lots of people slip English words into their slang. This happens with some other langauges as well, but English is the big one.

For example, I had a friend from Iceland who was going to college here in the US. I asked her to teach me a few words in Icelandic, starting with the curse words - and she told me that in Iceland, most people just use English curse words!

In France it is very common to hear English words in conversation. In particular a lot of brand names and item names (like "jeans"), popular culture, and technology words come from English. If you find yourself a copy of the book "Windows on the World" in French (there is an English translation as well) and skim through it you will find loads of English words.

You might be amused to know that in Japan, English words are trendy to have on clothing, just like how in America Japanse kanji is trendy to have on clothing! You can find some of the more amusing examples of English use (and misuse) in Japan on the site www.engrish.com

With the world getting figuratively smaller and smaller with globatlization and technology, more people are exposed to external cultures and languages than ever before. It is natural that languages slowly start to blend together, although I wouldn't expect them to merge completely for quite a long time, if ever.

I hope you find this information useful!

Answer 7

English is probably one of the most 'bastardised' languages there is. Because over the centuries so many different peoples came to the country, every time they came they introduced new words into our language.e.g.french - biscuit, deja vous. We have in our language words from most of the European languages ancient and modern, for instance desert is ancient egyptian, as well as Arabic, Hindu, and many others. new words appear all the time from many different origins. so the answer is yes, all the time.

Answer 8

In Spanish -at least in Latin America- the English expression 'OK' is used a lot.

It has also become very common to use the italian 'ciao' to say good bye.

Also, some expressions in Latin are used, e.g 'modus vivendi'.
.

Answer 9

Okay ya!

Its called being pretentious, - comprende?

ciao!

EDIT:
I knew what you meant Meagn I - Its a shame the rest of the Know-it-alls didnt.

Sayonara (Umm. . . . any chance of 10 points??)