Foreignism
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A foreignism is a word or expression which has found its way into one or more other languages. It differs from a loanword in that it is usually deemed “unwanted” by many linguists of the language which it has entered. A foreignism often occurs as a term in a specific category, such as cooking, sports, or business. The reason it is usually considered “unwanted” is that it is frequently misused or overused by the layperson, thereby creating more confusion for others who speak that particular language. But not all foreignisms are bad. In fact, some words which come from other languages are not foreignisms at all, but colourful expressions which express that which would be more difficult if one were to use the words already in his/her language. In this way, the so-called “foreignism” can be rather useful. Moreover, once it has caught on (i.e., when enough people start using it), it ceases to be called a “foreignism” and is considered to be "naturalised". This means that the term has been officially “adopted” by that language and is now part of the native vocabulary. Oftentimes, a foreign term will be borrowed by another language which lacked a way to say it. The English language has probably more foreignisms than any other language in the world. Almost every major world language has contributed one or more expressions to English. When an English expression enters another language it is often called an Anglicism. But the real main advantage of foreignisms is that those who know them are that much closer to knowing and using a foreign language, thereby creating more of a “global understanding”.
[edit] See Also
- English language
- foreign language
- language
- loanword
