Languages always evolve, that’s nothing to be afraid of. During the middle ages everbody in France thought they spoke latin until they discovered, after some research under Charlemange, that they spoke French instead.
(As a Swedish speaker I want “smorgasbord” and “ombudsman” back…)
It isn’t so much that languages change, as that it seems every language is being flooded specifically by ugly English loanwords. I said it was unrealistic, I’m just a sucker for the unique character and charm of a foreign language , and my heart sighs a little when I look up, say “information “ and find the translation is “informasjon” instead of something like “batam-kek”…
“information” & “informasjon” come from latin, it’s not a loanword.
At what point should all languages be freezed?
Emytologi of “information” (from Wiktionary):
From Middle English informacion , enformacion , borrowed from Anglo-Norman informacioun , enformation , Old French information , from Latin īnfōrmātiō (“formation, conception; education”), from the participle stem of īnformāre (“to inform”).
A Latin loan word, if you will…
Taking this opportunity to recommend the book Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by RF Kuang-- it’s about languages and the difference between them and how they overlap and change, all in a fantasy alternate history of Oxford in the 19th century. I highly recommend it.
I knew “information” was a bad example, so I shouldn’t have said anything, and I’m aware that Latin is the root of perhaps the majority of the English words I’m referring to. It was more of a whimsical rant, it wasn’t meant to be a crusade against inevitable factors of language change!
No backsies!
I want “backsies” for Flemish! Gimme!
The need for “localization” (note my use of “z” rather than an “s”!) in IF is an interesting topic. I would never expect Americanized captions in film or TV, or an Americanized version of a novel. Parser IF’s need for text input makes it unique, which I have never really thought about.
Also, don’t do what Jigsaw did and have a room with clearly-marked exits…that’s got a vital clue hidden in its customized “you can’t go that way” message!
Thankfully I don’t think anyone does that any more.