Anglicism

An anglicism is a word or construction borrowed from English by another language. With the rise in Anglophone media and the global spread of British and US colonialism in the 20th century and cultures in the 21st century, many English terms have become widespread in other languages. Technology-related English words like internet and computer are prevalent across the globe, as there are no pre-existing words for them. English words are sometimes imported verbatim and sometimes adapted to the importing language in a process similar to anglicisation. In languages with non-Latin alphabets, these borrowed words can be written in the Latin alphabet anyway, resulting in a text made up of a mixture of scripts; other times they are transliterated. Transliteration of English and other foreign words into Japanese generally uses the katakana script.

In some countries, such anglicisation is seen as relatively benign, and the use of English words may even take on a chic aspect. In Japan, marketing products for the domestic market often involves using English or pseudo-English brand names and slogans. In other countries, anglicisation is seen much more negatively, and there are efforts by public-interest groups and governments to reverse the trend. It is also important to note that while the word anglicism is rooted in the word English, the process does not necessarily denote anglicisms from England. It can also involve terms or words from all varieties of English so that it becomes necessary to use the term Americanism for the loan words originating from the United States.[1]

  1. ^ Fischer, Roswitha (2010). Anglicisms in Europe: Linguistic Diversity in a Global Context. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 8. ISBN 9781443825184.