English languages: Webster and the Americanization

by Éléonore Toubin

As a non-native English speaker (French is my first language), I had to go through the arduous process of actually learning Shakespeare’s language from scratch. In school, most of my teachers were trained in the UK (it’s the closest English speaking country, obviously) and spoke British English with a polished British accent. In the face of our complaints (why do we need to learn another language, can’t people just speak French? Well, we will just mime then) they used to…

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When Swedish brands fail in English

by Andrew Hennigan

Swedish is a curious language where a “puss” is a kiss, a “kiss” is a piss and when your friends tell you that you are breaking the “fart” limit they just mean that you are driving too fast. Swedish English is equally interesting and while all adult Swedes speak the language with impressive fluency, they do not always use it the way a native speaker might and sometimes they are careless with unintended meanings or suggestions in their brand names….

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Are all the good ones in Croatia already taken?

by Maja Benčić

No, I’m not talking about Croatian men. I’m talking about names.   Here in Croatia, we have the same problem as everyone else in the world – it looks like all the good Croatian words have already been used as names, mostly because people still like to use descriptive names and play safe. Also, our law allows us to register names only in Croatian or “dead” languages: Latin and ancient Greek.   As people today no longer use Latin or…

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