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What are some of your favorite differences within languages?


ollie

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For example, Spanish spoken in Mexico and Spain. French in Canada and France. Or English in America and Australia and England.

My favorite in English is the word "hospital." I'm always used to saying things like "I am at the hospital, I am going to the hospital." But anyone I've spoken to who is from England drops the "the." "I am going to hospital, I am at hospital."

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Throughout my childhood, I was exposed to four different languages at a time: Hebrew, English, Spanish, and French. The most common being Hebrew and English.

My favorite differences between Hebrew and English is the concept of demand. In English, when you want to turn off or close an object, you would refer to it as so:

"Turn off the lights" and "Close the blinds".

But in Hebrew, it's the opposite. If translated it would be:

"Turn off the blinds" and "Close the light".

I've been 'corrected' many times by friends. But it's a habit that's stuck with me -and my family- forever. Haha.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I don't know about differences in two different languages but I think the differences in English throughout the United States are adorable. My boyfriend is from western North Carolina and instead of saying "it's raining" he says "it's putting down the rain." Then there's the "pop", "soda", and "coke" debate that never gets old!

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In Spanish, there are dialects for each country. The majority of the language is the same, but there are certain words that do not have the same meaning depending where you are from.

Example, In Puerto Rico, we say "ahora" for right now, "ahorita or horita" for later on.

In Mexico, "ahorita" means right now.

In some Latin countries. they say "mirar" for watch, others say, "ver" for watch.

There are other words, but those are two that are very different and depending on who you are speaking with and what country they are from, there lies the meaning.

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  • 2 months later...

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