this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2025
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Pretentious in the opposite direction, though maybe that's to be expected coming from someone trained in Latin grammar but not linguistics.
English is just as intelligible as any other natural human language is, and all languages borrow (including Latin!). English stands out a bit for its high rate of borrowing compared to other languages, but, again, this behavior is completely normal and there are a number of languages with even higher rates of borrowings than English has.
Out of curiosity, what are some examples?
A few notable examples that come to mind are Armenian (>90% borrowings from being ruled by speakers of multiple Iranian languages for over 1,000 years, to the point that it was even classified as Iranian until it was finally proven to be its own branch of Indo-European) and Romani, which has borrowings from tons of different languages and families. Lots of East Asian languages have tons of borrowings from Chinese, but they don't often quite reach the percentages of English (>75% borrowings).
Interesting, thanks!
All of them. Youd be shocked how many languages dont have a word for "privacy". They have words that are close, or represent part of the meaning, but not the whole meaning. So require a separate word to complete the meaning.
French has Vie privee "Private Life".
German has Privatesphare "Private Sphere".
Spanish has Privacidad which is pretty close, but also seen as a loaned word.
Italians just straight up took the English word "privacy".
Russian has Chastnaya Zhizn "Private life"
Japan has Puraibashi, again borrowed, they have no direct translation.
China has Yinsi "Hidden Personal Matters"
Arabic has Khususiyyah "Specialness" or "Particularity" which has been adapted to mean privacy in modern use.
The English idea of privacy, combining physical space, personal autonomy, and freedom from intrusion, is relatively culturally distinct.
puraibashi is one hell of a cognate