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I'm curious if other languages have similar issues. Does French suffer from too many metaphors, or Russian from euphemisms? The relationship between party slog

by enkid 4y ago

I'm curious if other languages have similar issues. Does French suffer from too many metaphors, or Russian from euphemisms? The relationship between party slogans and Chinese always seems interesting and seems to often be an attempt to lean into such a phenomenon. Phrases like "let 100 flowers bloom," "the people's democratic dictatorship," "the Chinese dream," "the five pests," "socialism with Chinese characteristics," suggests to me that indirect use of language and euphemisms are rampant, though that seemed common in the USSR as well. I wonder if it's a byproduct of the political system, the language, or just the way these phrases are translated.

wongarsu 4y ago
German government speak suffers from turning all verbs into nouns and the overuse of compound words (traffic light in regular German is "Ampel", in government German it's "Lichtsignalanlage" - light signal installation). If anything there's an underuse of metaphors, to the point that excessive clarity starts obfuscating the intent because it forms its own dialect. Meanwhile corporate German is very different, and notable for the use of English or pseudo-English words where perfectly good German words exist. And of course an unhealthy dose of euphemisms. Regular German probably tends more to understatement (the highest praise is "there's nothing to complain about")
- jraph 4y ago
  > traffic light in regular German is "Ampel", in government German it's "Lichtsignalanlage" - light signal installation Ampel is so boring though! It makes me think of people I met at a conference doing research on vertical people transportation. In other words, lifts, or elevators.
jraph 4y ago
> I'm curious if other languages have similar issues French does indeed. For instance, the government and the corporate world love to use vocabulary to downplay situations. Like "mouvement social" (social movement) for "grève" (strike). It's like people are moving a bit, like they are dancing. It's cute. Or "restructuration" for "massive layoffs". Newspeak is all over the place. Like the sibling commenter says about Germany, "an unhealthy dose of euphemisms". We also have all the faux English startup vocabulary that makes things feel much more extraordinary than they are, or positive when they are not particularly so. In part to make France look cool internationally probably ("French Tech" [1] - "technologies françaises" sounds boring I guess). There are also tricks you can use to make things feel less acceptable, like saying "charge sociale" (social benefits charge, feels like social burden) for "cotisation sociale" (social security contribution). [1] https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Tech https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Tech (this logo, yikes)
denton-scratch 4y ago
All imperialists are paper tigers.

by enkid 4y ago

wongarsu 4y ago

German government speak suffers from turning all verbs into nouns and the overuse of compound words (traffic light in regular German is "Ampel", in government German it's "Lichtsignalanlage" - light signal installation). If anything there's an underuse of metaphors, to the point that excessive clarity starts obfuscating the intent because it forms its own dialect. Meanwhile corporate German is very different, and notable for the use of English or pseudo-English words where perfectly good German words exist. And of course an unhealthy dose of euphemisms. Regular German probably tends more to understatement (the highest praise is "there's nothing to complain about")

jraph 4y ago
> traffic light in regular German is "Ampel", in government German it's "Lichtsignalanlage" - light signal installation Ampel is so boring though! It makes me think of people I met at a conference doing research on vertical people transportation. In other words, lifts, or elevators.

jraph 4y ago

> I'm curious if other languages have similar issues French does indeed. For instance, the government and the corporate world love to use vocabulary to downplay situations. Like "mouvement social" (social movement) for "grève" (strike). It's like people are moving a bit, like they are dancing. It's cute. Or "restructuration" for "massive layoffs". Newspeak is all over the place. Like the sibling commenter says about Germany, "an unhealthy dose of euphemisms". We also have all the faux English startup vocabulary that makes things feel much more extraordinary than they are, or positive when they are not particularly so. In part to make France look cool internationally probably ("French Tech" [1] - "technologies françaises" sounds boring I guess). There are also tricks you can use to make things feel less acceptable, like saying "charge sociale" (social benefits charge, feels like social burden) for "cotisation sociale" (social security contribution). [1] https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Tech https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Tech (this logo, yikes)

denton-scratch 4y ago

All imperialists are paper tigers.