Anyone planning to visit the Old Word must keep in mind the names of people, languages and countries there straight. These terms vary more than you might imagine. One rule that always holds true, though, is that each country name, language, inhabitant name or nationality adjective needs to be capitalized: : Germany, Welshman, Spanish
Deutschland
We begin in beautiful Germany. A German is any citizen of Germany, though what first comes to my mind at least is a German man..There is no special form for a German woman. I always though Gerwoman would be good, but please, this is just a joke. Gerwoman (and the plural Gerwomen) do not exist. We have to use German woman, German girl, German lady, German immigrant and so on. We can avoid any awkwardness by simply using the adjective and saying She is German. Without the a in front of it, German is an adjective and can be used with any noun. German, without the, is the language. And there is no need to say "the German language". German by itself is fine. Johannes speaks German. The plural of German is Germans. The Germans are hard-working.
La Belle France
The name, France, is the same in English and French. The inhabitant is a Frenchman or a Frenchwoman. We need to specify the sex of the person. The language is French. He speaks French. To include all French people (this is an inclusive blog, after all) we need to say: the French. The French (people) are charming but French (the language) is charming.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
The United Kingdom is just that: a united kingdom of four countries: England, Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland or Ulster. Not every citizen of the United Kingdom is English! In fact, it gets a little complicated. A citizen of Great Britain (not including Ireland) is a Briton, or, familiarly, a Brit, the people of Great Britain are the Brtisih and the adjective is British, as in British English or the British banking systemm.
England
The language is obviously English. She speaks English. She speaks English. As with French people, we need to distinguish between an Englishman (all one word) and an Englishwoman. English people are simply the English. For example, The English are punctual. Note that we are using the + adjective to refer to an entire nationality. There are many examples of this construction in Europe: The English, the French, The Dutch (the people of Holland or the Netherlands), The Irish, the Welsh, the Spanish, the Portuguese and the Swiss
Scotland
Scotland ies to the north of England. An inhabitant of Scotland is a Scot, which is eitnrely logical. Mr. Macgregor is a Scot. To specify sex, we use Scotsman and Scotswoman. For example, Fiona is a Scotswoman. The preferred form for the respective adjective is Scottish. For example, The Scottish educational system is better than the English one. But another adjectival form, Scotch, has become synonymous with Scotch whiskey. The best Scotch is House of Lords (I know I'll hear many objections to this statement: What is your favorite Scottish?). You also see Scotch salmon on European menus Scots are supposedly very stingy, so scotch can mean extremely frugal or cheap. . Do not be so scotch!. This, of course, is just a joke with no basis in fact. Another language spoken in Scotland is called Gaelic or Scots Gaelic.
Wales
Charles is the Prince of Wales. Welsh is the adjective and also the name of a Celtic language spoken in Wales in addition to English. Not all Welsh people speak Welsh. The Welsh team won the championship. To refer to individuals, we need to specify sex once again. He is Welshman, but she is a Welshwoman. The Welsh are the Welsh people.
Ireland
The adjective is Irish. For example, He likes Irish whiskey. There are Irishmen and Irishwomen.The Irish are the Irish people. The official language of Ireland, spoken by a minority of Irish, is called Irish. For example, He learned Irish at school.
España es diferente
This beautiful country is called Spain in English. The adjective is Spanish. Spanish whiskey is great. Spnaish whiskey is great. The language is Spanish. Do you speak Spanish? A Spanish, however, is a Spaniard. King Juan Carlos is a Spaniard. Queen Sofia is a Spaniard. But we can also use the adjective in these cases: King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia are Spanish.
Portugal
Brazil's brother country and gentle mother. The English name is also Portugal, but it is pronounced POR chu gal. When unstressed tu normally becomes tchu, and that is precisely what happens here. The language is Portuguese, which is also the adjective. She speaks Portuguese. He loves Portuguese wines. We can say he is a Portuguese, or She is a Portuguese, but this is rather odd and seldom used. We would normally say He is Portuguese or She is Portuguese (without the a in front of Portuguese).
And now we are ready to go. All aboard, and ...bon voyage!
Postagens
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário