OT: Spanish syntax

[Wilson Gray]

I lean toward Larry's analysis, given that the translation is from
English to Spanish and, way back when, English-speaking business had
no particular motivation to advertise for Spanish-speaking customers.
If they, by chance, had a Spanish-speaker on staff, they might have
him put up a sign, "[Aquí] se habla español."

Nowadays, businesses make an effort to have Spanish-speaking staff,
who may not be native-speakers or who may be second-generation
speakers heavily influenced by English.

On De Zeedijk in Amsterdam, I once saw a sign that read, in the Danish
equivalent, "Danish spoken here." I shouldn't have found that
surprising, but I did. Probably since it was the only such sign that I
ever saw in "The Dam," as it was known to black GI's. It was one of
the Big Three, the other two being "The Cope" and "The Stock."

-Wilson

On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 7:38 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
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>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>
> Subject:      Re: OT: Spanish syntax
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> At 2:45 PM -0500 4/7/08, Scot LaFaive wrote:
>  >Is that "Spanish is spoken here" vs. "We speak Spanish"?
>  >
>  >Maybe they wish to be more personal now.
>  >
>  >Scot
>
>  Or it may be influence from English, code
>  switching and all that.  Wonder if the same
>  switch occurs in French (On parle français ==>
>  Nous parlons français).  After all, "Se habla
>  español" and "On parle français" do not literally
>  work when directly anglicized.
>
>  LH
>
>
>  >
>  >On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 2:34 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>  >>  ---------------------- Information from the
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>  >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  >>  Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>  >>  Subject:      OT: Spanish syntax
>  >>
>  >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  >>
>  >>  Back in the day, notices read:
>  >>
>  >>  "Se habla español."
>  >>
>  >>
>  >>  Nowadays, they read:
>  >>
>  >>  "Hablamos español."
>  >>
>  >>
>
> >>  -Wilson
>  >>  --
>  >>  All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>  >>  come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>  >>  -----
>  >>   -Sam'l Clemens
>  >>
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
 -Sam'l Clemens

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org