{"id":76488,"date":"2026-11-05T00:01:52","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T23:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speakingo.com\/?p=76488"},"modified":"2026-11-05T00:01:53","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T23:01:53","slug":"anglicisms-language-calques-from-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speakingo.com\/en\/anglicisms-language-calques-from-english\/","title":{"rendered":"Anglicisms – Language Calques from English"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anglicisms and language calques, despite the complaints of some linguists, keep entering Polish and other languages. How can that help us learn English?<\/p>\n

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What are anglicisms and language calques?<\/h2>\n

When we start using a foreign language every day, after some time we may notice something interesting: our first language starts to sound stiff, and we begin using words and expressions that do not sound natural in Polish at all.<\/p>\n

The same happens when we speak a foreign language and make so-called mistakes<\/span>, using expressions that are correct in one language but not in another. These are called language calques (language transfer<\/em>).<\/p>\n

In the case of forms taken from English, these will be called anglicisms, or more broadly, language calques from English.<\/p>\n

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Read also: Multilingualism makes you smarter. (coming soon)<\/small><\/span><\/p>\n

In what situations will we hear anglicisms and language calques from English?<\/h3>\n

Have you recently heard people in an office talking about minutes from meetings? Minutes?!<\/p>\n

Of course, this is a borrowing from the English word minutes<\/em>, meaning notes or a report from a meeting.<\/p>\n

Or perhaps you have heard someone say they kept a stiff upper lip? In English, that does not mean a literal lip at all.<\/p>\n

Of course, this is again a calque from an English idiom, a phrase that should not be translated word for word, keep the stiff upper lip<\/em>, which expresses the ability to stay calm and composed in a difficult situation, or, more positively, to keep one\u2019s dignity and cool under pressure.<\/p>\n

And the crime scene in detective stories? In English we say crime scene<\/em>, and this expression is becoming more and more familiar in translations of TV series.<\/p>\n

\"English
See also: How can you learn English from films? (coming soon)<\/small><\/span><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Are anglicisms, language calques and borrowings from English all the same thing?<\/h3>\n

Borrowings, language calques and anglicisms are part of our everyday language, even if we do not always notice them.<\/p>\n

These terms are similar, but they do not mean exactly the same thing:<\/p>\n