The explosion of technology has created the fastest growing language in Europe, according to new research.
Dubbed 'Nerdic', this new way of communicating via tech terms is
separate to English and has become the shared language of Europe,
regardless of its geographical boundaries.
Sound too good to be true? Well it’s not because the dynamic language
is so wide-spread that there’s a good chance that you’re already a
speaker.
According to Pixmania.com, which commissioned the research, 'Nerdic'
may be more widely spoken than any other European dialect, with
everyone from tech-toddlers to Wii-playing grannies embracing the geek
speak of techies.
The researchers analysed the terminology associated with modern
gadgetry and discovered that the three core elements required to define
a new
language: words, phrases and pronunciation are all present in Nerdic.
So much so, that Nerdic is evolving faster than the English language, at a rate of more than 100 new words per year.
From 'dongle' to 'wifi' 100 new words were added to the Nerdic
vocabulary in the past 12 months- over three times more than the Oxford
English Dictionary added to the official English language, with experts
predicting that this figure will more than double in 2008.
Stuart Miles, editor of Pocket-Lint.co.uk, reflected: "Technology has
revolutionised the way we speak. With so many words and phrases being
invented all the time it's created a whole new way of communicating,
especially compared with traditional languages like Welsh & Gaelic
that are dying out.
“Everyone knows what it means 'to google' something, but a foreigner
turning to an English dictionary for an explanation would be baffled.
It's incredible that I can describe an N96 with HSDPA, Wi-Fi with a 5
megapixel Carl Zeiss and GPS and be understood across Europe.”
Nerdic has transcended the English language, with words and phrases
such as 'internet' and 'downloading via 3g datacard' now widely
understood across Europe by non English speakers.
It's widespread across Europe and in France the word 'internet' is
3,000 times popular than the official French translation 'toile
d'araignee mondiale' - despite the French government banning the word.
It's also the chic speak of choice in countries like Spain and Italy,
with words such as 'VoIP' being adopted on the continent before being
recognised by the English language.
Pixmania is so certain that Nerdic has a future that the company has
applied to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to recognise Nerdic as
an official language spoken by Europe's population - over 700 million
people
To help Brits improve their Nerdic, the site has identified the top ten
Nerdic words and phrases they need to look out for in the next year -
and the ten they can forget.
The Nerdic words and phrases to look out for:
1. Wimax- Supersized Wi-Fi will give whole cities internet coverage, Milton Keynes already has it.
2. RickRoll- To intentionally misdirect internet users to a video of
"Never Gonna Give You Up" by 80's one-hit-wonder Rick Astley
3. UGC(user generated content) - The buzz word in the internet right
now. Flickr, Facebook, reader reviews, YouTube all rely on the reader
generating content on the sites.
4. Mashup- Take two or more really interesting elements from different
websites or applications and make them into one - think Google Maps
with an overlay of where you can buy clown outfits from
5. RFID- Radio-frequency identification (RFID) will allow you to track
your packages around the world or let you know how your bananas have
travelled to you
6. Android- Think iPhone but with a slightly different interface on
phones from Samsung to HTC and with the ability for anyone to take
applications for it
7. HDMI- The new Scart lead allows you to connect High-Def devices together, like your TV to your new Blu-ray player
8. Fuel-cell- Green water powered battery for everything from cars to
laptops that will boost your gadget's life considerably over standard
batteries
9. HSDPA- The next step up from 3G on mobile phones. Makes accessing
the internet on your mobile just as fast if not faster than your
broadband connection at home
10. DVB-H- Newly announced Mobile TV standard for Europe
that allows you to watch TV on your mobile on the go.
The Nerdic words to forget:
1 HD DVD - Just like Betamax, HD DVD is now the dead format against
Sony's Blu-ray in the HD disc battle when it comes to High-Def movies
2. Dial-up- Broadband is the way to go if you are
looking to surf the internet so throw that 56k modem out with the rubbish
3.VHS- DVD players are so cheap and PVRs are so easy to use that the
movie format that would take you 10 minutes to rewind after watching a
film is dead
4. Tri-band- Replaced by Quad-band, 3G, or HSDPA to allow much better
phone coverage abroad, much better for the traveller in you
5. Hits- How website popularity used to be measured before people realise that unique visitors is what's important
6. CRT- Fat TV to you and me. Flat is the new thin so get with the
times and relegate your Fat TV to the tip. You'll save extra space in
the living room too
7. KB- Standing for Kilobytes and important when computer memory was a measly 64k. Look out for the new super-size Terabyte
8. Floppy disk - Replaced by USB thumb drives and CDs the idea of only
being able to get 1.4MB on a disk would now seem mad to the average 10
year old
9. MiniDisc- Sony's now defunct music format that was like the CD only smaller. Overtaken by MP3 before it even got going.
10. Super Audio CD - A higher quality CD format that never really took
off. Why? Because you needed state of the art expensive kit to run it
on and there aren't enough audiophiles out there that care!
Apr 25, 2008
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