Other non native english speakers

In one word, yes. And I'm not even gay. The politically correct words to use for gay and bi here are the equivalent to homosexual and ambisexual and they sound...too scientific? Lesbian exists in my language but I personally do not like the sound of it much.

I won't even go in fields such as genderqueer and tran*. The words we use sound like diagnoses.

 

Being more general here, but I find the amount of English used in countries whose populations are all fluent in English/are exposed to much English-language culture amazing (from a linguistic point of view). I've heard Dutch and Swedish people say things along the lines of "we switch to English mid-way through sentences because our own language doesn't have enough words". I'm talking about using sorta-idioms like 'by the way' and 'you know what I mean?'.
I don't think that's really the case - I seriously doubt there's anything wrong with Dutch! it's more that it's easier to just say the English phrase rather than create a translation that would feel awkward/like a neologism; it could be expressed but the English alternative seems better to them. You can see it in English with the use of Latin and French phrases (in addition to, of course, the plethora of individual words that have been borrowed) like 'et cetera' or 'en route', even if they can be translated adequately.

Hai, I'm a nerd.

 

Yeah, it's sort of the same here. I mean, people use the word 'gay', but we don't have an equivalent. I figure when I get to the point where I have to share the news, I'll just use 'gay' since everyone knows what it means, or I'll find a way around it, like 'I don't like girls'.

But that moment is so far away....

 

Yes. It says enough that English has waaaaaaaay more words than a lot of other languages. It's especially easier to describe emotion and feelings in English; there are just so many words all slightly different in meaning.

 

Yeah. There are no words for LGBT in my language. You might be thinking, 'But you live in the US!' I actually speak a different language at
home so telling my parents will be weird. Not that I'm planning on it any time soon....

 

I speak Dutch. And yes, I can express myself better in English. Dutch, and definitely the dialects are a bit rough. Expressing your feelings is difficult, I am much more open in English.

 

In Spanish, the terms 'gay', 'lesbiana' and 'bisexual' are used mostly. The pronunciation is slightly different to english. I suppose you could say homosexual, but no one does much.

 

Yes! We also have the word "gay" in our language, but lesbians can't use it, because it's gender-fixed (males only). And I hate our word for lesbian, it's quite similar, but sounds so bad

 

I know the feeling ;_;

But I also know that most people refer to gays, lesbians and bisexuals as "maricas" or "playos" (f*ggots), "marimachas" (d*kes), and bisexuals are just considered promiscuous, at least where I live, anyway.

 

Well yeah. But I was trying to be nice. At least they have nice words for us in spanish, from the looks of it, a lot of languages don't.

 

True, to a point. But it's pretty much the same as it is in English: Homosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual. At least the non-offensive terms are the same, but I don't know how you could translate aromantic, queerromantic, and stuff like that.

 

Yeah. But it doesn't really matter to me that its all taken from english. Theres no real point in making up new words. And anyway, *sexual are all latin roots anyway aren't they. And I think lesbian is a greek root.

 

Finocchio is an umbrella term for queer but it's used in a vulgar expression, my dad uses it to describe homosexuals. Same as with frocio, but it's not as commonly used. I don't know the words to describe transsexuals, but I would assume that the official translation would be used as another offensive slur.

English has better adjectives and nouns, and much more variety than the Italian language to describe LGBT terms which aren't associated with offensive language either (ie how homosexual isn't really an offensive word as say, fairy or faggot). Being a queer Italian would most likely be hell considering the conservative politics throughout the country. Coming from an Italian family isn't all that accepting either regarding queer matters. "Fanook" can sum that up.

 

Yeah, it comes from a Muse whose name I can't recall in English right now, her name was Safo de Lesbos. She lived in the island of Lesbos where she had intimate relationships with other women. That's where the word lesbian comes from

 

In Croatian, there are words describing homosexuality, but they have mostly taken a negative meaning. So, the word gay is being used as a borrowed term from English. It's not even transcribed (it would be written as "gej" if it was adapted to Croatian). But it does only apply to males. So, gays and lesbians here.
Interestingly, there's no term for bisexuality in Croatian (I mean, other than bisexuality ).

The whole LGBT visibility movement of the last half century has mainly originated in the USA. Understandably, where the change of the zeitgeist starts, the vocabulary is going to come from as well. I don't find that strange.

 

The proper Chinese term is just translated as same sex/ homosexual. But Cantonese loves to adopt English sounding words and we just put it into daily use, in Canto its "基" pronounced "gei" and if you say that, people would understand perfectly.

On another note I still have not physically said the words "I'm gay" out loud yet. I've only said "I'm not straight", I don't know why its so hard and fearful for me to just say "I'm gay".

 

In Dutch (Flemish) we have the word 'Holebi'. That stands for : Homo (gay), lesbisch (lesbian) and bi (bisexual). But it's not really common to say : 'I'm holebi. It's used as in : Alot of holebi's went to the gay parade in Brussels. When people speak about holebi's they sometimes also mean the transgender people.

We just use the words : Homo, gay (not so common) for men. Lesbisch for women and bi for the bisexuals.

 

^ Being Dutch too, I sincerely dislike the word 'homo'. It starts to get a negative connotation. I usually just tell people "I like guys".

EDIT: not 'too', you're Flemish. My bad