Americanization is a term used by sociologists to describe the process of imposing the values, attitudes, beliefs, roles, and meanings that are inherently part of the American culture on people of another culture. The context of the term can be seen as an infiltration of one culture into another.
From Pedro to Peter
The term is not to be confused with anglicizing, which attributes words of another language with English qualities or characteristics. For example converting the name Pedro to Peter would be considered anglicizing a Spanish name. The term also describes what happens to foreign words when imported into English. The most common examples of this can be found in the anglicized names for countries, principal cities and capitals found on world maps published in the U.S. or U.K. A common example is Munich for Munchen, the city in the southwest German state of Bavaria (Bayern on German maps).
It's All in the Name
Anglicizing and Americanization both reflect the process of change that happens when cultures collide. One culture can often readily accept the other, as in Japan, where certain aspects of Americanization defines social groups. Products reflecting U.S. brand names effectively attract Japanese consumers. While other cultures seek to expel vestiges of former colonization and British rule, as in the case of India's bustling western port of Mumbai. Named by British settlers in the 17th century, the name Bombay withstood three centuries until it was officially changed by India's Shiv Sena nationalist party in 1995.
Texting in French
Like the former colonies, France has also made efforts to preserve the novelty of its culture and language by creating neologisms, newly minted French terms to reflect English equivalents, especially for terms of technological innovations like PC, texting, and tweet. It is not hard to imagine why a country would want to retain standards of culture and language. For example, the French use EDR (Ecroulé de rire) for LOL (laugh out loud). The use of les textos appears to growing at a slower rate in French culture than elsewhere in Europe.
From Pidgins to Creole
In some former colonies like Hawaii and Haiti, indigenous populations used creative derivatives of language to communicate with the colonizing settlers. These pidgins of European descent developed into the creole languages used today. In this case, language and culture were not so much anglicized or Americanized as creatively invented to promote the flow of communication and trade when two cultures lacked one language in common. Pidgin vocabularies are usually regarded as marginal languages but eventually they can become established in a population, as in the case of Haiti and Jamaica, where they are recognized as creole languages.
Anglicisms can be viewed by some cultures as encroachments while in others they are perceived as mechanisms for social mobility. Therefore, the business or pleasure traveler would be wise to utilize them judicially when in a host country. Most cultures will not take kindly to visitors or expats who act as evangelists for Americanization. With a little investigation, the right cultural equivalent in both language and gesture for "I say" or "what's up" can be but a few keystrokes away. It is always wise to utilize empathy rather than imposition in any attempt to communicate.
