Secondo il programma GoogleTrends che mantiene un registro di tutte le ricerche su Google, i paesi seguenti hanno fatto le ricerche per la parola “sex” di più nell’ultimo anno:

1. Viet Nam
2. India
3. Indonesia
4. Egitto
5. Marocco
6. Turchia
7. Polonia
8. Ungheria
9. Romania
10. Danimarca

Questi risultati non ci dicono niente definitivamente sui popoli dei paesi inclusi, ma possono essere interessanti ad ogni modo. Per esempio, mettiamo in caso che la voce è vero e gli uomini pensano al sesso più delle donne. Se questa fosse il caso, i paesi con un percentuale più alto di uomini avrebbero più ricerche per “sex” in rete. Danimarca però sta più giù nella lista che Ungheria, anche se ha 50.5% della popolazione maschile (rispetto al 48.9% in Ungheria).

È anche notevole che questa stima sia solo un’indicazione del traffico nei motori di ricerca – non possiamo leggere il pensiero di nessuno. Può darsi che sono influenzati dallo stigma sociale e la garanzia di anonimità fornito dall’internet. Ci sono paesi in cui non è insolita vedere le donne seminude in TV, e anche posti in cui qualcosa del genere costituirebbe uno scandalo. Per questo, è possibile che nei paesi in cui il sesso è un argomento molto tabù, la gente sceglie di cerca in internet per le risposte alle sue domande sessuali nella privacy della casa.

Perché questo è un blog linguistico, sarebbe utile sapere anche la gerarchia linguistica, no? Ecco qua sotto:

1. vietnamita
2. indonesiano
3. turco
4. arabo
5. polacco
6. ungherese
7. romeno
8. inglese
9. danese
10. olandese

Questa lista è più sorprendente per quello che non c’é che per il contenuto che esiste… Il uomo Italiano ‘libertino’ e una persona ben conosciuto nella storia e la cultura popolare (Dongiovanni, Cassanova, etc.). La loro eccessiva carica sessuale è leggendaria, ma l’italiano non c’è da nessun parte sulla lista. Non ci sono neanche le altre lingue “romanze.” Tutti quanti però sono sulla lista delle lingue in cui “love” è cercato di più…

Chi l’avrebbe detto?

Fonti d’informazione:
http://www.wikipedia.org
http://google.com/trends

According to GoogleTrends, in the last 12 months the following countries had the most individual searches for “sex” in descending order:

1. Viet Nam
2. India
3. Indonesia
4. Egypt
5. Morocco
6. Turkey
7. Poland
8. Hungary
9. Romania
10. Denmark

These results do not necessarily indicate anything about the people in the listed countries, but they can be surprising in light of some long-running stereotypes. For example, if the rumors are true, and men really do think about sex exponentially more often than their female counterparts, then why is it that Hungary appears higher on the list than fellow European country Denmark whose male to female ratio is much higher (48.9% and 50.5% respectively in the age range 15-64 years old)?

It is important to underscore, however, that these results are merely a reflection of search engine traffic – not an exercise in mind-reading. They may well be affected by social stigma, and the guarantee of anonymity a search engine provides. In some countries, it is not uncommon to turn on the TV late in the evening and see half-naked models advertising expensive phone calls. In others, however, the mere mention of the word sex in mixed company is considered highly inappropriate. For this reason, it is likely that people in countries where sex is more of a taboo choose to search for the answers to their questions and points of curiosity in the privacy of their own home.

Since this is a linguistic blog, it might also be interesting to know the ‘sex’-searching breakdown by language.

1. Vietnamese
2. Indonesian
3. Turkish
4. Arabic
5. Polish
6. Hungarian
7. Romanian
8. English
9. Danish
10. Dutch

This list is surprising not for what is there, but more for what isn’t… The existence of the so-called ‘Latin lover’ and ‘Italiano lothario’ have been well documented in the pop culture of the ages. The libidos and exploits of such men have inspired songs, books, and even operas for centuries, but on this list there isn’t a “romance” language to be found (they do both appear on the top ten languages that search ‘love’ though).

Go figure!

Source:
http://www.wikipedia.org
http://google.com/trends

• Hum or sing along with these three songs in the subway:
[Please name us three songs everyone knows in your native language]

《liǎng两;zhī只;lǎo老;hǔ虎;》 “ Two Tigers“
《lǎo老;shǔ鼠;ài爱;dà大;mǐ米;》 ” Mouse Loves Rice”
《shuāng双;jié截;gùn棍;》 ”Nunchakus”

• Get by with firing off any of these five swear words:
[Please tell us the five unavoidable curse-words that are commonly used in your country and what they mean]

tā mā de; 他妈的 (shit)
wáng bā dàn; 王八蛋 (tortoise egg)
cào; 操 (fuck)
jiàn rén; 贱人 （being cheap)
shǎ bī; 傻屄 (stupid asshole)

• Get the phone number (or a great laugh) with this pick-up line:
[Please share your favorite pick-up line with us]

你跟我一个朋友长得好象。 (You look like someone I know.)
我们之前见过吧？ (Haven’t we met before?)

• Cheer to this word with your new local friends at the bar:
[Please tell us what the word for “cheers” is in your language]

干杯! gān bēi! （Bottom up!）

• And for our tip on feeling like a local - how to order a Big Mac menu in your language:
[Please write how you would order a super-size Big Mac menu in your language]

qǐng请 gěi给 wǒ我 yí一 gè个 jù巨 wú无 bà霸！

• The one thing you should do every day to feel truly local:
[Please describe a truly local thing/tick people in your country do]

Drink soybean milk for breakfast;
Watch CCTV news every evening, although nobody likes it.

• Have we forgotten anything? What is in your opinion the most unusual way to learn your language?
[Any ideas, comments, suggestions that we missed.]

Start with cursing words;
Find a Chinese girlfriend or boyfriend;
Learn through computer games.

I think so. Nevertheless, there is perhaps a valid explanation for using software without a license, or at least that’s what some people say. Prices are so high that sometimes you can buy another computer with the same money. Besides that, if we take into account the mean wage in this region, we will realize that no one can afford a legal copy.

So, how can everybody have a computer? Where do they get the software and license from? Apparently, it is quite easy; everybody buys computers in specialized shopping centers and hardly anyone cares if the software is legal. Maybe because for them is it just important that the software works…

Illegal copies are everywhere in Latin America. They work pretty normally, but what you can’t do is actualize them - because if you did you couldn’t use them anymore. This could be a problem, however you can get easily a new version if it happens.

It seems to be that there is no way to solve this problem, mainly because the purchasing power of Latin American people is low, and as long as this situation doesn’t change, no one will spend a lot of money on software that can be found for a very low price. I’m quite sure more people would buy the license and would use all the services provided by Microsoft if the prices were lower.

Niestety, czym skorupka za młodu nasiąknie… złych przyzwyczajeń ciężko się poźniej, w dorosłym już życiu, pozbyć. Zasada ta dotyczy wielu rodzajów mniejszych lub większych oszustw. Należy do nich oczywiście również kwestia piractwa. Odłóżmy na bok argument, że legalne oprogramowanie i płyty z muzyką są po prosto o wiele za drogie dla przeciętnego użytkownika. Czy kupowalibyśmy je legalnie, gdyby miały nieco bardziej przystępne ceny? Wątpię. Wiele osób mówiło mi, że „po prostu ściąganie z internetu jest dużo łatwiejsze, szybsze i tańsze. W ogóle nie rozumiem, czemu ktokolwiek jeszcze płaci za muzykę lub filmy”. Smutne, ale prawdziwe? Cóż, moim największym zmartwieniem w przypadku muzyki czy filmów jest to, że to trochę takie kupowanie kota w worku, nigdy do końca nie wiesz, co dostaniesz, więc bezpieczniej jest najpierw ściągnąć dany kawałek czy film z netu, a potem, jeśli nam się spodoba kupić oryginalne CD lub DVD. „To nie ma przecież sensu!” – zakrzyknie pewnie niejeden, w końcu mamy już tą muzę na kompie. Ja ciągle jeszcze jednak naiwnie wierzę, że jakość oryginalnej płyty granej na porządnym sprzęcie znacznie przewyższa jakość empetrójek odtwarzanych na komputerze i podziwiam ludzi, którzy ciągle w ten sposób delektują się muzyką.

Nielegalne kopiowanie to trudny problem i można podchodzić do niego z wielu stron, niektórzy uważają, że to kwestia moralna, ponieważ trzeba zdecydować się, czy chce się oszukiwać, czy nie, inni widzą w tym wyłącznie niecny proceder naruszenia praw autorskich. Niezależenie od tego, czy karą za takie postępowanie będzie piekło czy więzienie, wielu ludzi próbuje na różne, mniej lub bardziej sensowne sposoby, usprawiedliwiać swoje zachowanie. Ale wszystkie te wymówki właściwie potwierdzają tylko, że coś jest na rzeczy i że podskórnie czujemy, że robimy coś złego.

Unfortunately, what you learn as a young child tends only to get worse once you’re an adult. And it applies to many kinds of petty and more serious frauds. These include the issue of piracy of course. Let’s put aside the point that legal software and music CDs are far too expensive for an average person. Would we buy them legally if they were a bit more affordable? I doubt it. As I was told by many people ‘it is just so much easier, quicker and cheaper to download stuff from the Internet. I don’t really see why anyone would still pay for music or films’. Sad but true? Well, my biggest concern is always that when buying music or films you never really know what you’re going to get so it’s safer to download it first and then (if you like it) buy a legal CD or DVD. “What’s the point of that?” some will probably ask, as you already have the music on your computer. Well, I do believe that the quality of an original CD played on a good audio player is much higher than that of mp3s on the computer, and I admire people who still enjoy music this way.

Illegal copying is a difficult problem as it can be approached from many different sides, some claim it is a moral issue as you have to decide whether you cheat or not, some see it solely as a legal issue connected with copyright infringement. Whether the punishment for that be hell or prison, there are many people who try to justify their behavior… in many more or less reasonable ways. But all these excuses just prove that we feel that what we’re doing is actually wrong.

Indeed, there is something to be proud of. Where else can you find computer shops, open-air markets, and kiosks offering DVDs of world cinema, freshly released games, music albums, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and professional & educational software? And all for a ridiculous $3 to $5 per each? It is no wonder that people pass around a variety of software at work and among friends.

But what are the reasons that make even the most respective Russian universities and research institutions let alone the private users resort to illegal copying, using and distributing? The experts have already come up with the long list of roots casing these illegal activities. In my view, it all boils down to a very simple explanation. Whether we like it or not, the Russian pirates have turned out to be faster, smarter and have grater foresight than legal manufacturers.

To start with, pirates offer their products at reasonable prices cutting manufacturing costs at the expense of the cover, booklet and other bells and whistles. The most passionate collectors and fans might still prefer spending more money to enjoy the full versions but for the average users it does not really matter. Secondly, pirates are extremely fast to respond to releases. Be it a new film, a game, a singles or new software, the illegal copies reach the public well before the official versions do. Thirdly, Russian pirates have earned the reputation of well-trained translators who provide decent quality translation while keeping the original voices. This way the viewers can enjoy the original music and voices of their favorite Hollywood stars and follow the content at the same time. Finally, the pirates offer their products in a widely used and acceptable MP3 format saving the user time and effort to convert various files into all-compatible MP3.

The conclusion to be drawn is obvious- pirates know the Russian user from insight, and - act immediately- responding to the changes on the market and offering quality products at low prices. It is hardly surprising then that the Russians are proud of their pirate-countrymen. If you also consider the Russian communist past with its ideology of community living and equal sharing, you will understand why a single CD should be shared among 50 friends and neighbors.

Worth visiting:
http://www.hifinews.ru/article/details/6532.htm
http://shrs.info/archives/20
http://www.goehner.com/piracyru.htm