Latin as the universal European language

[Terxpahseyton]

What do you mean by that?

 

[Leoreth]

It's not pronounced "Airopa" in German, more like "Oiropa" (German "eu" = /oi/ in IPA). Other things that aren't quite right in the German pronounciation of Latin: "c" is /ts/ before e and i, but should be /k/, and the "r" isn't rolled and often mellowed down before other consonants.

Excepting eu, it's pretty close to Italian (which should be the guiding line in pronounciation) in the vowels and that's the important part.

Edit: the lyrics of this hymn would be something I could actually get behind. Nothing about praising flags or cheering on soldiers for their bloodbaths.

 

[Veles]

What do you mean by that?

I just meant that in Latin it shouldn't be Oiropa, but E-U-ropa.

ARRGH!!!! We can't communicate

Edit: the lyrics of this hymn would be something I could actually get behind. Nothing about praising flags or cheering on soldiers for their bloodbaths.

Sometimes music says it all, and words just make it clumsy, that's true.

 

[Leoreth]

Oh, by the way, looking at the actual question of the thread, and despite my reservations on your actual proposal, I would completely support Latin in all European symbols like hymns, mottos etc. Even the Americans do it, after all.

(Okay, until they said "screw you" to separation of religion and state and replaced the awesome "E pluribus, unum" with "In God We Trust" ).

 

[Terxpahseyton]

ARRGH!!!! We can't communicate

The same thought in the same manner struck my head. Now, that's in English. Just imagine how it went in Latin.

 

[Danielion]

Isn't that the official one?

Latin can be spoken in many accents. An official version, however, should be in as correct language as possible. In Latin they don't say 'Oiropa', but 'E-U-ropa'.

P.S.: Veles already mentioned it.
P.S.2: Might study my Latin again!

 

[Theov]

The French will demand the right to speak french.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Then we shall demand the right to not listen

 

[Danielion]

The French will demand the right to speak french.

I bet they also teach Latin at French lycées.

 

[gangleri2001]

Here's the Latin 101 thread for those of you who want to practice it.

 

[rollo1066]

It's a dead language. You would have to be constantly adding English/French/Spanish/German etc words to it as new words come into existance.

 

[Traitorfish]

You mean like we use Latin to add new words to living languages?

 

[Lillefix]

One place where Latin really excels, is when it comes to animal and plant names.

 

[gangleri2001]

It's a dead language. You would have to be constantly adding English/French/Spanish/German etc words to it as new words come into existance.

Hey! I didn't know that French and Spanish aren't related to Latin. Thanks for the info

Btw, what words do you mean we should add to Latin? Words like video, internet, computer, television or genetics?

 

[Danielion]

It's a dead language. You would have to be constantly adding English/French/Spanish/German etc words to it as new words come into existance.

Creativity and purisms in living Romance languages help a lot. Arabic also helped quite a lot for Modern Hebrew. It takes time to reignite the fire of a dead language, but it isn't impossible.
It's hardly a comparison, but I at another forum one French lady who speaks better Dutch than 98% of the native speakers of that language. How did she do it? She learned Dutch like one would revive a dead language, setting aside restrictions and being a creator. She's a rare example of someone successfully beating native speakers in a language foreign to her. Her vocabulary is richer and more purist, her grammar more elegant, able to use the correct word in the right situation, etc... Unbelievable, but it exists.

 

[Godwynn]

EDIT: Wrong Thread

 

[Veles]

I actually fully support officially adopting the Latin lyrics. Having an anthem without lyrics is kinda awkward. I understand some people might have issues with the original German lyrics, plus the words aren't not exactly patriotic

...Still, making Latin the universal European language would have as advantage a link to the intellectual past of Europe. Once your get a young population able to think in Latin, people would be part of a culture with more than 2000 years of history.

Oh, by the way, looking at the actual question of the thread, and despite my reservations on your actual proposal, I would completely support Latin in all European symbols like hymns, mottos etc. Even the Americans do it, after all.

Some faith in humanity has been restored. Cheers to all you, bros

 

[Arakhor]

You'd still get regional variations in the spoken Latin of each European state and over time, Europe would start re-developing the Romance languages.

 

[Leoreth]

That would depend on how fast the national identities would vanish. Language is the main factor that keeps them alive.

Of course you'd still get dialects, but a differentiation into mutually not understandable languages isn't very likely with modern literacy.

 

[Winner]

You'd still get regional variations in the spoken Latin of each European state and over time, Europe would start re-developing the Romance languages.

No, you wouldn't get any of that. If Latin was introduced as a common language for Europeans to communicate with each other (everywhere - in real life, on the internet, etc.) and nobody spoke it as their first language, it would remain in a fairly frozen state.