holy king
Deity
i guess it just was not taught.
private schools were almost certainly forbidden, so there you go.
private schools were almost certainly forbidden, so there you go.
What are the next lost lanuages?
- Thread starter Patroklos
- Start date
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
They were just not taught.. I don't think.
Wait a second.. My grandma learned French somehow, during the communist era in Poland... now that I think about it. and I'm pretty sure she said that she learned this in school.
I think you were able to take on a 3rd language later on in your studies - possibly University. No other language than Polish or Russian were taught at least until grade 8.
There's a lot of people in the Catalan countries for whom Catalan is not their first language, but they do understand and speak some of it. You cannot underestimate how much the high intelligibility between Catalan and Spanish or French helps with the language's prosperity and proliferation.
Even in Catalonia itself, some degree of bilingualism is the norm (newish migrants aside) and the Catalan and Spanish speaking communities are roughly the same size, if you go by the polls about which language people prefer to use. Gangleri can probably speak more about this, but you'd find that in reality there's both a lot of bad Spanish-ised Catalan and Catalan-ised Spanish spoken in Barcelona.
Winner
Diverse in Unity
Having to speak English to be able to communicate with other on the Internet doesn't mean I forget to speak Czech. It's my native tongue and it won't go anywhere.
I think you're GROSSLY overestimating the effect globalization has on countries like Germany, Poland, Slovakia etc. Yes, people are increasingly aware of the fact that they need to speak at least one foreign language and in most cases, they choose English for the reasons you gave. On the other hand, the native languages show no sign of weakening, people still prefer them over the 2nd language.
This won't change in the future. Some very small languages like Sorbian might indeed die out, but languages spoken by millions in sovereign countries are not going to disappear just because the "business language" becomes more relevant.
Winner
Diverse in Unity
But come on Winner, isn't English so much easier and prettier than Czech?
c
I see you mean it as a joke, but...
Czech is actually much better for everyday life, especially if you like word plays, puns, double meanings and you want to precisely explain you feelings, experiences etc.
English is the language of science, military and business. It's efficient and exact. I sometimes have a hard time translating things from English because that what you say in two short words can't be translated with less than 4 long Czech words, and even then you don't fully get the original meaning.
@Patroklos
One more thing - during the Hapsburg times, knowing German was actually much more important than knowing English today. I can get 90% of jobs here in Czech Rep. without knowing a single word in English. In the 19th century, if you wanted to do anything else than menial labour, you had to speak German. Yet, Czech didn't die. It evolved, reformed and reasserted itself during the period we now call "the National Revival".
National languages are simply an important part of peoples' identities. They won't drop them just because they have to use international language in business. In fact, the more you have to speak English, the happier you are to switch back to you native language - it's like a relief to just talk about your day; in Czech an over a beer
gangleri2001
Garbage day!!!
Perfect description of reality. I can only add that they do not speak some of it, they just speak it like natives. Intelligibility is the key to understand this phenomenon. That's why is hard to say when does the native community ends and those who speak it as a second language begins: because there's in fact no difference between both.
BTW, Catalan begins to spread among the new immigrants. Ten years ago it was impossible to find any immigrant who spoke Catalan, nowadays you can find some immigrants that have learned it, they are not the majority, of course, I only say that they are already there. Their sons who have been born here speak Catalan like anyone else.
The only thing I cannot understand from that list is why Slovak is in the same situation of Catalan. Any idea?
Winner
Diverse in Unity
Bad poll.
Many Slovaks stated Czech as the 2nd language they speak, and many Czechs probably did the same.
Besides, Slovaks and Poles actually have a lot of people living abroad. In case of Slovakia, there are nearly 2 million ethnic Slovaks outside Slovakia - that's about 1/2 of the population of the country.
One global language would be fantastic...
Winner
Diverse in Unity
That's a scary idea. Something like "one global race would be fantastic" or "one global religion would be fantastic."
I agree that all people should learn some international language though.
In Europe, the most difficult part will be to force the French to speak English after they learn it
My gut reaction: among people who speak both languages fluently, the line is self-identification and hence somewhat political?
I wouldn't mind one global religion, given that I would be by definition part of it.
What are your objections to one global language?
Either one works. The former would come before the latter of course.
holy king
Deity
aparently you didnt even learn how to spell habsburg.
hapsburg was the guy who tried to blow up LA but was stopped by frank drebin.
holy king
Deity
different spellings for proper nouns?
gangleri2001
Garbage day!!!
Partially yes. It also depends on what language someone speaks at home. If someone who votes PP speaks Catalan at home, he will most likely identify himself with as a catalan speaker. If someone who votes ERC speaks Spanish at home, he will most likely identify himself as a spansih speaker.
It's a last name and last names have always had different spellings.
Winner
Diverse in Unity
aparently you didnt even learn how to spell habsburg.
Nah, that's the English spelling. I find it funny too, so don't blame me
Anyway, nice job trying to shove German nationalism down our throats, as a result the number of people speaking German went from 30% to about 0.3% today
Just proves how counter-productive nationalism is.
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