People need to learn to accept the fact that Spanish is the language of the Western hemisphere

[RB TexLa]

Not English, French or Portuguese. Spanish is the predominant language of the hemisphere in which we live.

[SidneyCarton]

1. The Brazilians might disagree with you

More South Americans speak Portuguese than Spanish, or at least they did in 2002-03 when I lived there.

[Captain Hilts]

6. They speak a unique language in Uraguay ...

that is neither quite Spanish or Portugese.

[LSparkle]

7. Catalan maybe?

I heard it spoken in Barcelona and immediately wanted to
learn it -- beautiful language.

[DFW]

38. Jo parlo català (I speak Catalan)

I lived and went to school in Barcelona long ago.

The language actually predates "Spanish," which is what the language of
central Spain (Castilla) is often called. When the Arabs invaded in the 8th
century, their linguistic influence stayed, not surprising, seeing as how they
ruled central and southern Spain for 700 years. Catalunya (Catalonia) kept its
own language, as did many other parts of the Iberian peninsula. Euzkadi (the
Basque Country) kept its language (Euskera) as well, and it is so difficult
to master that legend has it that the only outsider who learned it perfectly
was the Devil, himself. The northwest, Galicia, has its own language, too,
which is called Gallego, and it is closely resembles Portuguese. Castillian,
due to the relatively recent Arab domination, is the youngest language on
the Iberian peninsula. Literature in Catalan predates literature in Castillian
by over 100 years.

Catalan has different dialects within it as well. Valencià (Valencian Catalan)
uses slightly different pronunciation of the unstressed "e" and has a few words
that are different from Barcelona Catalan ("Mateix" in Barcelona, "Malix" in Valencia),
and the Catalan spoken in the Ballaeric Islands is slightly different, too. One
curious bit of trivia: Barcelona Catalan spoken with a slight American accent
sounds exactly like the Mallorca version. When I'm in Barcelona and speaking Catalan,
I'm often told that no matter how I try to disguise it, they can still tell I'm from
Mallorca--even so, not bad for an Anglo Texas boy.

[redqueen]

45. Wow...

thanks for that unexpected bit of information. :)

[sudopod]

60. neato! nt

[Common Sense Party]

8. Not really. In Uruguay and Argentina, they speak what they call 'castellano'

Which is really just Spanish. There are different accents and the y's and double-l's (ll) are pronounced differently. Plus, lots of the slandg has come from Italian, and also from Brazil.

I learned "castellano" in Argentina, but I can communicate just fine with Mexicans, Guatemalans, etc.

[Captain Hilts]

10. Interesting! A friend of mine from Uruguay had a hell of a time...

finding someone her mother could talk to! I guess the problem was she was older.

[Common Sense Party]

11. Unless she comes from one of the Indian tribes, like the Guarani?

:shrug:

With the difference in dialect and pronunciation, one does have to concentrate much harder to understand, which can be tougher for an older person, especially if hearing is an issue.

I have a dickens of a time understanding Cubans and people from the Dominican Republic. Their accent is soooo different from what I'm used to, plus they speak MUCH faster than the Argentines. They speak Spanish, too, but it just sounds different.

Of course my mother-in-law, from California and Tennessee, can't understand British English very well.

[Cleita]

15. Castellano just means Castilian, which is Spanish with a lisp or

more subtly a silent "s". It's spoken in Chile, where I'm from too.

[Common Sense Party]

20. Well, they don't lisp in Argentina, nor did any of the Chilenos I met.

I've only heard true Spaniards do the "theta" thing on their soft c's and z's. (e.g., Celoso sounds like "theloso")

The Argentines do have odd-sounding y's and ll's, though.

[Cleita]

21. No they don't. They glide over the parts that Spaniards lisp. I know.

My grandmother was Castilian and my mother, her daughter, born in Chile. I speak Spanish like a Mexican because of the time I spent growing up in California, so I'm quite familiar with all the accents. The Mexicans pronounce those consonants audibly.

[Common Sense Party]

22. Argentines pronounce those consonants very audibly as well.

Every region just has different versions and variations of what they consider castellano.

[Cleita]

25. Well, I've never been in Argentina so I suppose you would know.

The only Argentinians I ever knew spoke more German than they did Spanish.

[Common Sense Party]

30. LOL! Yes, there ARE quite a few of those there, as well.

[raccoon]

90. Ex Nazis? nt

[Runcible Spoon]

102. it's possible, there was a story they were looking for Aribert Heim here quite recently

:scared:

[guardian]

51. In Spain

Castellano is the dialect spoke in the central (Madrid) region. Andaluz is the dialect spoken in the southern region and is spoken is a lisp.

[Cleita]

73. Well, my grandmother was from Madrid and she spoke with a lisp.

I always remember her telling me to pray to "el corathon de Jethuth". Since I have never been to Spain, I bow to your wisdom.

[SoCalDem]

23. Castilian(spanish from Spain)

ALL language gets "changed", the further from the source it gets.. Look at American english :rofl:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language

[Cleita]

26. There are different kinds of Spanish from Spain too just like we have different

regional accents here in the USA. I'm familiar with Castellano from my grandmother or Castilian and Catalan from my grandfather.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

71. Actually there are entirely different languages spoken in Spain

Spanish (or Castellano), Catalan (which is similar to the Provencal spoken in southern France) and is used in the north east, Basque among the Basques (which is unlike any other language in Europe), and Galician spoken in the north west. The classical Castillian accent pronounces the "j" sound very hard in the throat (almost like Arabic) which sounds kind of like a strong "h", like someone clearing their throat, and the "ll" like a "lly". The "s" is pronounced almost like an "sh" and the "z", "ci" and "ce" are prounced like a "th". The "v" is pronounced like a hard "b".

Since most of the conquistadores who conquered the new world were from the south of Spain which has a different accent, the Castillian accent didn't become widespread in the Americas among the common people. That accent from southern Spain transforms the "ll" into a "y" and pronouces the "z", "ce", and "ci" sounds into an "s" sound, not a "th". The "j" is softer and not guttural like the Arabic-sounding "j" of the Castillian accent and the "s" is pronounced like an "s" instead of like an "sh". The "v" is softer, somewhere between a "v" and a "b" and not a hard "b" sound like in the Castillian accent. The southern Spanish accent resembles more the accent used in Mexico.

The Argentinians have an accent where there's a "j" sound made for the "ll" or words that begin with an "r".

Cubans and especially Puerto Ricans have accents where entire sounds are swallowed. I have a hard time understanding them when they speak Spanish.

[Runcible Spoon]

100. Saludos from Buenos Aires!

yeah you're absolutely correct, Castellano really just is Spanish with some Italian-inspired slang/syllable stress and Portuguese /ll/ as a "ja" (Salta/other provinces) or "scha" (Buenos Aires dialect; stronger than our "sh" but not as strong as our "ch") not a "ya".

Hahaha my Argentinian fiance just read this and says Argentinians like to stress their European ancestry and calling their language "Castellano" as if it's separate from Spanish is part of that mentality to distinguish themselves from other Latin American countries. Yes, there's a lot of elitism in Buenos Aires and they don't really try to hide it.

On edit: I do recognize the difference between Castilian Spanish and Argentinian Castellano. As for the lisp thing, I never hear it from Portenos (Buenos Aires dialect) but my fiance is from Salta, and it IS pronounced there. I was initially confused and thought it might just be his family. Hell, my mother is from New Jersey and my father is from Baltimore, so I myself speak some unholy dialect! :evilgrin:

[Occam Bandage]

2. That's great. Unfortunately, business, politics, and academia don't follow head counts.

English is the language of the world. Spanish is certainly an important language, don't get me wrong, but English is the worldwide culturally predominant language at the moment.

[Karenina]

40. Englisch ist lingua franca!

:rofl:

[datasuspect]

47. Englisch ueber alles!!!!

[One_Life_To_Give]

95. Yes, very common second language in France

Along with much of the remainder of the non-english speaking countries. English is the most commonly spoken language on the planet.

Heck I work ofr a Paris based Mutinational. The official company language set by the corporate brass is English. Because it is so commonly spoken in all the different corners of the world.

[eShirl]

3. the future, such as it will be, will be multilingual

in my very humble opinion

[Captain Hilts]

4. US and Canada disagree. Sorry. English is the #1 language here...

because we are such a diverse country, it helps to have one language. Most the immigrants in my 'hood are from Russia, China and Korea and Vietnam.

[hooraydems06]

19. Um... funny you include Canada in that...

Canada is officially bilingual, and in their case it's French, not Spanish that's the official second language.

[Captain Hilts]

28. No kidding. I lived there for 4 years. The language ain't Spanish.

I was referring to the US as needing one language, in party, because I've seen the chaos the language votes have done in Canada

[hooraydems06]

81. OK, but so far it's YOU that disagrees...

... you don't exactly have the authority to speak on Canada's behalf. Unless you can cite something that proves "Canada" disagrees with the OP.

[One_Life_To_Give]

98. 60% of Canadians don't speak French

And teaching people only French as Canada is a Bilingual Country officially. Is also known as a means to oppress the masses, by the bilingual people against the French only speaking.

[Common Sense Party]

5. ...¿ Y ?

¿Y qué?

¿Qué significa ésto para nosotros en este país?

¿Debemos establecer el español como el idioma oficial de los Estados Unidos porque hay muchos hispanohablantes en el hemisferio?

[raccoon]

92. Yes. It's a heck of a lot easier to spell. nt

[peace13]

9. 'People' need to learn that until we have One World Order

the planet is made up of countries. Go figure.

[Mike Nelson]

12. ALL people need to speak Chinese, then

or, get off the planet!

[Dr.Phool]

13. OK, I'm leaving.

Where's the bus stop?

[sharp_stick]

14. Shit dude perhaps you better get to Rosetta Stone

and figure out that damned Mandarin, Spanish has nothing on that. Why did you happen to concentrate on the Western Hemisphere, we're all on a single big ball here aren't we?

[Cleita]

16. Actually, throughout Latin America, indigenous Indian languages are

also spoken with much more frequency than in the USA and Canada. Spanish is usually a second language for a large portion of the underclasses. That is also true in Mexico. So all those English only types who don't want Spanish don't realize that most of the speakers use it as a second lingua franca to communicate with other Mexicans from different estados who have different native languages.

[dysfunctional press]

17. by that philosophy- chinese is the language of the earth.

where i live(and it's in the western hemisphere) English is the predominant language- it's even on all the signage.

[Guaranteed]

93. China actually has something like five major languages. nt

[Marrah_G]

18. Nope sorry. I live in the Northeast..

Not sure what the point of your little piece of flamebait was. Oh wait, flamebait has no point.

[TZ]

42. ....

:thumbsup:

[cherokeeprogressive]

24. Get a pilots license and see how good that works out for ya. n/t

[Captain Hilts]

27. Good one! Or do nearly anything in the international economy. nt

[ColbertWatcher]

29. That's an interesting way to put it.

The last time the GOP pushed their ENGLISH ONLY! bullshit, someone wrote a bit in the paper about what all the cities in California would be named if all the Spanish names were changed to their English names.

My favorite was: Rancho Palos Verde, which would become Green Sticks Ranch.

There were a whole bunch of them, but I think you get the picture.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

31. Don't forget "red stick"

Baton Rouge.

[ColbertWatcher]

32. LOL! There was a whole bunch of them...

...mostly in California.

I think it shut some people up for a while. I mean it made people look around the world they live in and see that it really wasn't so offensive to have city names and street names not in English.

[ForrestGump]

35. And a place very near and dear to my heart:

Big Tits National Park.

I bet visitation would quickly increase.

[Art_from_Ark]

80. Or maybe just "Big Tit"

since "Grand Teton" is singular :rofl:

[Clark2008]

94. But that's French.

[pokerfan]

37. ...

http://www.onenation.org/0698/061098.html

[Rhythm]

65. Here's an interesting list of state names from foreign languages

and what they mean. :hi:

Arizona - Little Rivers
Arkansas - Southern wind
Colorado - Colored Red
Texas - Friends/Hosts
Montana - Mountain
Florida - Feast of flowers
California - Land of the Caliph (from a book written in Spanish)
Alabama - Tribal town
Mississippi - Father of waters
Hawaii - Kingdom of Heaven Within
Alaska - Great land
Connecticut - Beside the long tidal water
Illinois - Tribe of superior men
Idaho - Totally invented. No meaning.
Iowa - Disputed. Could mean "The sleepy ones" or "beautiful land".
Kansas - People of the south wind
Kentucky - Land of tomorrow
Massachusetts - At the great hill
Michigan - Large lake
Minnesota - Sky-tinted water
Nebraska - Flat water
Nevada - Snowcapped
New Mexico - From "Mexico", which means "place of Mexitli", an Aztec God
Missouri - Town of the large canoes
North Dakota - From the Sioux word meaning "allies"
South Dakota - From the Sioux word meaning "allies"
Ohio - Great river
Oklahoma - Red people
Oregon - Unknown; taken from the writings of Major Robert Rogers, an English officer.
Tennessee - Meeting place
Utah - People of the mountains
Vermont - Green mountain
Wisconsin - Disputed. Could mean either "meeting of waters" or "grassy place"
Wyoming - Mountains and valleys alternating

[EbenezerMcIntosh]

33. Yea that language especially goes over real well in France and Holland.

WTF?

[ForrestGump]

36. And Italy...

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/09/business/notebook.php






¡Hola, amigo! ¿Como esta usted? ¿Tequila?

[Swamp Rat]

34. Porra! Tem muito pessoal que fala português também.

Gente da aqui tem que aprender falar os dois, como eu. :D

Es la razón que yo trato practicar los dos idiomas cada vez que pueda.

[SidneyCarton]

70. e ai e amigo, tu falas tambem?

voce e brasileiro ou portuguese. Ou so aprendi de alguem?

[muriel_volestrangler]

39. It's a close run thing

source

Population in millions of countries with English speaking majority:
USA 305
Canada 33
Jamaica 3
Trinidad and Tobago 1
plus another million or so in small West Indies islands
total: 343 million

Spanish:
Mexico 107
Colombia 44
Argentina 41
Peru 29
Venezuela 28
Chile 17
Guatemala 13
Ecuador 13
Cuba 11
Dominican Rep 10
Bolivia 10
Honduras 7
El Salvador 7
Paraguay 6
Nicaragua 6
Costa Rica 4
Puerto Rico 4
Panama 3
Uruguay 3
total: 363 million

(anywhere major missing?)

Now, some in Canada speak French as their first language, some in the US Spanish, but some in Spanish speaking countries speak Amerindian languages first. It's fairly close, overall - probably no more than 10% difference between English and Spanish.

[TZ]

41. Been to the Carribean lately?

Spanish is spoken, yes but so is French, English, Dutch and all sorts of local dialects.
Even in South America there are a few old British Colonies where English is the majority language.
Is Spanish a common tongue here. Yes. But the majority? Umm, I don't think so.
You are also ignoring a very large Populus country named Canada where English/French is the ruling language.

[zanne]

43. Language can isolate people.

My MIL came to this country from Quebec at the age of 16. She died a few years ago, without ever learning how to speak English. She lived in a French-speaking town, worked in a French-speaking place, listened to French radio and watched French TV. I know that she was lonely. I never had a chance to have a conversation with her, and her grandchildren didn't speak French. She was a bighearted person who was isolated because of language.

Becoming immersed in a French-speaking area when she arrived in the US was detrimental to her and her family. I guess what I'm saying is that everybody is better off when one language is spoken.

[Marrah_G]

46. My former inlaws were also french canadian immigrants.

The grandparents spoke a mix of French and English, depending on who they were speaking to. Their kids understood French but spoke English 99% of the time. My ex-husband spoke some French until he went to school. Then the family switched to all English with him so he would be able to do well in school. He has forgotten most of the French now.

[zanne]

57. I spoke only French until I went to grade school.

I went to a French Catholic school where half the day was conducted in French and the other half in English, but I still managed to lose the French. l think I got my accent from television.

[JMackT]

44. We speak english in America

If you want to come live here then you should learn our language.

I know we dont have a national language, but I should not have to learn another language because others refuse to learn mine.

I should learn another language because it will make me a more rounded individual...I am working on that, but its not spanish.

[datasuspect]

48. Englisch ueber alles!

Wir sollen nur Englisch in die Vereinigte Staaten sprechen!

Ein Blut! Ein Boden! Ein Chimp!

[Indenturedebtor]

49. They absolutely should learn English

I am considering fleeing the storm here and I wouldn't dream of being so arrogant as to move to another country and insist that they learn to speak English.

How stupid and rude is that?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

52. You should learn spanish.

Being an American isn't an excuse for being lazy.

[JMackT]

53. Really

What leads you to believe I am lazy?

[Name removed]

55. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TCJ70]

58. I think he mentioned in his first post that he IS learning another language, just not Spanish.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

59. Do you believe him?

I don't.

[TCJ70]

61. I don't have any reason not to.

I took a few French classes because I wanted to. I can't say this guy is a liar simply because he didn't choose the language that I would have.

I moved to an area that does have a big population of Spanish speakers and I am doing my best to learn it, though. It's an outreach tool for me though.

[JMackT]

88. I dont care

if you believe me or not. I am not here to prove anything to you.

[El Pinko]

66. Why should the poster learn Spanish?

I learned it because my hometown is mostly Mexican.

But why should people who live in Wisconsin or wherever learn Spanish?

Why shouldn't they learn French for when they visit Canada?


Like the busboys at Denny's want to hear the white customers' patronizing attempts at broken Spanish, anyway...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

67. Because he says Mexicans should learn english.

And not learning Spanish would be a racist double standard.

[TCJ70]

68. That's not what he said...

...he said people who want to live here should.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

69. Mexican Americans.

And of course, he repeated the racist myth that they are refusing to learn English.

[TCJ70]

72. Thank you for correctly...

...representing what was said.

Personally, I think the government should offer ESL classes to all people who come here that don't speak English already. We had an ESL class at our church for awhile but decided to let the high school take it over for various reasons.

[El Pinko]

75. Well...

Mexicans should learn English when they live HERE because the predominant language HERE is English.

Mexicans staying in Mexico should feel no obligation whatsoever to learn English.

I would mention to the poster though, that most Mexicans learn English to the best of their abilities given their low pay and long hours at grueling jobs.

I personally have no complaint with the English proficiency of most immigrants to the US.

Seems some Americans expect them to sound like Alistair Cooke right off the bus...

[JMackT]

89. WTF

I said nothing about mexicans

If mexicans come here they should learn english.

Same with any other immigrant who does not speak english.

English is what we speak here.

[Runcible Spoon]

104. ummm...re: your avatar, I'm not convinced Hunter S Thompson even spoke English

and he CERTAINLY would not approve of your message! :rofl:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

50. Profanity is the universal language.

Spoken by anyone who has had to contend with bubble wrap or politicians.

[Name removed]

54. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[question everything]

56. You mean, the southern part

It certainly is not in Canada and in the US.

Individuals who come to this country have to learn the language. Unless someone is in the trade or tourism sections, no one's job or promotion should be dependent on being able to speak Spanish. Unless it is in the private sector.

[Sanctified]

62. Whats your point?

All of my friends speak English, all the people I do business with speak English and English is the official language of my community. If I ever decide to move to a South American country where all my friends speak Spanish and the official language of business is Spanish then I will learn Spanish, till then I prefer to spend my time speaking and learning languages that are useful to me.

[AngryAmish]

63. Especially in Quebec!

[El Pinko]

64. oh brother...

Assuming this is true - who cares?

Since when do hemispheres have official languages?

What relevance does "predominance" have?

Does the fact that the Spaniards were more relentless in their assault on the New World mean that we should all speak Spanish? Is that what you're saying?

I live in El Paso and speak passable Spanish, and I love my mostly-Mexican hometown.

But posts like this are annoying and pointlessly divisive, while saying absolutely nothing of any significance.

What lame flamebait.

[Lifetimedem]

74. It is the language of poverty

English is the language of commerce (until Chinese takes over)

[EFerrari]

83. Lou Dobbs, is that you?

[One_Life_To_Give]

99. Doub't Chinese will take over

People may learn to speak it and perhaps learn a few hundred characters. But the sheer volume of memorization required to learn Chinese makes it unlikely that it will become the second language of choice for most peoples around the globe.

[gatorboy]

76. You tell'em "person speaking english"!

Do you even know Spanish?

:rofl:

[RB TexLa]

77. I know enough

[Blue_Tires]

78. the answer lies in Esperanto...the metric system of all languages!

while we're at it, we should finally adopt the metric system as well!

[pitohui]

79. english is the language of business

of course it is beneficial to know spanish as well but at the end of the day there are places where if i had to know only a few words of some language i'm very thankful that it's english because it seems i can always get my point across (i'm not talking about deep discussion but my basic point of buying food, water, hotel, etc.) -- actually i can do those things in spanish and french but i wouldn't claim to "speak" those languages, that would be pretty laughable if i did!

[girl gone mad]

82. Even though half of our neighbors are Spanish speaking,

my son wanted to learn Chinese. I think he made the right decision. Spanish isn't that hard to pick up later in life, and translation is relatively easy. Chinese is a completely different matter. I think anyone who doesn't learn it young will probably never be able to master it. China will be the dominant superpower within my lifetime.

[texasleo]

85. No, it won't.

[depakid]

84. Don't say that in Canada!

:o

[vaberella]

86. Coming from the French speaking Caribbean I do have a bone to pick.

French is just as dominant, however there is no focus on it since a lot of the French speaking community is just shuffled in line with the Black community in the US.

[and-justice-for-all]

87. I am not speaking Spanish...

Ich du sprech Deutsch.

[treestar]

91. Spanish would make a great lingua franca

Its spelling follows pronunciation. Makes it one of the easiest languages to learn.

I would think English would be a bear to learn, especially writing and spelling. Amazing how so many people do it as a second language.

[noonwitch]

96. I'm for teaching spanish to all kids in public school-but it has to be approached properly

Instead of saying that they need to learn it because so many people in the US speak spanish, it needs to be presented to parents as a learning opportunity to develop the kids language abilities, because they learn language best if started at a younger age than the traditional 9th grade starting point for foreign language.

Otherwise, the "English only" crowd gets all worked up.

[Maestro]

97. Lovely language.

I wish all Americans were multi-lingual. It would break down many cultural barriers.

Here is something I wrote years ago. I still believe it.

[mainegreen]

101. French would be a much smarter second language up here in Maine.

Probably in Louisiana too.

Spanish, no so useful. Somali would be more useful than spanish.

[Snarkturian Clone]

103. What is this? Stupid posts week?

I speak spanish.

[Runcible Spoon]

105. this thread certainly brought a few out of the woodwork...

:rofl:

on topic: legislating culture NEVER WORKS. FOR ANY EMPIRE. IN ANY HISTORICAL ERA. UNDER ANY RULER. IN ANY GOVERNMENTAL SYSTEM. PERIOD.