French, Portugese, Spanish, Italian are NOT LANGUAGES, they are all Latin DIALECTS. I WAS WRONG. :)

[PlatinumGold]

Only the arrogance of Europeans let them get away with calling those dialects LANGUAGES.

there is more differences between so called Chinese "Dialects" than there are between these so called "Languages".


Edit


Ok, so the distinction between Language and Dialect isn't as big as i thought it was.

Tho the words Romance as used in "romance languages" and in Romance as in love have the same root (roman) they don't have the same meaning.

however, there are people that imply that "romance languages" = "language of love" using the word Romance in the wrong context. many because they are just ignorant.

However, i probably overstated my position regarding the distinction of languages and dialects.

 

[dighn]

they have the same grammar?

 

[spidey07]

They're languages.

 

[Broohaha]

have a cookie.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: Broohaha
have a cookie.

thanks, i needed a snack before lunch.

 

[Colt45]

smoke another rock while you're at it.

 

[StageLeft]

Well what language are they then?

 

[Woodchuck2000]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
Only the arrogance of Europeans let them get away with calling those dialects LANGUAGES.

there is more differences between so called Chinese "Dialects" than there are between these so called "Languages".

Enlighten us, then, as to the difference between a language and a dialect.

 

[loup garou]

You're wrong.

 

[Turin39789]

but im right

 

[littleprince]

For all practical reasons there languages.

Consider they each have their own dictionarys and written language. Obviously pronounciation is different.
Now consider your Chinese dialects.
Mandarin and Cantonese may sound different, but Cantoneses lacks it's own written language basicaly.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Woodchuck2000

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
Only the arrogance of Europeans let them get away with calling those dialects LANGUAGES.

there is more differences between so called Chinese "Dialects" than there are between these so called "Languages".

Enlighten us, then, as to the difference between a language and a dialect.

Well a dialect is distinct differences within a language. I jus twant to know what language the french and spanish dialects are part of!

 

[LakAttack]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: Woodchuck2000

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
Only the arrogance of Europeans let them get away with calling those dialects LANGUAGES.

there is more differences between so called Chinese "Dialects" than there are between these so called "Languages".

Enlighten us, then, as to the difference between a language and a dialect.

Well a dialect is distinct differences within a language. I jus twant to know what language the french and spanish dialects are part of!

He says Latin in his subject.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Well what language are they then?

all are Dialects or Variations of LATIN.

I had a Portugese friend and he said that most educated portugese were comfortable going back and forth between Portugese, Spanish, Italian and French and even if they couldn't necessarily speak those other languages Perfectly well, they could understand.

He himself was fluent in ALL 4 languages and felt is was really not that big an achievement as they are SOOO very very similar.

yes, there are differences in slang and common usages of certain words that are regional, but no more so than what you find in NE USA vs SE USA vs NW USA etc.

OTOH, we call the so called DIALECTS of Chinese "Dialects" not giving them the "status" of being separate languages and yet, they are SIGNIFICANTLY MORE different in grammar and pronunciation than the "romanatic" languages are.

oh, btw, there is a reason they are called "romantic" languages, because they are ALL based on the language of the ROMANS Latin and it has NOTHING to do with ROMANCE as some morons believe.

some people mistakenly even refer to them as "ROMANCE" languages, but that is ABSOLUTELY ignorant.

 

[GeneValgene]

they're languages...

i am fairly adept at latin, so i can read classical french and most of italian. but the grammar is still slightly different, although they are all derived from latin. i would still call them languages.

just because a language is derived from another source doesn't mean that it is merely a dialect. e.g. taiwanese evolved from mandarin, but it is not called a dialect

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: littleprince
For all practical reasons there languages.

Consider they each have their own dictionarys and written language. Obviously pronounciation is different.
Now consider your Chinese dialects.
Mandarin and Cantonese may sound different, but Cantoneses lacks it's own written language basicaly.

Written Language?? what distinguishes Written French for Written Spanish?? the Alphabet?? ummm, no they are the same. the grammar?? ummm, except for certain REGIONAL differences they are basically the same. the Vocabulary?? other than some pronunciation differences they are the same.

hmmmm. the only thing that REALLY differentiates them is POLITICS and Location. IF you take the politics out of it, it is even less than a Dialect, then it just becomes an ACCENT difference as we say British accent etc.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: GeneValgene
they're languages...

that's why people call them romance languages. the grammar and roots are from latin, but they are not merely dialects.

read my post above, NOT ROMANCE, ROMANTIC. the root is not ROMANCE as in LOVE, but ROMAN as in ROME.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
Only the arrogance of Europeans let them get away with calling those dialects LANGUAGES.

there is more differences between so called Chinese "Dialects" than there are between these so called "Languages".

They are BOTH. Dialect
See the 4th definition.

And why are you so worked up about this particular hair you've split?

 

[StageLeft]

all are Dialects or Variations of LATIN.

I see your point, but the irony isn't lost on this end, given the fact that other than in Vatican city the world as a whole no longer uses Latin except in school, churches, etc. Could the argument not be made that English is a dialect of Latin as well, since its roots are Latin?

 

[iamwiz82]

It sounds to me that you are jealous that various chinese DIALECTS are not considered their own languages.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: Jzero

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
Only the arrogance of Europeans let them get away with calling those dialects LANGUAGES.

there is more differences between so called Chinese "Dialects" than there are between these so called "Languages".

They are BOTH. Dialect
See the 4th definition.

And why are you so worked up about this particular hair you've split?

i'm not worked up. i just think it's thought provoking and interesting.

did most people that read this thread realize that "romance" is not based on "love" romance but is based on Rome??

that the reason they are called the Romance languages is because they are all based on Latin the language of Romans.

you hear, French the language of LOVE and that's twist on the Romance languages but it's all wrong.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: GeneValgene
they're languages...

that's why people call them romance languages. the grammar and roots are from latin, but they are not merely dialects.

read my post above, NOT ROMANCE, ROMANTIC. the root is not ROMANCE as in LOVE, but ROMAN as in ROME.

Your argument is 100% nullified by the fact that you think the following:
Romance is NOT the correct term to refer to Latin-based languages (IT IS).
Romantic does not share a word root with Romance (IT DOES - ROME).
You have no idea that romance has separate meanings depending on context (Something those of us with half a brain know as homonyms).

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

all are Dialects or Variations of LATIN.

I see your point, but the irony isn't lost on this end, given the fact that other than in Vatican city the world as a whole no longer uses Latin except in school, churches, etc. Could the argument not be made that English is a dialect of Latin as well, since its roots are Latin?

English is a dialect of German.

 

[glugglug]

You sir are on crack.

If French and Spanish are the same Language, then English is the same language as those also, because there is less difference between Spanish and English than there is between Spanish and French.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
It sounds to me that you are jealous that various chinese DIALECTS are not considered their own languages.

why would i be jealous as i'm not chinese??

oh btw, i could have chosen India as an example too. there are more "dialects" in india than there are in china. and from the Indians that i've talked with say that the dialects are SOO very different that without real study you cannot understand the dialects from another region.

also, another common thing you hear among europeans is how ignorant americans are because they know only ONE language and yet, many of these so called educated europeans can only speak these 4 dialects and claim that they are languages.