Are you offended by this passage?

Juan, Tom does not say that. He simply says that English is an easy language to learn. Has I said earlier in this tread, his arguments are correct but he doesn't mention two aspect of English who are not easy: spelling and grammar.

Interesting, that passage that doesn't bother me one iota although I don't think it's necessarily correct. It's more the tone of the entire article and the manner it continues on in promoting the language that concerns me.
How many languages are in the world, 100's, 1000's....? How could anyone know which language is the easiest to learn? Therefore the criteria selected would be a bit dodgy at best. In my opinion there isn't one language that is easier than another. We all have a predisposition to languages closer to our own and the degree of difficulty in learning a particular language will increase the further it is from our native tongue.

I say it's about time there should be a Catalan Republic since Catalans (Jordi ) don't really identify with Spain or the Spanish language.
What's going on with Barcelona F.C? It's sad how the once mighty Catalan club has fallen.

to Tom, i never said because you speak croatian oyu will be abble to learn slovanian in 2 weeks. I say if you learn a language which is closer to your mother toungue's familly, it will be easier. For a german it's will be easier to learn dutsh in comparison of a french. Like it will be easier for a french to learn italian in comparison of a russian, a french cun be fluent in italian in 3 month.
I said what is easy for a culture won't be easy for another one, so in that sense that's stupid to say english is the easiest language. To say that you need to know all the languages in the world. Of course if you want to speak the most spoken language in the world (which is not in fact because chinese is the most spoken one) the easiest way is english.

propaganda

to tom again : "In English, they're just "a girl" and "a dog". And that's all you need to know. ".

I don't think that's all you need to know because it's not a question of knowledge, it's a question of expression. If you think like that, it reduces too mucch the possibilities to express yourself. I like english but i am not a native speaker. So i don't think i will be abble to express all my feelings in english, that's possible in french because it's my mother toungue. If all the world express himself with a so poor language ( i don't say english is poor, i say that kind of english which is only communication, a kind of business). The world won't be really interesting with a so poor english wich won't allow people to express all their feelings. At least it's n ot a benefict for english, because you reduce its own possibilities. English is not so simple especially when you need to write it. And they don't precise the fact pronunciation can be difficult with some words.
of course if you want to speak like Tarzan, english (and other languages are easy), but that's not the most interesting thing in languages : "me want cooki!"
So this why i think this is a fascist view, english is easy, others are not! English is the most effective, others are not! You need to speak english you don't need to speak other languages! No one in the world needs to speak especially english, he can live without it. The all world must to speak english. I hope (and i like english) a world like that won't never exist (and it won't). Because we will all look the same (isn't it what communists wanted?). This is a perfect example of colonisation, with people who think like that.
It's not so easy because english (all the languages infact)reduces some signification with other languages, example when you compare stories written in russian wich has been translated in english. The needs are not the same, everyone knows a languages reflects a culture, in Lapony, Sweden how many words do they have to speak about hte snow? In french how many words do they have to speak about cuisine etc

So yes!!!! it's fascist

i hope Tom i did not sincerely offended you, that's the article i do not like. I f i did i am sorry.

As far as football or soccer goes, giant clubs never fall they just stumble. Visca el Barça! Long live Barcelona FC! Days of glory will return the sooner the better. Regarding which is my native tongue I have no doubt: Catalan. I had nothing to do with it and we don't speak Catalan on purpose to disturb our Spanish or French-speaking neighbours. Nobody is bilingual by birth. Regarding my love of languages that includes Spanish in a especial way, and in my case English and French. But, after all, one only has one mother and loves her all the more no matter if she's more petite (meaning cute) than the rest. Regarding politics it's difficult for a language to thrive if another language pretends to be superior to the one spoken by the locals in its territory. Languages need to have a land where they thrive. That, of course, can be solved in different political ways which don't always necessarly mean independence, although that's a nice and neat solution. Think of Switzerland, Belgium or Canada, for instance, where territorial languages live under one same roof. Anyway, we have a small world now and borders are getting thinner. We should, nevertheless, respect cultures and languages for all their worth and use international languages for communication. Creation is a different concept altogether and can only be carried out if you master the tool.

I think we shouldn't make a mountain from a molehill. I do not think Tom was trying to state that English was the universal language everybody ought to speak. I do not think Tom was trying to deny cultural diversity either.
He was only explaining why, according to him, English is a usefull and easy language to learn. What is a bit awkward though, is the comparison of English with other languages, because it may be seen as an attempt to belittle them.

Still, French Man and Jordi's point about the feelings you put in your own language is very true, although not directly related to the topic.
I used to have that unpleasant feeling that I was not able to be very emotional while speaking in English. But reading a lot of books and watching tons of movie have got the better of it. Yet, what will probably never change is how much more comfortable I feel when I use my mother tongue.

Jordi, "we don't speak Catalan on purpose to disturb our Spanish or French-speaking ", what do you mean? No one speaks catalan in France so it does not disturb anyone in France.

"Nobody is bilingual by birth"? What about someone who's parents are 2 different nationalities?

In Belgium, they use 2 different languages that's true but they are not unified, i mean they want to separate each others

Lavoisel, you are true. Tom was not trying to deny anything, that's why i apologized myself. The problem is just the way they use to talk about the english which is too simple. And you know it's not.

"No one speaks catalan in France so it does not disturb anyone in France. "

Au contraire. They speak catalan in Perpignan, in the province of Roussillon (also known as North Catalonia or French Catalonia).

I did not know it was catalan. I apologize for that. But (because there is one) it still alive in Spain, do you have an idea how many people still use it in France?

I did not understand why you use the verb "disturb", why do you think some people could be disturbed because you speak catalan.

Here is an interesting site : http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/monde/langues_romanes.htm



Latin Français Italien Espagnol Occitan Catalan Portugais Roumain
clave clé chiave llave clau clau chave cheie
nocte nuit notte noche nuèit/nuèch nit noite noapte
cantare chanter cantare cantar cantar cantar cantar cînta
capra chèvre capra cabra cabra cabra cabra capra
lingua langue lingua lengua lenga llengua lingua limba
platea place piazza plaza plaça plaça praça piata
pons pont ponte puente pònt pont ponte pod
ecclesia église chiesa iglesia glèisa església igreja biserica
hospitalis hôpital ospedale hospital espitau hospital hospital spital
caseus fromage formaggio queso formatge formatge queijo fromago