World's Stangest Languages

Xatufan   Thursday, February 03, 2005, 22:48 GMT
Catalan is not a mixture of languages. It is a language by itself. But since Romance language form a continuum, it looks like Occitan, French and Spanish.
Someone   Saturday, February 05, 2005, 05:09 GMT
"¿De veras? Me has sorprendido. Quizá no eres un hablante nativo de español. La doble 'f' en 'suficiente' me lo demuestra. De cualquier manera, tu español es perfecto, y si no hubiera sido por ese pequeñísimo error ortográfico, de verdad creería que eres español. O a lo mejor sí lo eres y te confundiste con el inglés. Creo que el chino es el idioma del futuro."

No es el único error de ortografía de su mensaje. También escribió "podría" incorrectamente.
Jordi   Saturday, February 05, 2005, 05:53 GMT
I think Xatufan will become a great linguist. Bravo! I afully agree with him.
Jordi   Saturday, February 05, 2005, 05:57 GMT
I fully agree (not I afully agree). Pardon me sir!
Someone   Saturday, February 05, 2005, 06:09 GMT
I agree that Xatufan could be a good linguist. He has a very good grasp of the English language for a non-native speaker.
FreeMan   Sunday, February 06, 2005, 03:11 GMT
Muchas gracias Xafutan, esta es la primera vez en que alguien ha pensado que mi español es bueno. Lo he estado aprendiendo dos años en la escuela pero todavía tengo muchos problemas porque los profesores no pueden enseñar adecuadamente, y por eso tengo que aprenderlo en casa por medios de internet. Sin embargo estoy feliz en saber que me estoy mejorando.
Sanja   Sunday, February 06, 2005, 16:16 GMT
I think that I saw in another thread that Xatufan is only 14 (not sure though, maybe I'm wrong). Is that true? I can't believe it, because he is way too smart and knows too much for that age. :)
Jordi   Sunday, February 06, 2005, 17:00 GMT
Sanja,
Xatufan told us he had turned 15. Of course, it's possible. Think on how smart you were at 15.
¡Xatufan enhorabuena!
Sanja   Sunday, February 06, 2005, 17:10 GMT
Well I wasn't that smart and my English definitely wasn't that good.... LOL :)
Xatufan   Tuesday, February 08, 2005, 20:04 GMT
Thank you. :) :) :) Maybe you're being sarcastic. Anyway, I'm 14. I really told you that I was 15? I'm sorry if I did, because I lied.
Jordi   Tuesday, February 08, 2005, 20:08 GMT

We are not being sarcastic Xatufan. Perhaps you were 13 and you told us you were now 14. I tend to believe that you must be that age because although you are a very bright young lad (with a great intelligence) you tend to say things that only somebody your age would do and which make you all the more lovable. I should know. My son is 16 and my daughter has just turned 15.

Xatufan we love you and we are not being sarcastic at all. What I can't forgive you, though, is that you should learn Quechua (after all you country is bilingual and you should learn both languages and cultures."

I always forget if you're from Ecuador or Peru.
MandyMoore   Tuesday, February 08, 2005, 20:15 GMT
I hate Catalan. It is a cheap imitation of Spanish. Dialect of fishmen as they call it.
Jordi   Tuesday, February 08, 2005, 20:25 GMT
Dear MandyMoore

It's your privilege to hate languages but keep it to yourself, please, and don't make too much fuss about it. I, of course, think Catalan is the most beautiful language in the world like all native speakers think of their own language (I hope).
Brennus   Wednesday, February 09, 2005, 06:59 GMT
Jordi,

For some reason, I also like the Catalan language, even better than it's sister languages Spanish (Castillian) and Portuguese. For instance, to me, Els gats (The cats) and La llengua (The tongue) just sound more cool than Los gatos and La lengua or Os gatos and A lingoa.

I never really heard of Catalan until my first year of college (1968) when I read a book on world languages by some German author (I forget his name now) plus W.D. Elcock's "The Romance Languages" where he mentions that Catalan has chopped off many of the flexions that other Romance languages like Portuguese, Spanish and Italian still have e.g. La mà for "The hand" instead of La mano; Els conec "I know them" instead of Les conozco etc.
Jordi   Wednesday, February 09, 2005, 07:54 GMT
Thank you Brennus. That was very kind of you and since you mention it, that makes Catalan a consonantic language (very much like English) and with a great many mono-syllabic words (also very much English). In that sense it is very much gallo-romance (like Occitan and French). As you know, we are a bridge language (and Occitan) between Gallo-Romance and Iberian-Romance languages (Spanish and Portuguese).