Romance languages

Guest   Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:13 pm GMT
This fight between French and Spanish shows that the Romance languages are very strong

The second and third most studied languages Worldwide are Romance. Besides, Italian and Portuguese are very popular. Even, English can be considered half Romance (vocabulary and structure).


1. English (half Romance)

2. Spanish or French (Romance)

3. French or Spanish (Romance)

4. German

5. Chinese

6. Italian (Romance)

7. Portuguese (Romance)
Jef   Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:35 pm GMT
English IS NOT "half Romance" and never will be. English is a Germanic language with a Germanic structure but lots of Latinate words.
òa   Wed Jan 21, 2009 1:14 pm GMT
English can be considered half Romance (vocabulary and structure).


English does not have a romance structure, just compare romance languages verbal system and the English one. You probably don't know a thing about linguistics.
Guest   Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:16 pm GMT
I don't see significant structural differences between English and Spanish. yes English is genetically a Germanic language but it suffered a process of convergence towards Romance languages and now it resembles romance languages more than German for example. Only when English is spoken its true Germanic nature can be noticed , IMO. But as I use formal writen English it seems more Romance than Germanic.
jitan   Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:46 pm GMT
The Spanish verbal system is highly inflected and preserves quite well the old tenses of ancient indo-european languages, such as the subjunctive mood. English verbs are extremely simplified and analytical. In addition English doesn't have any noun gender either
Guest   Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:50 pm GMT
many tenses like future in Spanish can be either conjugated or analytically expressed.

That English lacks noun genders makes it more different from German than from Spanish as German has 3 genders and Spanish only 2.
precision   Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:09 pm GMT
1. English (half Romance)

2. Spanish or French (Romance)

3. French or Spanish (Romance)

4. German

5. Chinese

6. Italian (Romance)

7. Portuguese (Romance)

This is old because in 2007 Chinese and Italian passed German and Arabic passed Portuguese.
luar   Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:14 pm GMT
wowo Italian and Arabic, my favourite languages!
Leasnam   Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:46 pm GMT
<<English is genetically a Germanic language but it suffered a process of convergence towards Romance languages and now it resembles romance languages more than German for example. Only when English is spoken its true Germanic nature can be noticed , IMO. But as I use formal writen English it seems more Romance than Germanic. >>

English is structurally Germanic, 100%.

It is true that English does not resemble German, but German's structure is not indicative of all germanic languages--it is the odd-ball. English's structure resembles and stems largely from Old Norse, and modern Scandinavian languages have a structure very similar to English.

It is also true that Romance languages like French and Spanish have structures very similar to English and other germanic languages, but this is purely coincidence. English did not derive, nor was influenced in any way by Romance languages.

The only impact Romance has had on English is in vocabulary (loanwords), with the other germanic languages being close behind.
nmnm   Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:51 pm GMT
It is also true that Romance languages like French and Spanish have structures very similar to English and other germanic languages, but this is purely coincidence. English did not derive, nor was influenced in any way by Romance languages.


I don't agree. Romance languages are very conservative (except FRench) in some morphological features, like verbs. English and most Germanic languages are very innovative.
Skippy   Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:52 pm GMT
No, English is not a "half Romance" language, but due to significant borrowing, I understand what Guest means. Knowledge of a Romance language will help you with all the others, as well as (to an extent, perhaps 'halfway,' with English).
Sabir   Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:17 pm GMT
French is still strongly the second most studied language. Projections says that Chinese and Italian can pass easily Spanish in next years. I know that Italy is working hard with "Accademia della crusca." Here in Morocco opened 10 Italian schools in the last 6 years. The same is happening in all the Mediterranean countries.
Colette   Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:30 pm GMT
<<French is still strongly the second most studied language>>

Not in USA.
Sabir   Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:43 pm GMT
<<French is still strongly the second most studied language>>

Not in USA.

This is true, in USA Spanish is second and French is in decline all around the world, but French language was in the past very important.
So this second position is still solid. In the next 20 years you can immagine that French will be 5th or 6th at the same level of Italian and German, but now is second thanks especially to his heritage.
Guest   Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:49 pm GMT
Latin was more important than French was, is or will ever be but Latin is no longer one the most studied languages. We live in a fast changing world, what was important yesterday may turn into insignificant tomorrow.