Why do people look down on Spanish?
And Presley, no I don't know what high school they go to. Out of the three cousins of mine who live there, two are already out of high school, and the youngest one is a sophomore I think. She's the only cousin of mine who's actually younger than me. And that's out of a couple of dozen cousins.
Back to languages. As I was saying at the start of this thread, for those who speak French, they are seen as "well educated", of a fine "class", "refined", "cultured", but Spanish seems to be like the "language of the slaves".
<< Back to languages. As I was saying at the start of this thread, for those who speak French, they are seen as "well educated", of a fine "class", "refined", "cultured", but Spanish seems to be like the "language of the slaves". >>
It's possible, that it was the same in europe. But this was long time ago, and since many years it's not anymore like this. Perhaps about one century ago.
now, if there's a ''langaueg of slaves'' probably it's polish or turkish because they are the people willing to make the nasty jobs for little money. But, slaves isn't the correct word I think - but i can't think of a appropriate one. in north europe, spansh make peole to think about their holidays, nice paellas and sunshine :-)spain is thought exotic and the people also.
the disrespect here ( about nationalities ) will be mostly against muslim countries, and east europe.I'm not saying this is my opinion !!! i am not against nobody for their nationality, race etc... but it's the opinion of many.
Benjamin,
it's interesting what you've wrote. I did know that calvinist is a very strict version of protestant, but i didn't heared before of all those different ones.what you think abotu religion is a medium to control the masses ?
Hola Pauline,
Guest : <<lo bueno es que conoces el espanol de Espana el verdadero>>
No hay tal cosa como *español verdadero* es uno solo con variantes en otros paises pero "controlado" por la Real Academia Española de la Lengua.
Pauline: <<muchas gracias !! mi error fue utilizar el sujunctivo cuando no se debe, no ? >>
Exactamente. :-)
<<haha !! son chistes ? al principio pensaba que N/A fue un chiste, y ahora estoy pesnando que la otra palabra también, porque hay la palabra : puta. es así ? >>
<<but i agree that it's not an offensive one.sometimes >>
En L.A. se usa 'lapicero' o 'boligrafo' tambien.
Las palabras 'p*ta' y 'm*erda' son muy malas palabras -siempre- y muy ofensivas. Equivalen a 'sh*t' y 'b*tch'
<<se llama computadora porque hay más influencia del inglés - supongo >>
'Computadora' viene del verbo 'computar' que viene del latin 'computare' e implica cualquier calculo con numeros. En latin moderno se dice 'instrumentum computatorium' o instrumento para contar.
Well, I will try to reflect the 'general view' of the Spanish language which is held in Germany.
Compared to French, Spanish (and also Italian) is a rather "exotic" language to learn since French is compulsory at school (together with English, of course). Spanish sometimes exists as an optional subject for which you have the possibility to choose in middle or upper school. This is one of the reasons why most students do have a more relaxed attitude towards the Spanish language compared to French.
Moreover, when thinking of Spanish, it is connected with holidays, sunshine and beautiful beaches in Spain (like Pauline already said). Nobody here would think of any country in Latin America where Spanish is spoken because of geographical reasons.
So, I don't think that people here 'look down' on Spanish, but probably it's the other way round because of those plenty Germans enjoying their holidays on the 'Ballermann' and making it Germany's seventeenth state.
Spanish is sometimes percieved as "exotic" here too. Some may associate it with the rainforest, and sexy actors like Antonio Banderas. But more often than not, it is seen as the language of poor people, of humble backgrounds, and those who take the jobs which most English speaking Americans would not, like landscaping, janitorial work, and heavy duty construction. So it is seen as the language of lower class people, and poor immigrants from the third world. Whereas French is seen as the language of the privileged, well educated elite. It's the language of fashion, romance, sophistication, etc. Many words are often replaced with their French equivalent to sound more fancy or polished. This is something that is so deeply ingrained in society, that it is hard even for me to avoid such a mentality. Italian too is often associated with Italian immigrants from the 19th and 20th century, mainly from southern Italy and Sicily, who were poor and undereducated, along with the stereotype of a big, boisterous, Catholic Italian family, where many family members join organized crime. I don't think of Italian this way, but many people do.
Essentially everything which 'ich' said about perceptions of the Spanish language in Germany is the same for Britain. We (well, not me personally) go to Spain a lot on holiday, spend most of the time sitting by the pool or on the beach, say 'dos cervezas por favor' about every half an hour and then get rather drunk. As 'ich' says, Spanish people are probably more likely to look down on British and German people than the other way around.
Hola Aldvm,
« Las palabras 'p*ta' y 'm*erda' son muy malas palabras -siempre- y muy ofensivas. Equivalen a 'sh*t' y 'b*tch' »
Normalmente no las digo palabras como éstas - de vez en cuando, si estoy muy enfadada digo la segunda palabra que escribiste. En francés no es tal ofensiva, y se usa mucho aunque claro, se queda en principio mala. Desde ahora, sé que en espanol son ofensivas y no las diré nunca más.
El idea tenía solamente, porque pesnaba que fue un chiste - aquí se lo hace : jugar con palabras.
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« 'Computadora' viene del verbo 'computar' que viene del latin 'computare' e implica cualquier calculo con numeros. En latin moderno se dice 'instrumentum computatorium' o instrumento para contar. »
Si, entiendo la connexión, sin embargo en los países donde se habla las languas románticas, en generál dicimos algo como : ordenador y palabras semejantes, no ?Pensaba que era resulto de la influencia inglésa porque ressemble : « computer ». Eso sería quizás una coincidencia ?
Hey Pauline, what are some of the main differents between the French spoken in Belgium, and the French variety? And, would you say there was a noticeable difference in how people look between Wallonia and Flanders?
--We (well, not me personally) go to Spain a lot on holiday, spend most of the time sitting by the pool or on the beach --
...but the best places on the beach are reserved for the German tourists by placing their towels on hotel owned beach chairs early... ;-)
« ...but the best places on the beach are reserved for the German tourists by placing their towels on hotel owned beach chairs early... ;-) »
Ja genau! Das ist, was man immer in England über den Deutschen sagt. Hahahaha!
* über DIE Deutschen (ich denke...)
« And, would you say there was a noticeable difference in how people look between Wallonia and Flanders? »
This isn't entirely related to your question, but I would say that there is no noticeable difference between how white people generally look between England and Brussels. Brussels is an interesting example, actually, because it's located in Flanders, the architecture is largely Flemish style and it was traditionally mainly Dutch-speaking, but it has now become about 90% French speaking.
Hallo LAA
<< Hey Pauline, what are some of the main differents between the French spoken in Belgium, and the French variety? >>
the main differences are in the pronunciation, and vocabulary. it's very simple for us understand them and they can understand us also, so you can see that the variation is small. before there was a walloon langauge but now this is not much spoken.
in france they speak more quicker and sometimes use another word e.g. verb or number. for the numbers 70 and 90 for exemple, in france it's different that here, switzerland and I think canada, but the french one is the standard and learned abroad.
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<< And, would you say there was a noticeable difference in how people look between Wallonia and Flanders? >>
sometimes yes. in Flanders there are more tall people, and bigger, not fat, but the walloons look more delicate, and many walloons are short. There are 2 ''typical'' types in belgium : blond, blue-eyes, or dark hair and eyes. especially the second type you can find in Wallonia, but many blond people also. I look mediterranean, but i'm completely belgian, and this is not unusual. it's a country where latin meets germanic.
also, I find that some poeple have a typical belgian face, but of course this is impossible describe it !
<< « ...but the best places on the beach are reserved for the German tourists by placing their towels on hotel owned beach chairs early... ;-) »
Ja genau! Das ist, was man immer in England über den Deutschen sagt. Hahahaha! >>
LOL !!!