World languages

JLK   Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:21 am GMT
<<That's right JLK. Those treaties and economic pacts where really fair for both sides I'm sure. The development of the British colonies in Africa and India was full of sunshine, rainbows, dancing teddy bears, and lollipops, right? The East India Company was a great example of peace, justice and equality of all mankind. I'm sure China was happy to have British, French, etc. colonial spheres of influence in their country as well.

Gimme a break!>>

You can say whatever you like, but the truth is we undeniably benefited those countries. We gave India democracy and their educational system. Last I checked, Hong Kong is a much nicer place than the rest of China...
Guest   Tue Mar 18, 2008 5:30 am GMT
Yeah , and I bet you support Iraq war.
Hewlett   Tue Mar 18, 2008 8:50 am GMT
<< Hewlett, because you are devoid of logic and obviously stubborn and bias, I will no long respond to your posts. It's quite a waste of time. Adios. >>

Examine yourself first. It's you who's devoid of logic not me. You're like other fanatics in here who keep on insisting on the huge number of native spekers when it's not the crtierion in terms of international importance but the number of foreign speakers.

I remember when I posted a message that Francophone Africa is one of the big factors why French is important and there you go again telling that "Africa is not that important" because all you want is Spanish and nothing else.
Guest   Tue Mar 18, 2008 8:53 am GMT
<< Hmm...not so sure about that. Both sides are to blame. There are plenty of Franco fanatics here as well. I take it that you are one also. That's all. Good bye. >>

And your also pne of them because if you were not then you would not joined those fanatics in lambasting French just to elevate your Spanish.
Hewlett   Tue Mar 18, 2008 8:55 am GMT
<< Hmm...not so sure about that. Both sides are to blame. There are plenty of Franco fanatics here as well. I take it that you are one also. That's all. Good bye. >>

And your also one of them because if you were not then you would not joined those fanatics in lambasting French just to elevate your Spanish.
Guesto   Tue Mar 18, 2008 8:58 am GMT
And your also one of them because if you were not then you would not joined those fanatics in lambasting Spanish just to elevate your French.

This works both ways Hew, especially in your case.
Guest   Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:03 am GMT
<< Besides, Christopher Columbus was an ITALIAN.... >>

Not to mention the Ferdinand Magellan was a PORTUGUESE....
Guest   Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:07 am GMT
<< And who exactly do you think discovered the new world? >>

It's the Norwegian Leif Ericsson who was the first European to discover the New World which he refered as Vinland.

He discover it 3 centuries before the ITALIAN Christopher Columbus set foot on the island of Hispaniola for the very first time.
Guesso   Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:20 am GMT
And your also one of them because if you were not then you would not joined those fanatics in lambasting French just to elevate your Spanish.

This works both ways Hew, especially in your RARE case.
Guest   Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:32 am GMT
Тhe French-fanatics manifest themselves whenever someone "forgets" to add French to their list or "fails' to mention it... This is especially true if Spanish is one of those languages included.
huesped   Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:02 pm GMT
^ Yes. I've noticed that too. Just for saying that, we are going to get another Franco assault wave coming our way.
Guest   Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:45 am GMT
Тhe Hispanic fanatics manifest themselves whenever someone mentions the facts of the importance of French and the similarities between Italian and Portuguese(They think that they own the Portuguese speaking world when the Lussophones hated to be likened to them and prefer to be with the French and Itlaian speaking world)... This is especially true if Spanish is not included in the number of speakers as foreign languages, languages of medicine, science, technology, inventions, arts, space exploration, literature, and language of international orhganizations.

What really pissed me is when the Hispanic fantics in this forum deleted important paragraphs in the French language article in Wikipedia out of envy. Example the percentage of French speakers in GB, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, etc. And to my dismay I read in the Swedish language article that the most popular foreign languages there are Spanish, German, and French when it should have been German, French and next is either Russian/Italian/Spanish. So they think that the Swedes are their associate people because they're blond and blue-eyed.

Antoher thong is in the article of Spain, it has higher GNP and Per Capita income thn either France or Italy but when I looked a the list of GNP and Per Capita of the countries, Spain is lower.

These are all lies made by the Hispanic fanatics. They would do everything to change facts into mere fallacies, product of obsession, hallucination, fanaticism. Why don't just wait and time will tell if Spanish would be readily accepted in countries where it's not really popular as of now.
Guest69   Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:44 am GMT
Hmmmm... A los que defienden el idioma español los llamas Hispanos fanaticos, y ¿tu que eres?

Intentas mezclar muchas cosas sin exito. El idioma portugues es mas parecido al español que al frances o al italiano. Eso lo sabe cualquier linguista. No hay que ir mas alla en este aspecto, ni darle una connotacion politica.

Hablas que los Hispanos borran algunos articulos del idioma frances, como si no tuvieramos otra cosa que hacer, etc, etc. Tambien hablas de la renta per capita de Italia y España. Segun un informe del Eurostat, España supero a Italia hace unos meses, aunque segun otros informes no. Depende de la forma de calcular. Todo esto son tonterias.



En cualquier caso, vamos al fondo del asunto. El idioma frances era la lengua diplomatica del mundo en 1900. Todos sabemos que los americanos ganaron las dos guerras mundiales. A partir de 1945, la lengua diplomatica paso a ser el ingles.

El frances ha intentado jugar el papel de segunda lengua diplomatica, pero sin mucho exito. Solo hay lugar a una lengua diplomatica, una lengua global, y esa lengua es el ingles.

En un escalon inferior se encuentran las lenguas que se hablan en una gran zona del mundo por mucha gente, y sea oficial en las Naciones Unidas. En este grupo de lenguas podemos ver al español, el chino, el arabe y el ruso.

El problema del frances es que no tiene una gran zona del mundo donde se hable por mucha gente. Se habla en Africa por minorias de la poblacion, pero la mayoria habla arabe o algunas otras lenguas africanas. Se considera que el frances es la quinta o sexta lengua mas hablada de Africa, despues del arabe, el ingles, el swahili, el hausa y el amarico.

En Europa le pasa algo parecido. El ingles, el aleman o el ruso son mas habladas que el frances. En definitiva, el frances no es una lengua hegemonica en ningun continente o zona importante. Es la lengua materna de unos 80 millones de personas, la mayoria de ellos situados solo en Francia.

El español, el arabe, el chino y el ruso tienen su zona de influencia, son mas hablados, y les ha afectado menos la poderosa influencia de la actual y unica lengua global, el ingles.
mac   Wed Mar 19, 2008 1:09 pm GMT
^^ I basically agree with you as you made some good points. However, you didn't mention French's position as a studied foreign language, which is something pro-French people will bring up in it's defense, as it is the main thing it that keeps it in the international realm. It's overall standing is Africa is very debatable I'm sure.

<< El frances ha intentado jugar el papel de segunda lengua diplomatica, pero sin mucho exito. Solo hay lugar a una lengua diplomatica, una lengua global, y esa lengua es el ingles. >>

That's true.
Guest   Wed Mar 19, 2008 1:13 pm GMT
Hasta la polla de estos hijos de puta

<<Antoher thong is in the article of Spain, it has higher GNP and Per Capita income thn either France or Italy but when I looked a the list of GNP and Per Capita of the countries, Spain is lower.

These are all lies made by the Hispanic fanatics. They would do everything to change facts into mere fallacies, product of obsession, hallucination, fanaticism. Why don't just wait and time will tell if Spanish would be readily accepted in countries where it's not really popular as of now.>>

No here the only fanatic are you


Spain's greater political stability is one key to its better economic performance. Over the past 12 years, its economic growth has been three times that of Italy's.

Even in areas where the Italians would seem to have a built-in advantage, they have slipped behind. Rome – the Colosseum, Forum and Vatican notwithstanding – gets fewer tourists nowadays than Barcelona. The same is true of industries in which Italians have centuries of experience. Today, the world's biggest fashion chain, Zara, is Spanish, as is Europe's largest bank, Santander.

Last December, Italians were appalled to learn that, in the previous year, Spain's real per capita gross domestic product had overtaken their own. For more than a century they had grown accustomed to regarding their Spanish 'cugini' or cousins with a sort of affectionate condescension. Yet here was the EU's statistics office telling them that their "poor relations" were actually richer


Berlusconi's last government passed one of Europe's most restrictive in-vitro fertilisation laws. Prodi's tried, and spectacularly failed, to bring in legislation that would have given limited civil rights to unmarried couples, including gays.

The contrast with Zapatero's record could not be starker. His government legalised full-blown gay marriage ahead of even the Scandinavian nations and opened the way for "quickie divorces". Half the members of his original cabinet were women – a political gimmick, perhaps, but one that reflected a real and remarkable change in the status of women in a country whose language gave the world the word 'machismo'.


Spain's greater vibrancy is evident in the arts too. Pedro Almodóvar is now arguably the best-known director working in a language other than English. But he already has a younger, Spanish rival in Alejandro Amenabár, who carried off an Oscar three years ago at the age of only 34. Penelope Cruz, like Antonio Banderas and increasingly Javier Bardem, can lay claim to worldwide followings. The novelist Carlos Ruiz Zafón's dark, ingenious literary thriller, the Shadow of the Wind, was a global blockbuster. The architect Santiago Calatrava has left his mark on city skylines across the planet.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/05/italy.spain