Why do Romance language speakers constantly mention Latin?

JLK   Wed Jun 11, 2008 5:50 pm GMT
<<English have to pass the proff of time. For sure it is the lingua franca nowadays, but French too a century ago . Probably this status will only last a few decades, nothing comparable to Latin which was the lingua franca from the century II BC until the XVIII century. As you can see, English has a long road to follow to become half as important as Latin was and still is for the Humanity.>>

Rubbish. Latin was spoken in a very small part of the world, the same with French to a lesser degree. English is universal. It has accomplished what Latin never could, world supremacy.
Guest   Wed Jun 11, 2008 5:56 pm GMT
Latin was the language of known world despite in America it wasn't spoken because the Latins had no technology so settle in America. Anyway the role of Latin was much stronger in Europe than that of English in the world nowadays because it may be the lingua franca but in South America or China and other parts it's almost not used and in Europe people still speak their mother tongue whereas Latin completely replaced Gaulish, Etruscan, Iberian, and many other languages. People in Europe only use English to sing in Eurovision and nothing more but Latin became the everyday language of people living in many European countries and also the lingua franca from Ancient Times unti the XVIII century.
Guest   Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:02 pm GMT
English = lingua franca + business + technology. Isn't it enough for you?
Guest   Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:19 pm GMT
Degraded XXI century world is like a big harbor full of sailors and prostitutes. English is used as the lingua franca here , it is the language of money like many vulgar people say but these are so ugly things. They have no value for me, nor the language in which they are expressed . I prefer Ancient Times and Latin, a true classy language and a classy culture. Lingua franca or not, English will allways be the same, a language of pirates without any classyness. Latin may be not the language of technology , business and so on but it's the language of my heart and the one of those Romance speakers who respect their venerable roots. Latin is alive and will always be in our minds.
JLK   Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:28 pm GMT
<<Latin was the language of known world despite in America it wasn't spoken because the Latins had no technology so settle in America. Anyway the role of Latin was much stronger in Europe than that of English in the world nowadays because it may be the lingua franca but in South America or China and other parts it's almost not used and in Europe people still speak their mother tongue whereas Latin completely replaced Gaulish, Etruscan, Iberian, and many other languages. People in Europe only use English to sing in Eurovision and nothing more but Latin became the everyday language of people living in many European countries and also the lingua franca from Ancient Times unti the XVIII century.>>

Your ignorance knows no bounds. One can go to any big city in the world, whether it be in China or Latin America and find English speakers.
Guest   Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:30 pm GMT
English is 60% Latin only in dictionary entries.

The problem with this [bogus/misleading] percentage is that it does not account for English words formed from verbs + adverbs/prepositions. Unlike in a German dictionary, where seperable prefix-verbs are separate entries, in English dictionaries they are listed under the main verb entry:

for example: 'come to' ("revive, become conscious"; eg. When did he come to?) and 'come about' ("happen, transpire, develop") would be separate entries in German because they would be listed like "to-come" and "about-come".

In English, these count as ONE word--'come', when in fact there are SEVERAL of them (I did not list all possible combinations of 'come')

When these are taken into account, English is NOT 60% Latin. It's more like 30%.
Skippy   Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:30 pm GMT
English is far beyond where French was a century or two ago. I would argue that English is beyond Latin and, were it not for the Roman Catholic Church this would not even be an argument.

The Germanic languages have always had an inferiority complex with regard to Latin and, thus, the Romance languages... Hence the ridiculous prescriptivism in English with absurd rules like don't end a sentence with a preposition (so "he took off" and "shut up" are ungrammatical sentences).

Old English and its contemporary Germanic counterparts are more interesting languages than Latin anyway :-P
Guest   Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:32 pm GMT
<<English have to pass the proff of time. For sure it is the lingua franca nowadays, but French too a century ago . Probably this status will only last a few decades, nothing comparable to Latin which was the lingua franca from the century II BC until the XVIII century. As you can see, English has a long road to follow to become half as important as Latin was and still is for the Humanity. >>

DOn't foget that Cro-Magnon and Neanderthalic were spoken longer than Latin, and over a wider range. Perhaps we should all try and venerate them in speech?--"Ug!"
Guest   Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:34 pm GMT
Considering the time in which Latin was used, it was much more important than English is nowadays. Latin leaved much greater impact on the Humankind along so many centuries than English could ever dream.
Guest   Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:00 pm GMT
<The Germanic languages have always had an inferiority complex with regard to Latin and, thus, the Romance languages>

Very true but they don't wanna accept it.
Guest   Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:15 pm GMT
<<<The Germanic languages have always had an inferiority complex with regard to Latin and, thus, the Romance languages> >

So?
And the Slavic in turn have had an inferiority complex with regard to the Germanic. And Latin to the Greek.
your point is....?
Guest   Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:18 pm GMT
As a Germanic language speaker, I've never had an inferiority complex towards Romance language speakers, quite the opposite actually. The Germanic countries are far more prosperous than the poor Latinate ones.
Guest   Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:20 pm GMT
>>The Germanic countries are far more prosperous than the poor Latinate ones.

Which of the European ones are poor?
guest   Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:24 pm GMT
<<As a Germanic language speaker, I've never had an inferiority complex towards Romance language speakers, quite the opposite actually. The Germanic countries are far more prosperous than the poor Latinate ones. >>

Yes, this has been true since the late Middle Ages. The inferiority mentioned earlier is that from olden times, pre AD 1200 or so...
Guest   Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:28 pm GMT
>>The inferiority mentioned earlier is that from olden times

I see you are a German

"olden times"
or
alten zeiten?