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I think it should be English. It will save Americans from having to learn another language beyond the 10 or so Spanish phrases they currently use to tell their housekeepers and lawn care people what to do.
It's just a matter of numbers and which country you live in. Mandarin is spoken by more people in the world than any other language. English (and all its varieties) comes in second, but a far second.
The Normans who themselves were actually Danes - I believe - who adopted French as their language. There must have still been a fascination for romanic languages by all these germanic tribes such as the Longobards who moved to Italy in the 6th century and also dropped their original germanic dialect.
question for those who are more enlightened than I, are there other languages that have incorporated vocabulary from other languages as much as English has? Off the top of my head it seems French words have been the most actively adopted.
If you are speaking of native speakers, this is true.
But if you're speaking of all those speakers who can get by quite nicely in either language, English may well have an edge, and certainly will carry you through daily life over a much greater part of the globe, as I'm sure you know, mlb.
But of course, I'm sure you did mean native speakers.
...I'm one of those odd types who finds Castellano (Spanish) and all its variations easier and more comfortable to speak than the English expected of me since birth. For some reason Spanish is like comfortable, well-worn shoes. I'm not certain why.
As for you Quebecers ...
Tabarnak!!!...I love feigning that I do not understand Quebecois or English when ordering breakfast at a Westin or Hilton in Montreal. I´m real good at flustering about in Spanish and pointing at a menu without photos or illustrations. It irritates the waiters and waitresses so much I'm certain they have headaches the rest of the day.
What, if any, is the distinction between Deutch (or is it deutsch? sorry about that) and Suisse Deut(s)ch?
Is the strange dialect spoken by most Swiss just German with a French accent? Or is it, as you have sort of alluded, simply German invaded by a lots and lots of French words. Note: I avoided the term "cognates."
Inquiring minds want to know. I trust your opinion over that of Wikipedia.
...
Tabarnak!!!
Câlice!!!!
Cinq six boîtes de tomates vartes!!
Haha, yes. Sti' Tabarnak!
At what age did you start learning Spanish?
Actually, I'm in Ontario, and Quebec is five minutes away ...
Mi abuela was appropriated from somewhere outside of Monterrey, MX, and passed on up into Pleasant Grove, Ewetaw to be raised as a "Laminite child" by rencent Welsh converts to the mormon church (circa 1890).Basically, she was adopted to be a house-slave, although that strange cultish religion insists that the people of Central 'Mericuh are one of the lost tribes of Israel (hence the invented name of Laminite). Trouble is, no mormon ever asked any Central Americans if they held the same belief.
So, I always heard northern Spanish ...
... but didn't start speaking it until I entered the 6th grade where we were exposed to 15 minutes of conversation every day. By the 7th grade, most of us could understand and actually respond in any one of the four subjunctives.
I took a beginning Spanish class my first year of university only to work on getting rid of bad grammar spoken by los nortenos de Sonora, Chihuahua, and Baja. After that it was if I was born understanding the language; not unlike how Golden Retrievers are born understanding complete English sentences.
But before I could speak Spanish, much to my parent's chagrin I came home to my parent's farm house every day until I was 12 speaking Japanese, because all of my playmates were kids from the Japanese farming families who surrounded us. I can still hold my own in a Japanese restaurant.
We really need to meet for a long lunch that starts with a couple of bottles of Pinot Noir, may include a pinot grigio, and ends with at least one over-iced bottle of Freixnet Cava (extra dry, it's the official cava of my adopted home and is especially good when poured from about one meter above the glass).
Jason, this is a very funny thought. However, as far as epigrams and bon mots go, that "10 or so Spanish phrases" is acutely observed, yet, all in all, the sentence falls a bit flat -- "what to do" needs a bit jazzing up to keep the energy of the reader high.
If I may act as intermediary, might I suggest you pass this post on to Nick8 for a quick Oscar Wildean type rewrite? Nick8 is known for his terse, concise, brusque, pithy, neatly constructed bon mots.
Always yours,
Will
I'd follow your advice if you were a better writer than I.
Don't take it personally, Jase. When Will gives a kiss, it's just as likely to be a kick in the ass as well.
Yo boy, awhora.