81–90 of 605 posts
Whether the UK is part of the EU or not is irrelevant to using english as a mean of communication between europeans. I remember a study from the French ministry of education which estimated for each language, what was the percentage of the EU population, to which it is not a native language, that studied it as a foreign language either in high school or university. German and italian are in the 15-20% range, french a…
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My personal hope is that the EU would make a plan to adopt English as the only official language. Now that UK is gone it can't be seen as unfairly promoting one country. I think the example of Switzerland shows that there is no problem if spoken language is different from official language.
How does Switzerland demonstrate that?
Although loosely related, they are two different languages.
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Culture can still thrive without being nationalist or traditionalist or whatever you call it. What would people think if there was an american movement to stop using foreign loan words in English because they're diluting our culture? I live in Quebec, Canada, where there is extreme policing of the French language, including various unconstitutional legislation to "preserve" French (the Canadian constitution has an ov…
And yet Qubec is one of the most culturally distinct places in the U.S. and Canada combined. Surely cultural preservation laws are part of that.
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But “Italian nationalists” aren’t a thing. There have been Italian language wars in border regions but they fizzle once non-locals get involved. For example, South Tyrol has a large German speaking population. The Italian government has historically encouraged adoption of Italian. But South Tyrol has (had?) a large Sicilian population that supported the local German speakers.
Very interesting observation! I think it's great if local languages and identifies can continue to thrive, but I don't think it can be said that Italian nationalism isn't a thing though - it has explicitly been a thing as the suppression of regional dialects and the 'making of Italians' was a stated objective of Italian nationalists immediately after the unification of Italy. btw this does not make Italy exceptional…
It’s always been touch and go.
Garbaldi and Mussolini placed a strong emphasis on “nationalism,” but other leaders were more focused on a building coalitions.
Can you give me the names of some Italian nationalist parties?
I was told by my Sicilian family the only reason Sicily is a part of Italy is Garibaldis ship was blown off course during a storm.
No idea if that’s true.
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Yeah, it was shocking here in Stockholm when there were BLM protests in 2020. It's like people are more involved in US politics than their national politics.
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Culture can still thrive without being nationalist or traditionalist or whatever you call it. What would people think if there was an american movement to stop using foreign loan words in English because they're diluting our culture? I live in Quebec, Canada, where there is extreme policing of the French language, including various unconstitutional legislation to "preserve" French (the Canadian constitution has an ov…
According to this comment, we should (just) accept that English, in a generation or two, will become some sort of world language with no interest in the preservation of other languages and cultures associated with those cultures. This is a bit provocative, but while we are there, we could also tear down the Colosseum, the Forum too since it is all rubbish, and build instead offices, or residential communities because…
Ham and prosciutto are very different foods.
If words come from another language and mean different things, let those words exist as they are. If a new native word is created from the foreign word, that is okay. That is how languages grow and evolve.
The law in question just says official documents and communications must be in Italian which makes perfect sense in Italy.
https://intimesgoneby.wordpress.com/2015/07/23/on-this-day-f...
As an Italian now living abroad, every time I go back I am horrified by the way Italians mis-use all sorts of English words in many contexts of life... One example: "smart-working". At the beginning of the pandemic, when we all started to "work remotely" or "work from home", Italians decided to call it "Smart Working". The first time I heard this term from a relative I was very confused, I thought it was just young p…
One of English's greatest strengths as a language is its willingness to borrow wholesale from other languages when it comes up short. It would be pretty ironic for English to take issue with the way in which other languages adapt and use its words.
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Very interesting observation! I think it's great if local languages and identifies can continue to thrive, but I don't think it can be said that Italian nationalism isn't a thing though - it has explicitly been a thing as the suppression of regional dialects and the 'making of Italians' was a stated objective of Italian nationalists immediately after the unification of Italy. btw this does not make Italy exceptional…
The “making of Italians” has usually meant imposing northern Italian norms and language upon Southerners. It’s always been touch and go. Garbaldi and Mussolini placed a strong emphasis on “nationalism,” but other leaders were more focused on a building coalitions. Can you give me the names of some Italian nationalist parties? I was told by my Sicilian family the only reason Sicily is a part of Italy is Garibaldis shi…
Same with modern French, which is basically Parisian, modern Spanish essentially Castillian. There is never an neutral language, it is linguistic supremacism one over the other. I absolutely respect Sicilians (and other regional groups) for resisting 'Florentine cultural imperialism'