# languages in your country



## cartersam

How many languages are spoken in your country?

Is there one main language?  If so, what is it?


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## BasedowLives

you probably want this in the cultural forum.

isn't french spoken in parts of lousiana?


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## LizzieUSA

Yes, I think some people in the New Orleans area speak a dialect of French. Then there's Creole in that area, too. Don't forget the millions who speak Spanish. There are still a lot of older people whose parents were immigrants and they speak their parents' birth tongues. I think it's still fair to say that dozens of languages are spoken in the US. 
However, English is obviously the primary language. I think there are fewer multilingual people in the US than in, say, Europe. And those who are multilingual probably don't get to use their other languages as much as people in regions where the unique language is historical, rather than brought over by immigrants. Examples would be Cataluña, the País Vasco or Galicia in Spain, the various indigenous communities with their own languages in Central and South America, and the nations that were members of the Soviet Union.


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## annettehola

In Denmark the national tongue is Danish. But from we are 11-12 years old we are introduced to English at school. From 14 to German and from around 15-16 to French. Films are NOT dubbed in Denmark, for people are against it, and find it laughable. This is one of the reasons as well, that people in Denmark generally have a vast knowledge of languages coming from other countries. I don't know why it seems to be a great issue in DK that the people speak many languages well, but I think it's a political decision: We are a small nation - 5 million - and it is therefore of great importance to speak other languages apart from the national one.
Annette


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## elroy

In Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages.  English and Russian are widely spoken as well, so I voted 3-5 (i.e. 4).


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## CLEMENTINE

Hello,

In Switzerland (where I worK), there are 4 official languages:
- French (also called Romand)
- German (a bit different from German from Germany or Austria, as they use a couple of different words, and have a strong specific accent)
- Italian
- Romanche (which is a mix of those 3 languages, rather hard to understand)


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## annettehola

Perhaps it was time to define the question originally asked by Cartersam. He asked two questions: 1) How many languages are spoken in a given country. 2) What the main language in that given country is. I would like to ask Cartersam: what do you mean with "languages spoken" in a country? It might seem a straightforward thing to answer, this, but actually it implies: 1) To speak a language is that to have it as one's language? 2) Are we to count minority groups as well as the socalled national population of a given country? Because if this is the case, then I would like to add, that Arabic, Turkish, Greenlandish, Icelandic and Kurdish are also languages of Denmark.
Annette


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## Outsider

cartersam said:
			
		

> How many languages are spoken in your country?


Well, there are of course small communities of immigrants who speak various languages, but the overwhelming majority of the residents in the country speak Portuguese.



			
				cartersam said:
			
		

> Is there one main language?  If so, what is it?


The main language of Portugal is Portuguese. There's actually another official language called Mirandese, which is a dialect of Asturo-Leonese, but only a very small fraction of the population speaks it, in rural areas near the central part of the border with Spain.


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## *Cowgirl*

Many languages are spoken in the US, but American English is the main one.


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## taning

in my country, in almost every province, people speak a different dialect. But most people here can speak in English or Tagalog.


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## annettehola

What is a "main language"? Is that the biggest language in a given country (= the one spoken by most of the population there) or is it to be understood as a country's socalled "national language"?
Before we define the topic here I can't see we are getting anywhere.
Annette


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## cartersam

In answer to annettehola,

I meant "main language" as one spoken by 50% or more of the population.

When I say "languages spoken" I mean that more than 5% of the population speaks it.  

Thanks for your questions annettehola.


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## nycphotography

Here in New York city, I regularly encounter:

English, Spanish, Russian, Yiddish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Arabic

I often encounter:
Italian, Portuguese, French, Hindi, Thai, Vietnamese, Hungarian, Dutch, German, Polish, Hebrew, Tagalog

I occasionally encounter (or have encountered at least once):
Murati, Swahili, Georgian, Turkish, Igbo, Housa, Malay, Romanian, Greek, and all the scandavian languages (which I personally can't tell apart)

That's just what I've come across.  And don't get me started on dialects!  

We have at least 4 dialects of French spoken in the US (French, Canadian, Cajun Creole, and Haitian Creole), and several dialects of English (BE, AE, Jamaican, Trini, Australian, and all of our home grown slang dialects).

Now for the bad news:  With the exception of spanish, korean, cantonese, thai and vietnamese, (and french in Louisiana) it is somewhat hard to find native speakers of most languages _*on demand*_.    They tend to assimilate, and while they are still around, it's not always so simple to find someone to practice your french or italian with.


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## asm

I'd think you mean a significant propotion of the population, if you say 50% or more, you are setting the survey to 1 or 2 languages at the most; with three languages you would need 150% of the population, which is quite impossible (unless people talk two at the same time, but I think that is not the question).
Sorry for my intervention, but I think the question is quite interesting and languages that are important in the culture of the country should count.

For instance, in Mexico I'd say that the vast majority speaks Spanish, this is the only language that is widely used; however, there are some ethinc groups that still use dialects. The main of those is Nahuatl, but there are many. People in these ethnic groups make up +/- 12% of the population (13 million in 2000), but not all of them speak another language.




			
				cartersam said:
			
		

> In answer to annettehola,
> 
> I meant "main language" as one spoken by 50% or more of the population.
> 
> When I say "languages spoken" I mean that more than 5% of the population speaks it.
> 
> Thanks for your questions annettehola.


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## irisheyes0583

nycphotography said:
			
		

> Here in New York city, I regularly encounter:
> 
> English, Spanish, Russian, Yiddish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Arabic
> *DITTO*
> 
> I often encounter:
> Italian, Portuguese, French, Hindi, Thai, Vietnamese, Hungarian, Dutch, German, Polish, Hebrew, Tagalog
> *DITTO*
> I occasionally encounter (or have encountered at least once):
> Murati, Swahili, Georgian, Turkish, Igbo, Housa, Malay, Romanian, Greek, and all the scandavian languages (which I personally can't tell apart)
> *DITTO*
> 
> That's just what I've come across. And don't get me started on dialects!
> 
> We have at least 4 dialects of French spoken in the US (French, Canadian, Cajun Creole, and Haitian Creole), and several dialects of English (BE, AE, Jamaican, Trini, Australian, and all of our home grown slang dialects).
> *DITTO*
> 
> Now for the bad news: With the exception of spanish, korean, cantonese, thai and vietnamese, (and french in Louisiana) it is somewhat hard to find native speakers of most languages _*on demand*_. They tend to assimilate, and while they are still around, it's not always so simple to find someone to practice your french or italian with.
> *DITTO*


 
Perfectly put! We are the melting pot, huh?!


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## CaroldeChile

In my country or in Santiago at least, we only speak spanish as a main language, but lately english has started to be very important for working people (That's why I studied translation).  There is also mapudungun that is spoked by mapuches among them, and also they have to speak spanish for most of thing that is necessary to do (buying, ask for information, etc.)

I think that as we are so far from everywhere and limited by the Andes and by the ocean, it is very expensive to travell to countries where you can learn other languages than spanish, maybe that is the reason why we don't have other languages (exept for inmigrants that speak their language among them)


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## cherine

In my country everyone speaks *Arabic*. There are different dialects of Arabic, varying from North to South, but mainly we all understand each others 
There are also some "local languages" (if I can call them so), which are: _*Nubian*_, spoken by the ethnic group living in Nuba (south of Egypt), and _*Siwi*_ spoken by the people of Siwa, which is an oasis in the Western Desert. 
Beside these, people understand/speak English, French and some other European languages; but we can't consider them as languages *of* the country.
There is also the *Coptic* language which is the last form of evaluation of the Ancient Egyptian language. Coptic is only used in Coptic Churches (yet sermons are given in Arabic) and i learned just few days ago that Nubians use the Coptic letters to transcript their language (which i forgot to say is an oral one, just as the Siwi).


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## cartersam

In respone to *asm*,

It is imposible if everyone in the nation only speaks one language.
However, this is often not the case.  In the United States many people speak English, Spanish and French.  Therefore, it is possible to have more than two main languages.

*Carter*


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## asm

I agree with you; however, I think the question was releated to the languages (the many languages a country may have), and not to the % of people who are bilingual (or tri.., etc). I stated this in my post:

"(unless people talk two at the same time, but I think that is not the question)."

Although I agree when people say that Spanish is spoken in the USA, I do not think Spanish (or other languages) should be considered in this account. The language that immigrants bring in are languages spoken by them, not by the people of the country. 
I know some Hispanic people who do not speak Spanish at all (pero esa es otra historia)


Switzerland, on the other hand, does have several languages; they are not spoken by immigrants but by swiss people for generations. China and India are perfect examples of those countries with more than one language. Spain is also a member of that group.





			
				cartersam said:
			
		

> In respone to *asm*,
> 
> It is imposible if everyone in the nation only speaks one language.
> However, this is often not the case. In the United States many people speak English, Spanish and French. Therefore, it is possible to have more than two main languages.
> 
> *Carter*


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## Fernando

In Spain this question is quite funny: I would say that number of languages spoken in Spain ranges from:

Officially (5):
- Spanish
- Catalan 
- Valenciano 
- Galician
- Basque

Unofficially (or more or less):

- Aranese/occitan (according to Catalan Statute)
- Bable (Asturias)
- Aragonese / Fabla (Aragon)
- Andalucian
- Extremaduran / Castúo (Extremadura)
- Portuguese (tiny percentage in a town called Olivenza)
- Madrileño (Madrid)
- Mallorquín (=Balearic?)
- ...
All of them but Portuguese are considered dialects from Spanish. Aranese and Balearic are dialects of Catalan...or maybe not.

Just to get things easier:

- To many Catalan-Speakers Valencian is not but a dialect from valencian... except for valencians, many of them will shoot you if you think alike.
- To some galicians Galician is not but a dialect of Portuguese...but the others will blow your head if you dare to say such a thing.
- To many Spanish-speakers half of the dialects simply do not exist.
- To some Balearic-speakers they do not speak Catalan. An yes, you guessed it. They will kill you.
- Of course, the main language spoken in Balearic Island is German.
- In Ceuta and Melilla you will hear 'bereber', not Arabic...which you can hear in some neighbourhoods in big cities.
- 'Andalucian' is a nice way to summarize the speak of Huelva, Málaga, Cádiz, Seville...
- I forgot the speak of Canary Islands (it depends on the island)
- Of course, Balearic depends on the island too.
- Did I say that there are several dialects of Galician?
- Of course I considered only unified Basque (Eusko Batua). For many Basque-speakers batua is a pretencious try to unify several languages, or dialects, or whatever. 

DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHY THERE ARE NOT TWO SPANIARDS WHO AGREE?


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## mari.kit

hello!!

Here in the philippines, main language is Filipino/Tagalog.. in every region there are different languages spoken and it branch out to dialects also.. there are more or less ten..

ill get back if i can list them here..


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## jess oh seven

in the UK there are more languages than you'd think...

English
Gaelic (Scottish and Irish)
Welsh
Manx (do people still speak this?)
Languages from the remote islands of northern Scotland

any more? some say Scots is a language, too.


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## boelo

In holland you could say that there are 3 languages: dutch, fries and limburgs


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## valerie

Fernando,
they did not shoot you for this one, perhaps they are more pacifist than may seem


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## Roi Marphille

Fernando said:
			
		

> Officially (5):
> - Spanish
> - Catalan
> - Valenciano
> - Galician
> - Basque
> 
> Unofficially (or more or less):
> 
> - Aranese/occitan (according to Catalan Statute)
> - Bable (Asturias)
> - Aragonese / Fabla (Aragon)
> - Andalucian
> - Extremaduran / Castúo (Extremadura)
> - Portuguese (tiny percentage in a town called Olivenza)
> - Madrileño (Madrid)
> - Mallorquín (=Balearic?)
> - ...
> All of them but Portuguese are considered dialects from Spanish. Aranese and Balearic are dialects of Catalan...or maybe not.
> 
> Just to get things easier:
> 
> - To many Catalan-Speakers Valencian is not but a dialect from valencian... except for valencians, many of them will shoot you if you think alike.
> - To some galicians Galician is not but a dialect of Portuguese...but the others will blow your head if you dare to say such a thing.
> - To many Spanish-speakers half of the dialects simply do not exist.
> - To some Balearic-speakers they do not speak Catalan. An yes, you guessed it. They will kill you.
> - Of course, the main language spoken in Balearic Island is German.
> - In Ceuta and Melilla you will hear 'bereber', not Arabic...which you can hear in some neighbourhoods in big cities.
> - 'Andalucian' is a nice way to summarize the speak of Huelva, Málaga, Cádiz, Seville...
> - I forgot the speak of Canary Islands (it depends on the island)
> - Of course, Balearic depends on the island too.
> - Did I say that there are several dialects of Galician?
> - Of course I considered only unified Basque (Eusko Batua). For many Basque-speakers batua is a pretencious try to unify several languages, or dialects, or whatever.
> 
> DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHY THERE ARE NOT TWO SPANIARDS WHO AGREE?


Amigo Fernando, 
Your explanantion is neutral and I know that you don't seek controversy, nor me. 

I'd just like to point few things, strictly and only from a *Filological* point of view: 
1)Catalan, Valencian and Balearic are the same language. There is no shadow of a doubt about it. 
2)Yes, Aranese is a variation/dialect of Occitan.
______________

Reg. the political stuff and perceptions of people...i'm not going there.


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## Fernando

valerie said:
			
		

> Fernando,
> they did not shoot you for this one, perhaps they are more pacifist than may seem



People in this forum either:

- They are too peaceful

- They do not have read it.

PS: But, please, note the extreme care Roi talk about Spanish languages. He knows we are entering in a minefield.


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## Fernando

Roi Marphille said:
			
		

> I'd just like to point few things, strictly and only from a *Filological* point of view:
> 1)Catalan, Valencian and Balearic are the same language. There is no shadow of a doubt about it.
> 2)Yes, Aranese is a variation/dialect of Occitan.


My Occitan is a bit rusty, so I have no opinion. I copied-pasted the main opinion: a variation of occitan, as you have said, but forgot it when saying that "all of them are variants of Spanish". To me it is a bit strange since it is a kind of 'filologic' dream: Well, we have found the Occitan is ALIVE. It is spoken in a valley in the Pirinees! I would expect the Aranese to be a dialect of Catalan.

About the other languages /dialects some of them evolved just the same way as current official languages and then their 'terrritory' was 'invaded' by Spanish, to a point when they are not even noticeable (aragonese, leonese and bable) while other ones are clearly evolutions from Spanish ('andalusian' or 'extremaduran').


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## annettehola

Annette's opinion: We should not use languages as weapon. We should use them for what they are: A peaceful means of communication.  
I also think Catalan is a language in its own right. But I think it's nonsensical when I hear Catalans speaking about "els paisos catalans." There are no Catalan countries. This is to take nationalism too far. There are places, regions, areas within Spain where Catalan is spoken and is the dominant language. All my respect. And the Catalans should certainly insist on their language and their right to speak it. Where I see a problem with horns is when patriotism (=I love my country, the place I come from, its traditions and above all my language) is substituted with nationalism (=I do not love what is not mine. All outside my context is alien to me, and I will not tolerate it.) There is a very thin line here, senyors i senyores, and it's about keeping on the side where the heart is warm and the head is able to think.
"Freedom for Catalonia" is says on almost all streetcorners. But is that a freedom TO do things (in a Catalan way) or is it a freedom FROM something/someone (the Spanish)?
In other words: Is it patriotism or is it nationalism?
What is it the Catalans want?
I reckon the hard and intolerable past this people suffered under Franco. But "la normalització de la llengua catalanà," what is that about? In my opinion the Catalans are also being rather aggressive themselves about it.  For in fact you are employing exactly the same attitude yourselves. Why not learn from history instead of hitting each other in the head with it?
Annette


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## belén

annettehola said:
			
		

> Annette's opinion: We should not use languages as weapon. We should use them for what they are: A peaceful means of communication.
> I also think Catalan is a language in its own right. But I think it's nonsensical when I hear Catalans speaking about "els paisos catalans." There are no Catalan countries. This is to take nationalism too far. There are places, regions, areas within Spain where Catalan is spoken and is the dominant language. All my respect. And the Catalans should certainly insist on their language and their right to speak it. Where I see a problem with horns is when patriotism (=I love my country, the place I come from, its traditions and above all my language) is substituted with nationalism (=I do not love what is not mine. All outside my context is alien to me, and I will not tolerate it.) There is a very thin line here, senyors i senyores, and it's about keeping on the side where the heart is warm and the head is able to think.
> "Freedom for Catalonia" is says on almost all streetcorners. But is that a freedom TO do things (in a Catalan way) or is it a freedom FROM something/someone (the Spanish)?
> In other words: Is it patriotism or is it nationalism?
> What is it the Catalans want?
> I reckon the hard and intolerable past this people suffered under Franco. But "la normalització de la llengua catalanà," what is that about? In my opinion the Catalans are also being rather aggressive themselves about it. For in fact you are employing exactly the same attitude yourselves. Why not learn from history instead of hitting each other in the head with it?
> Annette


We are not going to use this thread for YET another discussion on Catalan. Please if you want to discuss the situation of Catalan language, do so in the appropriate thread.

And FYI guys, German in the Balearic Islands..mmm..I wish I could speak German as if I were a native, but even being born and raised in Mallorca, nope, German isn't by far a language there yet...

Belén


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## Roi Marphille

annettehola said:
			
		

> Annette's opinion: We should not use languages as weapon. We should use them for what they are: A peaceful means of communication.
> I also think Catalan is a language in its own right. But I think it's nonsensical when I hear Catalans speaking about "els paisos catalans." There are no Catalan countries. This is to take nationalism too far. There are places, regions, areas within Spain where Catalan is spoken and is the dominant language. All my respect. And the Catalans should certainly insist on their language and their right to speak it. Where I see a problem with horns is when patriotism (=I love my country, the place I come from, its traditions and above all my language) is substituted with nationalism (=I do not love what is not mine. All outside my context is alien to me, and I will not tolerate it.) There is a very thin line here, senyors i senyores, and it's about keeping on the side where the heart is warm and the head is able to think.
> "Freedom for Catalonia" is says on almost all streetcorners. But is that a freedom TO do things (in a Catalan way) or is it a freedom FROM something/someone (the Spanish)?
> In other words: Is it patriotism or is it nationalism?
> What is it the Catalans want?
> I reckon the hard and intolerable past this people suffered under Franco. But "la normalització de la llengua catalanà," what is that about? In my opinion the Catalans are also being rather aggressive themselves about it. For in fact you are employing exactly the same attitude yourselves. Why not learn from history instead of hitting each other in the head with it?
> Annette


Dear annettehola, 
This thread is about languages not about Nationalism..you are right: "languages are peaceful means of communication"   you seem to be quite confused with the other stuff.
Thanks and Regards, 
Roi


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## ampurdan

Fernando said:
			
		

> My Occitan is a bit rusty, so I have no opinion. I copied-pasted the main opinion: a variation of occitan, as you have said, but forgot it when saying that "all of them are variants of Spanish". To me it is a bit strange since it is a kind of 'filologic' dream: Well, we have found the Occitan is ALIVE. It is spoken in a valley in the Pirinees! I would expect the Aranese to be a dialect of Catalan.


 
Well, it is not. If you consider the orography of the valley where Aranese is spoken, you'll notice that this valley is open to North-West (here springs the Garonne, a river which crosses Toulouse and Bordeaux, before flowing into the Atlantic); that is, the lands where once Occitan was mainly spoken and where now is sometimes heard. So, it's no so unlikely that it is spoken in that valley of the Pyrenees. Take for granted that the "Estatut" did not make it up, people talk it over there, it is not a matter of 'philologic' dreams, as you say. It's not a dialect of Catalan, I speak Catalan and when I've heard Occitan is as difficult to understand for me as was French before I studied it. And this didn't change when I happened to read it.

Of course, I understand perfectly well Valencians and Balearics; well, maybe they have to explain me some particular expressions, but of course not as much as a Mexican have to explain to a Spaniard about his particular Spanish. Is Mexican a different language? Hipothetically, they might say they speak Mexican, not Spanish; but that wouldn't prevent us from understanding the programmes in Galavision, would it?


So, in Spain have official recognition, as far as I am concerned:

1. Spanish.
2. Catalan-Valencian
3. Galician (I don't know if today it can still be scientifically considered the same language as Portuguese; with independence of what Galicians and Portuguese say).
4. Basque.

There are more languages spoken: bable, aragonese... But I'm not sure if they have some official recognition in their regions.

Madrileño, extremeño, andalusian, canario and the like are only dialects of Spanish, just as Mexican Spanish, Argentinian Spanish, Carebean Spanish or Peruvian Spanish. Even you can say there is a Catalan Spanish, the way Spanish is spoken in Catalonia, influenced by Catalan and other factors.


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## annettehola

Dear Roi,
  I am quite confused with "the other stuff," as you call it. It is because I don't actually consider it so much "other" when we speak about languages. I think they are two elements of language. I don't think we can or should take these two things apart: 1) The language and 2) The place where it is spoken. I believe the two things are very, very, very closely connected. I don't think we can speak about a language if we seperate it from its place. I believe a language to be a physical thing created by and in lived life, and I don't think it's just a grammatical entity. A language is a language, Roi, because there are people speaking it. And I actually don't think I'm more confused than the Catalans themselves. It seems to be a fact among the Catalans that they cannot even agree among themselves as to what Catalan actually is. People from Lleida poke fun at people from the islands and so on. This is what confuses me: That there are people who claim independence for Catalunya and yet cannot agree on what Catalan is.
With respect,
Annette


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## belén

annettehola said:
			
		

> Dear Roi,
> I am quite confused with "the other stuff," as you call it. It is because I don't actually consider it so much "other" when we speak about languages. I think they are two elements of language. I don't think we can or should take these two things apart: 1) The language and 2) The place where it is spoken. I believe the two things are very, very, very closely connected. I don't think we can speak about a language if we seperate it from its place. I believe a language to be a physical thing created by and in lived life, and I don't think it's just a grammatical entity. A language is a language, Roi, because there are people speaking it. And I actually don't think I'm more confused than the Catalans themselves. It seems to be a fact among the Catalans that they cannot even agree among themselves as to what Catalan actually is. People from Lleida poke fun at people from the islands and so on. This is what confuses me: That there are people who claim independence for Catalunya and yet cannot agree on what Catalan is.
> With respect,
> Annette


Please Annete, I repeat, *do not go off topic here*, there are, I believe, 2 threads on Catalan open in the Culture Forum at this moment, please put your comments there.

Belén


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## Fernando

ampurdan said:
			
		

> Well, it is not. If you consider the orography of the valley where Aranese is spoken, you'll notice that this valley is open to North-West (here springs the Garonne, a river which crosses Toulouse and Bordeaux, before flowing into the Atlantic); that is, the lands where once Occitan was mainly spoken and where now is sometimes heard. So, it's no so unlikely that it is spoken in that valley of the Pyrenees. Take for granted that the "Estatut" did not make it up, people talk it over there, it is not a matter of 'philologic' dreams, as you say. It's not a dialect of Catalan, I speak Catalan and when I've heard Occitan is as difficult to understand for me as was French before I studied it. And this didn't change when I happened to read it.



Thank you for your answer, Ampurdan


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## MarX

cartersam said:


> How many languages are spoken in your country?
> 
> Is there one main language? If so, what is it?


Hello!

Indonesia has definitely more than ten languages. I don't know the exact numbers, though.

Yes, there is one main language. I.e. Indonesian.

Grüsse,


MarK

PS: How do you vote on the poll?


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## belén

The poll is closed, as the original poster decided to put a expiring date on it when he/she opened it.
Cheers,
Belén


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## MarX

belén said:


> The poll is closed, as the original poster decided to put a expiring date on it when he/she opened it.
> Cheers,
> Belén


Okay.
Thanks Belén!


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## luis masci

In Argentina, there’re a small communities of natives who speak other Indian languages like Quichua and Guaraní; but the overwhelming majority speak Spanish.
The languages of the immigrants who arrived until early XX century have been mostly lost among their descendants.
Reading this thread, I was thinking what a big contrast we have between Europe and Latin America. While in places like Switzerland and Spain they have a lot of languages in a relatively small portion of land, we here can travel from the Patagonia to Mexico and won’t be so much trouble to understand each other. Unless for some regionalisms we speak all Spanish ( Except Brazil of course).


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## MarX

luis masci said:


> While in places like Switzerland and Spain they have a lot of languages in a relatively small portion of land, we here can travel from the Patagonia to Mexico and won’t be so much trouble to understand each other. Unless for some regionalisms we speak all Spanish ( Except Brazil of course).


And even many Brazilians understand Spanish. 
But I don't want to drive this thread off-topic now.


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## Sepia

annettehola said:


> In Denmark the national tongue is Danish. But from we are 11-12 years old we are introduced to English at school. From 14 to German and from around 15-16 to French. Films are NOT dubbed in Denmark, for people are against it, and find it laughable. This is one of the reasons as well, that people in Denmark generally have a vast knowledge of languages coming from other countries. I don't know why it seems to be a great issue in DK that the people speak many languages well, but I think it's a political decision: We are a small nation - 5 million - and it is therefore of great importance to speak other languages apart from the national one.
> Annette



Don't forget there is a good deal of native Danes of German mother tongue in Soenderjylland - the region also known as Nodschleswig. I don't know how many they are, but they are so many that there is a newspaper in German, in major cities there are German schools (where you can graduate for "Studentereksamen" with German as your main language), and some radio stations broadcast local news in German.

Likewise there is in Schleswig-Holstein (the northernmost federal state of Germany) some 2-4% Germans whose mother tongue is Danish or North Friesian. These two cultural groups have been represented in the regional government by their own political party, and there are schools with Danish as their main language. There is also a regional newspaper in Danish. 

On top of that there are still a good deal of Germans whose mother tongue is Low German. How many? Don't know for sure, but you still meet people occasionally who didn't really speak High German until they began going to school. Regional services of the radio network have various shows and newscasts in Low German, so there must still be a good deal op people who speak that language.


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## HUMBERT0

There are 62 national indigenous surviving languages, Spanish is the official language, 6% percent of the population speaks an Indigenous language, even though 13% of the population is Amerindian, the proportion of people who know indigenous languages is declining.

I guess one reason for such a wide diversity in my country, has to do with the fact that even though the country is midsize, distances are quite considerable, with deserts, snow covered mountains, high peaks, high plateaus, valleys, etc. that breaks-up the land into different ecosystems. The distance from my city to the Capital (Mexico City) is roughly the same one as Madrid (Spain) and Warsaw (Poland); the distance between my city and Cancun is roughly the same one as the city of Zaragoza (Spain) and Moscow (Russia).

  % of the Mexican population that speaks an indigenous language:
  Year 1950/2005 - 11.2% / 6.7% - Spoke an indigenous language

  Whit in the indigenous speaker’s population some are monolingual and some are bilingual:
  Year 1950/2005 - 67.5% / 87.7% - Are indigenous bilingual speakers
  Year 1950/2005 - 32.5% / 12.3% - Are indigenous monolingual speakers

  Here: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Mexico
http://www.inegi.gob.mx/est/contenidos/espanol/rutinas/ept.asp?t=mlen01&c=3325
http://www.inegi.gob.mx/est/contenidos/espanol/rutinas/ept.asp?t=mlen10&c=3337


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## Lugubert

In Sweden, the majority language is Swedish. There are five officially recognized minority languages, to which I wish a few more would be added.

In one not very major part of our second largest city, Göteborg, 27 languages are large enough (and possible to find resources for) to be taught to pupils as "home languages", and 42 languages are spoken by pupils. For all of Sweden, the number of home languages/mother tongues exceeds 100. Wherever at all reasonable, school children have the right to get supplementary tuition in their non-Swedish languages.


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## Web2

In Canada, there are two officials languages (English and French), but the majority language is english, we speak french predominantly in Quebec, and in the north of New-Brunswick.


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## Macunaíma

Portuguese has the status of official language in Brazil, and is the only language spoken by the vast majority of Brazilians, but there are approximately 180 indigenous languages spoken here, most of them in tribes located in the Amazon. There are also some relatively isolated areas where the languages brought by immigrant settlers are still preserved (although rarely as a first language). I've been to a city where the newspaper with the largest circulation is written in a dialect of German called_ Plattdüütsch_ and I know of cities in Brazil where dialects of Italian that have practically died out in Italy are still spoken (Scolari, the coach of the Portuguese national football team, who is Brazilian, speaks one of those dialects). But by and large, except for very isolated indigenous peoples, which represent a small fraction of our population, Portuguese is the mother tongue of Brazilians and the only one used for official purposes.


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## Sepia

Lugubert said:


> In Sweden, the majority language is Swedish. There are five officially recognized minority languages, to which I wish a few more would be added.
> 
> In one not very major part of our second largest city, Göteborg, 27 languages are large enough (and possible to find resources for) to be taught to pupils as "home languages", and 42 languages are spoken by pupils. For all of Sweden, the number of home languages/mother tongues exceeds 100. Wherever at all reasonable, school children have the right to get supplementary tuition in their non-Swedish languages.



  Could you tell more about the officially recognized ones and possible other native non-recognized languages?

Who speaks them and which rights do the official recognition include?


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## thelightchild

Here in the Ukraine

Russian is spoken by about 95% of people
Ukrainian is spoken by about 90% of people
English is spoken (at different levels) I would say by about 20% of people

Russian is mostly heard on the east
Ukrainian is mostly heard on the west and in rural areas of the east
Also, unfortunalely so called "surzhyk", a kind of mix of Ukrainian and Russian is widely used


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## HUMBERT0

Lugubert said:


> In Sweden, the majority language is Swedish. There are five officially recognized minority languages, to which I wish a few more would be added.
> 
> In one not very major part of our second largest city, Göteborg, 27 languages are large enough (and possible to find resources for) to be taught to pupils as "home languages", and 42 languages are spoken by pupils. For all of Sweden, the number of home languages/mother tongues exceeds 100. Wherever at all reasonable, school children have the right to get supplementary tuition in their non-Swedish languages.


Are these _sockenmål_ (lit. "parish speech")?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_dialects


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## lazarus78

I'm Spaniard living in Montenegro, the newest country in the world that declared independence on summer 2006. They are now discussing on the new Constitution, and the agreed official languages are:

Montenegrin
Serbian
Croatian
Bosniak
Albanian

The differences among Montenegrin/Serbian/Croatian/Bosniak are not clear for many linguistics and even for many of the inhabitants, and perfectly understandable among all of them... Language has became a form of diferenciation in these countries due to political reasons, and new grammars were adopted to stress these diferences. Some will say that Croatian and Bosniak are completely different from Serbian. Well... Are they?

regards,

Lazarus


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## stanley

I'd say less than 2 because most people only know German well. There are a bunch of people who speak English fairly well. But they are not native speakers of it. So it's only German that is wide spread throughout the country.


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## Gaspare Lu Gattu

many languages and dialects are spoken in France, including what we call the "Patois".

In the "Pays Basques" ("Pais Vascos") a lot of peoples speak Basque. 
In Bayonne, the most important Basque's city on the French side, there is an entire Basque neighborhood (historical part of the town) where the inhabitants trade in Basque, named their stores in Basque, never speak french in the street...

In Corsica, many peoples speak Corsican, a language close of Toscan except the Calvi's dialect which come from Genoan.
The Corsican language is a Latin language just like French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese but even if it has similitarities with Italian, Corsican has its own rules...
We have to mention, notably, the unique phonetic of this language.

In Britanny (Breizh), the Celtic Breton language is spoken, close to Gaelic-Scottish and Celtic-Irish languages.

The "Chti-Mi" is a popular dialect, almost a language, which existing in the North France (Picardie, Nord-Pas-De-Calais). Nearly 1 million people speak it, no joke.

The Provençal is a mosaic of 3 languages present in the South-East France (not in Corsica. There is the Provençal's Rhone Valley (Camargues, Marseilles, Avignon, Arles until Toulon which is, by the way, unconnected to the Rhone Valley), the "Niçois" or "Nissart" in Provençal which is close to Genoan language and speaks only in the city of Nice and its little region. At last, there's the Alps's Provençal, related only the regions of Briançon and Gap.

Many other languagues or dialects are spoken in France but those there are the most important in relation to the population who still use them.

Withal, many other languages are spoken in France cause of the different immigrands generations...
Arabic, Kabyle, Spanish, Italian, Vietnamese, Polish... Today, some of them lived thru the times and are still spoken by these communities like Arabic, Kabyle and also Pouilles's dialect.


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## Stiannu

In Italy, besides Italian, law has recently recognised 12 linguistic minorities: French, French-Provençal and Occitan at the borders with France, German and Ladin at the borders with Germany and Switzerland, Slovenian at the borders with Slovenia, Greek, Croatian and Albanian in some villages in Central or Southern Italy, Catalan in Alghero (Sardinia), Sardinian (in Sardinia) and Friulan (in Friuli-Venezia Giulia) - these 2 are usually considered as the other regional "dialects" by the population in Italy. 

Besides these official minorities, every region has its dialect (or dialects). That really makes a lot. 

Edit: _what was I thinking??? There is NO border between Germany and Italy. I should have written "Austria and Switzerland" instead. Sorry _


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## Sepia

Gaspare Lu Gattu said:


> ...
> 
> In Corsica, many peoples speak Corsican, a language close of Toscan except the Calvi's dialect which come from Genoan.
> The Corsican language is a Latin language just like French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese but even if it has similitarities with Italian, Corsican has its own rules...
> We have to mention, notably, the unique phonetic of this language.
> ...



???!!! Are you sure about that? I used to work down there - a professor in French with whom I worked used to say that nobody could be really sure where that language came from, except of course that it is a Romance language.


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## Gaspare Lu Gattu

Sure, nobody can claim exactly where does Corscian language came from but the most tangible prooves are that it is came from the mediaeval Toscan, related to the Toscan presence in Corsica before the successives Genoan and French annexations.


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## Outsider

> Corsican (_Corsu_ or _Lingua Corsa_) is a Romance language spoken on the island of Corsica (France), alongside French, which is the official language. A similar language to Corsican is also spoken to some extent in Sassari and in the Gallura area of Sardinia (Italy). It has strong similarities to Italian and in particular the dialects of Italian from Tuscany.
> 
> According to Ethnologue[1] Corsican is a Southern Romance language, akin to Sardinian.
> 
> Wikipedia


Confusing, I must say, as Tuscan is definitely not a Southern Romance language!


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## stanley

Stiannu said:


> In Italy, besides Italian, law has recently recognised 12 linguistic minorities: French, French-Provençal and Occitan at the borders with France, German and Ladin at the borders with Germany and Switzerland, Slovenian at the borders with Slovenia, Greek, Croatian and Albanian in some villages in Central or Southern Italy, Catalan in Alghero (Sardinia), Sardinian (in Sardinia) and Friulan (in Friuli-Venezia Giulia) - these 2 are usually considered as the other regional "dialects" by the population in Italy.
> 
> Besides these official minorities, every region has its dialect (or dialects). That really makes a lot.


In the German part ( bozen ), most of the people speak German right? I was told that you can choose if you want to go to a German or a Italian school. Do you know anything about that?


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## Stiannu

stanley said:


> In the German part ( bozen ), most of the people speak German right? I was told that you can choose if you want to go to a German or a Italian school. Do you know anything about that?


 
Yes, most people speak German there. I think in Bozen there's an important Italian-speaking community, but it must be a minority anyway. 
I'm not sure about the choice of the school, but you must be right. It has occurred to me to meet people from Alto-Adige (as Italians call that region) or Sud-Tirol (as germanophones call it), who were Italian citizens but could hardly pronounce some very basic sentences in Italian. So yes, they must have attended a German school.
"It's history, baby." I'm not particularly shocked, but a lot of Italian people think that, since they're Italian citizens, they shoud know the official language in their country (at least, studying it as a second language at school). Who knows?


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## Sepia

Stiannu said:


> Yes, most people speak German there. I think in Bozen there's an important Italian-speaking community, but it must be a minority anyway.
> I'm not sure about the choice of the school, but you must be right. It has occurred to me to meet people from Alto-Adige (as Italians call that region) or Sud-Tirol (as germanophones call it), who were Italian citizens but could hardly pronounce some very basic sentences in Italian. So yes, they must have attended a German school.
> "It's history, baby." I'm not particularly shocked, but a lot of Italian people think that, since they're Italian citizens, they shoud know the official language in their country (at least, studying it as a second language at school). Who knows?



At least it would be a good idea for their own sake. Lili Gruber probably would not have made it as far as she has, if she did not know both languages. 

Would one get any decent job in Bolzano without knowing both languages?


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