Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 14:49:00 +0200 From: Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be> To: Martin Karlsson <martin.karlsson@visit.se>, Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Dual language (was: cvs commit: src/sys/alpha/alpha clock.c) Message-ID: <p05111705b91928b7d20f@[137.120.142.179]> In-Reply-To: <20020527200708.GB441@foo31-146.visit.se> References: <20020522050350.GA266@lpt.ens.fr> <20020523124604.Z45715@wantadilla.lemis.com> <20020523061551.GA237@lpt.ens.fr> <20020523155541.H230@wantadilla.lemis.com> <20020523063222.GA470@lpt.ens.fr> <p0511170eb9127dabc846@[10.0.1.8]> <20020525075741.GC630@foo31-146.visit.se> <20020525175337.F84264@wantadilla.lemis.com> <20020526094106.GA345@foo31-146.visit.se> <3CF15CAD.C05C6BEE@mindspring.com> <20020527200708.GB441@foo31-146.visit.se>
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At 10:07 PM +0200 2002/05/27, Martin Karlsson wrote:
> Are there American myths of this sort about Canadians or Mexicans?
For those people who have any thoughts whatsoever about Canadians
or Mexicans, yes. Supposedly, all Candians say "eh" (pronounced
"aay") a lot, and all Mexicans supposedly wear sombreros and sleep
outside on the porch of their house with their knees tucked to their
chest, especially during the hours of 12:00 Noon and 3:00 PM.
> To my way of thinking, a major part of who I am is my language.
> Descartes said "I think, therefore I am", but I'd like to change
> that to "I speak and share a language with my neighbors, therefore I
> am". If you aren't allowed to communicate in your language, you
> aren't allowed to be who you are.
I would agree. I believe that the people in the Basque region of
Spain would also agree.
> Of course I think that if one migrates to a new country, priority
> one is to learn the language of that country,
As a foreigner living in Belgium, I would agree. However, there
is something out-of-whack when a significant portion of the
population living in that country speaks a language which is not
officially recognized (e.g., English) and there is an officially
recognized linguistic minority that is even smaller than this
unrecognized minority (e.g., German).
Moreover, if the country in question is officially multi-lingual,
they should accept any of the officially recognized languages and not
insist that you have no right to exist unless you speak a particular
officially recognized language.
A person I was talking to here at SANE 2002 mentioned that if a
Flemish speaking person and a Dutch speaking person went into a
restaurant or bar operated by a French speaking person, it would not
be unusual at all for the person speaking Dutch to be understood
perfectly well, while the person speaking Flemish gets nowhere -- the
proprietor is just being an asshole.
--
Brad Knowles, <brad.knowles@skynet.be>
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania.
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