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The world is not English-speaking. Don't forget, English is just a second or third or forth language in most places, and as such only used occasionally in certain situations, whereas people there speak their own languages 99.9% of the time, be it in Europe, be it in Africa, be it in Asia...
No, they aren't. First we have a guy claiming German and Swiss German are different languages, and now we have a guy who claims that European and Canadian French are almost two different languages.
They are without question the same language and they are mutually intelligible. It is spelled exactly the same (unlike British English vs. American English) so the biggest difference is the pronunciation. The difference is comparable to the difference between European and Brazilian Portuguese. Not even remotely close to being separate languages.
"If a comparison can be made, the differences between both dialects are probably larger than those between standard American and standard British English, but comparable to the differences between Brazilian Portuguese and that of Portugal (but with less differences in phonology and prosody compared to the Portuguese)."
As a not native French Speaker, I only find a difference in the accent. Canadian French sounds kind of redneckish with a few singularities, easier to understand for foreigners (my opinion).
As to English, as Neuling said, it's just a second, third or fourth language for Europeans, nobody will abandon their language as immigrants in the US did.
It's not about abandon,it's about dominance.
Even if we disagree about the terminology,almost everybody on the planet has to abide by english,like it or not.
To anybody speaking a western European language derived from Latin and old Germanic (a language related with Latin), English is not foreign at all. Most English words derive from Latin and Greek.
To anybody speaking a western European language derived from Latin and old Germanic (a language related with Latin), English is not foreign at all. Most English words derive from Latin and Greek.
English is just like some sort of Esperanto.
The world needs an international language. It happens to be English. It is easy to pick up by most people, not being in gender.
As to English, as Neuling said, it's just a second, third or fourth language for Europeans, nobody will abandon their language as immigrants in the US did.
To anybody speaking a western European language derived from Latin and old Germanic (a language related with Latin), English is not foreign at all. Most English words derive from Latin and Greek.
English is just like some sort of Esperanto.
Greek, not so much. French words make up the largest % of English vocabulary, due to the conquest of England by the northern French and the use of French as a first language among the English nobility for a few centuries. The large percentage of Latin words in our vocabulary comes from French influence, influence of the Catholic church, and the the influence of Latin being a language of diplomacy and education in ancient and medieval times.
It's not about abandon,it's about dominance.
Even if we disagree about the terminology,almost everybody on the planet has to abide by english,like it or not.
English does not dominate any other language. Why don't you go and live in Spain or Brazil or India or wherever for a year...
One can only abide by laws, not by languages. If you move to another country as suggested you will soon notice that everything there abides by the local laws based on local traditions and written in language languages. That is why English will never be more than just a second or third language - Europe consists of very old, complete, established countries and cultures.
Another interesting thing is that regardless of the language humans have all but ceased to invent new words, all they do is recombine existing syllables from all kinds of languages. That is why in my view Latin is probably the world's most important language. It totally dominates science, technology, etc.
Greek, not so much. French words make up the largest % of English vocabulary, due to the conquest of England by the northern French and the use of French as a first language among the English nobility for a few centuries. The large percentage of Latin words in our vocabulary comes from French influence, influence of the Catholic church, and the the influence of Latin being a language of diplomacy and education in ancient and medieval times.
French = Neolatin language derived from vulgar Latin. French, and Latin, includes many Greek words. Latin was important during recent times, most American Founding Fathers knew Latin, Latin was a prerequisite not many generations ago in all the western world.
German, even old German, also includes Latin words. In fact, German had indeed many more Latin origin words before Romanticism and Nationalism. Ol' Addie removed many of those words.
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