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Never thought of it like that. I keep forgetting French is latin based. Always though of it as the odd ball language in western Europe. Sure it sounds a little like Portuguese but sounds nothing like Italian and Spanish. Portuguese, Italian and Spanish are all clearly related. Also English, German and Dutch are all clearly related. French just seems unique to me.
"sounding" alike is vague, and probably not the best way to determine languages proximity. A Portuguese and a Spaniard have very distinct accent when speaking English, for instance. Nonetheless, grammatically the closeness is obvious and so is with French and Italian, even Romanian.
I always figured it wasn't because they dont' speak Spanish at all, and most Brazilians don't really resemble typical Mestizo Latin Americans. However my workplace celebrated "Latin American heritage month" and included Brazil. I also see on here people seem comfortable referring to Brazil as part of Latin America. Now I'm confused
Most people in the USA think Latino refers to Spanish speaking people who like similar to this family.
I know not all Latino families look like that, but a lot of them do. I know Chile and Argentina are pretty white, DR is heavily black, and Cuba is a mix of white and black with fewer mestizo's. I guess my thing is I grew up in an era where "Hispanic" and "Latino" where used pretty interchangeably. The one Brazilian guy I knew in high school made it pretty clear to everyone that he didn't speak Spanish. He also looked nothing like the family above.
Never thought of it like that. I keep forgetting French is latin based. Always though of it as the odd ball language in western Europe. Sure it sounds a little like Portuguese but sounds nothing like Italian and Spanish. Portuguese, Italian and Spanish are all clearly related. Also English, German and Dutch are all clearly related. French just seems unique to me.
English is an oddball among the Germanic languages (having more French/Romance influences), and French is an oddball among the Romance languages (having more Germanic influence, though not to the same extent as the Romance inflences in English).
Also, when discussing Romance languages like French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian, don't forget Catalan either. While Catalan is very much its own language, it's a three-way cross between French, Spanish, and Italian.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Turnerbro
I know not all Latino families look like that, but a lot of them do. I know Chile and Argentina are pretty white, DR is heavily black, and Cuba is a mix of white and black with fewer mestizo's. I guess my thing is I grew up in an era where "Hispanic" and "Latino" where used pretty interchangeably. The one Brazilian guy I knew in high school made it pretty clear to everyone that he didn't speak Spanish. He also looked nothing like the family above.
While Argentina is mostly white, Chile is largely mestizo (though more European-oriented than mestizos in most other Latin American countries) plus a significant amount of whites, and the DR is mainly mestizo (with some mulattoes, blacks, and whites).
I always figured it wasn't because they dont' speak Spanish at all, and most Brazilians don't really resemble typical Mestizo Latin Americans. However my workplace celebrated "Latin American heritage month" and included Brazil. I also see on here people seem comfortable referring to Brazil as part of Latin America. Now I'm confused
OP, this is weird. Were you not aware that Portuguese is derived from Latin? As to your population-demographics criterion, bear in mind that Guatemala and Bolivia have an Indigenous majority, but are still considered part of "Latin" America. They aren't disqualified, just because the majority of the population speaks Native American languages.
If you having trouble with the Latin part, you must be aware that Latin America was first colonized by the Spain and Portugal, both of which lie on the Iberian Penninsula.
I know not all Latino families look like that, but a lot of them do. I know Chile and Argentina are pretty white
That family depicted in the photo really is the average Latino family in the US, agreed. Now, I've always thought that Argentina's and especially Chile's whiteness is really exaggerated. Look at these pictures, they don't look much "whiter" than their neighbors, Indigenous features are pretty common. This comes to the fact that each population's genesis is based more on a myth than on reality.
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