[thechat] Most spoken languages in the world

Erika Meyer emeyer at lclark.edu
Fri Jul 5 15:11:04 CDT 2002


what is a Hispanic?  never mind...

I used to date one I think.  He was from northern New Mexico.  He
called himself "Spanish."

His Spanish roots go back to the 1600 in the that region.
They speak English but often choose to speak Spanish.

There are a lot of factors associated with immigrants' motivation to
learn a language including, community, age, and personality.
Community is a big one though.  If you are an older person, and you
can get by with your native language, you may choose to do so.   Some
people feel comfortable that way.

About 200 Indigenous languages were once spoken in the state of
California.  The government managed to completely destroy most of
them by kidnapping children and imprisoning them in boarding schools.
Corporal punishment was used on children who spoke their native
tongue.

This served to break family, community and religious bonds.  It
served to destroy language and culture, both of which are deeply
intertwined.

Call me crazy but I consider this homogenization to be a loss, not a gain.

My father in law is one of the last of about 5 native speakers of Yurok.
But he lost a lot in boarding school.  83 years old and it still angers him.

E

>Yeah, only because Hispanics are too damn lazy to learn it, unlike EVERY
>single other ethnic group over the last 300 years...
>
>Thanks,
>Ron White
>
><>
>I could (if pushed) dig up the source, but IIRC and
>if current trends continue English will be the #2
>language in the US in less than 10 years.
><>

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