GOP culture war turns to English only

[Johnny Bugmenot]

Aren't you speaking more about different dialects than actual languages?

Not even close. Gaelic and English come from totally different branches of the Indo-European language tree diverging thousands of years ago. While the languages of Italy, Spain and France are loosely related, they're generally not mutually intelligible (which is what separates dialects, which can be understood between each other, from actual languages).

Heck, if you need a closer example... read about Rule 101. It's the law in Quebec that declares the province "French only." Former English towns have practically evaporated (see, for instance, the Eastern Townships like Sherbrooke, originally founded by the English as Loyalist havens after the Revolution; all speak French now). The only place where English is spoken with any level of regularity is in Montreal, and the Francophones want to eliminate that as well.

[Morpheus]

French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian form the core of the Romance Languages. I studied some spanish and then tried reading portoguese (a close relative) and the first paragraph baked my noodle.

Agreed, they are not mutually intelligible. German, Danish, and English are related too but try understanding german without studying it!

[mysticsoto]

French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian form the core of the Romance Languages. I studied some spanish and then tried reading portoguese (a close relative) and the first paragraph baked my noodle.

Agreed, they are not mutually intelligible. German, Danish, and English are related too but try understanding german without studying it!

On the other hand, my wife was a language major and learned pretty much all the Romance languages b'cse she said, they were so common that it was easy to pick up...