Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English in official communications

[Mother of Puppies 36,615]

13 minutes ago, Economy said:

I guess personally I don't see the point of maintaining a language for the sake of culture.

 

I have a Portuguese background and speak Portuguese fluently myself but... Now living in Canada, if I ever have kids I'm not sure if I'd bother making them learn it... There aren't gonna be any relatives left by the time they grow up that still speak only Portuguese and they can communicate just fine in English

This, I find so sad tbh. If you speak portuguese it would be the easiest thing in the world to teach your kids this language, in a playful way, because as a kid you learn it so much faster and easier... and speaking different languages can give you many more opportunities later on in adult life.

If your kids spoke 2 languages fluently they could later get more job offers or better paid offers. They could decide to move to different countries like Portugal or Brazil, if they ever wanna leave their country because of economical or other reasons.

I am so glad that I speak 3 languages fluently. I can communicate almost anywhere in the world, since I speak german, english and spanish. And I have to thank my parents for that because we moved to Spain when I was young where I learned english and spanish.

 

Speaking different languages is good for the brain too. There's research on it that shows people who speak more languages tend to have dementia 4-5 years later than people who only speak 1 language.

 

I mean, everyone has their opinion on this. I think it's amazing when people speak more languages and every single one has its own vibe and culture. I love the diversity of it all.

There are certain things (or jokes) in german that are hard to explain in other languages, because you only get them once you speak the language. The same goes for spanish and also english. Without languages the world wouldn't be so rich. And language barriers can also be super funny

[Economy 52,861]

12 minutes ago, Mother of Puppies said:

This, I find so sad tbh. If you speak portuguese it would be the easiest thing in the world to teach your kids this language, in a playful way, because as a kid you learn it so much faster and easier... and speaking different languages can give you many more opportunities later on in adult life.

If your kids spoke 2 languages fluently they could later get more job offers or better paid offers. They could decide to move to different countries like Portugal or Brazil, if they ever wanna leave their country because of economical or other reasons.

I am so glad that I speak 3 languages fluently. I can communicate almost anywhere in the world, since I speak german, english and spanish. And I have to thank my parents for that because we moved to Spain when I was young where I learned english and spanish.

 

Speaking different languages is good for the brain too. There's research on it that shows people who speak more languages tend to have dementia 4-5 years later than people who only speak 1 language.

 

I mean, everyone has their opinion on this. I think it's amazing when people speak more languages and every single one has its own vibe and culture. I love the diversity of it all.

There are certain things (or jokes) in german that are hard to explain in other languages, because you only get them once you speak the language. The same goes for spanish and also english. Without languages the world wouldn't be so rich. And language barriers can also be super funny

U do have some valid points as to benefits of knowing more than one language... At least as far as if they wanna move (as far as jobs here in Canada very very few would consider Portuguese language an asset given immigration from Portuguese speaking countries is virtually dead and practically only immigrants 60 or older now prefer it over English)

 

But then the benefits to speaking different languages are only present because different countries speak different languages in the first place...

 

And my original point was if we all spoke one language would be so much better. The benefits of being able to move to other countries etc would be just as attainable if we all spoke the same language

 

But it's not really realistic at least not in our lifetime

[Ayesha Erotica 1,924]

4 hours ago, Economy said:

I have a Portuguese background and speak Portuguese fluently myself but... Now living in Canada, if I ever have kids I'm not sure if I'd bother making them learn it...

t's funny at the warehouse I work in some products that come from the US that aren't manufactured with a French side we literally have to pay someone to cover it with stickers that have the French writing just so that it meets regulations even tho no one receiving the product is going to care. So some of the laws are really a bit nonsensical tbh

 

you're not a bad person if you won't pass Portuguese on your kids

Don't let your parents pressure you into this - they only know Port. b/c they are from a lusophone country which is normal but your kids will be in an all-English environment in Canada. It is unlikely that they will migrate to a lusophone country if they knew Port. b/c Canada is one of the richest countries with the best job opportunities in the world, together with Australia (also English), Singapore (partially English) and Switzerland (German/French). It is more likely that they leave for another anglo country.

Portuguese is a very underrated language and totally in the shadows of Spanish, French and even Italian, and I think it is more melodic than Spanish and Italian, though less than French.

Portuguese is the opposite of French: Many speakers in The Americas, few in Europe, while French has a decent number of speakers in Europe but few in The Americas. Both have some in Africa, too.

Still, Brazil, Angola and Portugal are far away from Canada. It matters where you are!

[CCSir 410]

19 hours ago, Economy said:

Here in Canada they have a lesser extreme form of it in Quebec. The rest of Canada has to have french in everything every product, every sign and every customer phone call has to have french available however in Quebec the same is not required for English and they can have just french in signs and services and stuff.

 

It was literally a double standard concession just to make them feel that their french is being protected.

I see your point of view regarding that double standard. Even though I'm Québécois/French-Canadian, I do sometimes find myself annoyed at the measures our government takes. I was lucky enough to be able to study in English at McGill, but my kids for instance might not be able to do that with the extensions of laws aimed at keeping native speakers in the French system through the entirety of their education, including university.

However, to play devil's advocate, I do see why some measures are necessary as well. Even though we are officially a "bilingual country," I can personally confirm that whenever one English speaker is in the room, even though we might be many French speakers, everybody switches to English. I teach swimming lessons on the weekends, and one time I had one English kid for nine other French-speaking kids, and although I made it a point to translate every single word, his mom came to berate me at the end because I spoke French sometimes. Even though this was in my French-speaking hometown.

At the end of the day, it's undeniable that the prevalence of English is also associated with colonial past. The French were colonizers too, so it's not like it's the biggest deal, but when I think for instance of native aboriginal languages that have been endangered because First Nations kids were stolen from their homes and forced into residential schools to be stripped of their native language and spirituality, I can't help but feel like concessions made as far as disregarding the cultural value of languages can be an implicit form of reinforcing the stronghold of a painful colonial past for certain people as well, even though we don't always realize it (myself included).