Your Native Tongue

[army20]

Francais !

[TiXer]

Norwegian, or Norsk as we say here in Norway..

[etude57]

Hello..My "mother-tongue"language is Dutch, but I can also speak and write fluently English, speak and read and write German, understand and speak a bit Cantonese and Mandarin. The writing of Mandarin is not one of my skills, only a bit basic readin..(They have over 6.000 charactes). Cantonese is a vocal language, so it is not easy to write..

Anyway, another "language"that I understand is a local recognised language here in Netherlands, called "Frysk", spoken in the province called "Friesland"..But personally I consider the "Frysk" language more as a speaking related disorder .

Rieks (etude57).

[mark]

This is turning into a very interesting topic. A little humorous, a little insightful and a little puzzling.

@etude57 Is Frysk a 'speaking disorder' like Bostonian is but worse?

@Astalavista Tagalog. That is from an island that is part of the Phillipines or is spoken throughout the Phillipines? I can understand how you come to speak the other languages, but Japanese?

@everyone (1)Why the large number of you who speak some form of Chinese?

(2)As etude57 did, it would be nice if you also included any creole or regionalized language you may speak or know. (creole being a mix of one language and another. I consider creole a seperate language. A regionalized language can be so different from the main body of a language that it is unintelligable to the main body of speakers and I also think of that as another language.)

[^AciD]

i speak english , would love 2 learn russian , h8 french thou , failed it lol

[klasa]

I live in the Netherlands

My motherlanguage is dutch but iI also speak German and English.

our date format is friday 7 january 2005 (no capitals)

and our time format is 20:53 (no pm/am)

and I live in the timezone (GMT +01:00)

For those who want to read some dutch, here is this text translated in dutch

Ik woon in Nederland

Mijn moederstaal is nederlands maar ik praat ook Duits en Engels.

ons datum-formaat is vrijdag 7 januari 2005 (Geen hoofdletters)

en ons tijd-formaat is 20:53 (no pm/am).

voor diegenen die wat nederlands willen

and one message for dutch readers:

GEEF AAN GIRO 555 :

SMS-en kan ook (SMS GEEF naar 2020 €1,50)

[Martin Zugec]

English, czech, slovak and german... Trying to learn chinese these days

[Shotgun]

Or, your poll turns out to be: "Which continent do you live in?" 

- North America / Australia

- Europe

- Asia

- South/Central America

- Africa

Exactly! I speak Spanish and English. Problem is that PR is in the Caribbean, so most of the time US considers us as part of South America (we are NOT) and we are not part of Europe either. Our spanish is similar to that of Spain, although there are some differences. Even so, our spanish has some "uniqueness" in that the "official" spanish dictionary (RAE - spanish acronym for Spanish Real Academy) even included words from PR in it, for their uniqueness among spanish speaking countries. So I choosed SA since its the nearest, even though I consider we belong to North America since we are an industrialized island and US territory since 1898.

Confusing? You bet. We are still trying to resolve our political status. It's not something we are particulary proud of.

The solution will only come thru: [tada!] Politics.

That's a whole different ball game from a politician's point of view.

[mark]

@Shotgun- PR is a protectorate of the US? Correct? or it was?

Territory

A part of the United States that has its own legislature but does not have the status of a state and is under the administration of an appointed governor. Guam is a Territory of the U.S.

www.pbs.org/democracy/glossary/print.html

Protectorate

a state or territory partly controlled by (but not a possession of) a stronger state but autonomous in internal affairs; protectorates are established by treaty

www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn

Right now Puerto Ricans are trying to decide whether to become a state in the US, a totally independent country or keep it at status quo, correct? You have some representation in Washington, you are protected by the US military (except for one island that we used for a bombing range for a long time), you can join the US military but you can't vote in US elections (your's are completely seperate)?

So I choosed SA since its the nearest, even though I consider we belong to North America since we are an industrialized island and US territory since 1898.

Americans see you as a seperate and independent country (in my mind, I see the Caribbean islands closer to NA, even though they aren't and PR is further north than Cuba but isn't ). Any benefits with being the way you are now? Would the benefits weaken if you went completely independent?

Thanks,

DL

[Incroyable HULK]

I don't know what to vote? I am French Canadian (Québec City, Canada)

[Shotgun]

Sorry for drifting out of the topic for a moment...

Right now Puerto Ricans are trying to decide whether to become a state in the US, a totally independent country or keep it at status quo, correct?

Thats correct. For me, it would be better as a state of the US. Status quo is a mutually dependant situation.

I see the Caribbean islands closer to NA, even though they aren't and PR is further north than Cuba but isn't

Sorry, but PR is SE from Cuba, just east of the "Hispaniola" (Haiti/Dominican Republic) See map here

Any benefits with being the way you are now? Would the benefits weaken if you went completely independent?

That statement alone would generate a "holy" war between politicians here!

Current benefits (that I can think of right now):

• US citizenship (we have US passport)
  
• Same currency as US (US dollar). Before 1898 we HAD our own currency, but was eliminated since the US invasion in 1898, when the dollar was forced as the "official" currency.
  
• Federal funding for science, education, health, infrastructure development, environment protection, etc. Depends mostly on ammendments made to federal laws made applicable to PR. Not ALL federal laws assist us.
  

Drawbacks:

• No real autonomy in local issues. We elect our own governor, senate and representatives. We do not have the option to vote for US president, or have Congress representatives. Only a Resident Commisioner that has voice but can't vote. Many times when local issues affect the "image" of the US, then US Government takes over, no matter what the local opinion is.
  
• Agressive urban development has lead to overpopulation in some areas. For example: being an 100 x 35 mile island we have about 4,800,000 people living here. Not counting nearly 3 million living in the US and other countries.
  
• We do not have armed forces or our own. However we host US military bases and PRicans compose almost 70% of military personnel in the island alone.
  
• I know there are more, but I would prefer to discuss them in other forum/or by PM. I do not feel like "contaminating" the thread with off-topic discussions. In short, our political situation is somewhat complicated, being one of the oldest colonies in the world.
  

[Beck]

Danish

[mark]

Sorry for drifting out of the topic for a moment...

I see the Caribbean islands closer to NA, even though they aren't and PR is further north than Cuba but isn't

Sorry, but PR is SE from Cuba, just east of the "Hispaniola" (Haiti/Dominican Republic) See map here

Yes, sorry, I took it OT.

I know where PR is, it's just that my mental map doesn't have it there. I know Puerto Ricans, I have known Puerto Ricans, I have been to Puerto Rico, therefore it is closer.

[Shotgun]

OK. I understand now.

[soldier1st]

i speak english only,i did have a french class years ago but i quickly forgot french cuzz no1 here spoke it