Language Heir to Latin

     David Crow writes:
     Whatever the merits of Romanian claims to being the true heirs of Latinity, the closest etymological descendent would certainly be Romansch. It forms part of the Rhaeto-Romanic language family, which claims half a million speakers altogether. Languages like Romansch seemed destined to oblivion, a sad fate for the offspring of such a noble patrician. In this panorama, the revival of Gaelic and Welsh in this century are sadly anomolous. I, for one, lament the demise of languages (and cultures) brought on by the onslaught of McWorld.


     My comment: David recommends blingualism, and I would favor childen in all the Americas being bilingual in English and Spanish. However, minor languages are another problem. I visited Chur in Switzerland and met the nice people who were trying to keep Romansch alive. The Swiss are annoyed at the trouble and expense of having four languages, and, rather than learn them, businessmen men communicate across the language barrier in English. Children in underdeveloped Wales should learn a major language or computer science rather than spending valuable time learning Welsh.
     The insistence that the faculty know Welsh is keeping first-rate people from accepting university jobs in Wales. In Catalonia, the insistence on Catalan is diverting foreign students and the publishing industry to Madrid. Incidentally, what I said was that language is the glory of mankind, but languages are its curse. &A Romania is a different case. It merely involves stressing the Latin origin of the language, with the consequences I described.

Ronald Hilton - 05/13/99