NEVER ask a CATALAN if their LANGUAGE is a mix of French & Spanish!

A Weekend in Catalonia

After traveling to Barcelona for the weekend, I committed a grave error by asking the question: "So, is Catalán a mix of French and Spanish?"  There is no quicker way to lose a local friend than by asking this (ignorant) question.  I should have known better, but my Catalonian friend quickly explained to me, very simply, that Catalán came directly from Latin just as Spanish did.

After that clarification, my friend taught me how to say "My dog is very big" in Catalán "El meu gos és molt gran".  It was not easy to remember because dog=gos, a word that I don't associate with the Spanish (pero) or the Portuguese (cão/cadela/cachorro) or the French (chien)...or the Latin (canis) or even the Romanian (câine).

Where in the world does this Catalonian word gos (dog) come from?  If you are Catalán, please leave the answer below in the comment section!  It's a mystery to me, and I'm very curious...

The "Big 5" Romance Languages

(*My source for the rest of my post is Wikipedia.)

Why did I have it in my head that there were 5 main Romance Languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian) that came from Latin and that the others were a hybrid of these five "originals"...??  It's because Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian are the 5 Romance Languages that have the biggest groups of speakers:

Spanish=410  million
Portuguese=216 million
French=75 million
Italian=60 million
Romanian=25 milltion

Catalán=8-9 million

A Long, long list of ALL Romance Languages

Contrary to what I thought I knew, there are actually 23 various Romance Languages defined by some linguist on the basis of "mutual intelligibility" and they include the lovely language of Catalán of course!

Ibero-Romance:

• Portuguese
• Galician
• Mirandese
• Asturian-Leonese
• Spanish
• Aragonese

Occitano-Romance:

• Catalán
• Occitan

Gallo-Romance:

• Langues d'oil (including French)
• Franco-Provençal

Rhaeto-Romance:

• Romansh
• Ladin
• Friulian

Gallo-Italic Languages

Venetian

Italo-Romance:

• Corsican
• Italian
• Neopolitan
• Sicilian

Dalmatian (extinct)

Romanian:

• Daco-Romanian
• Istro-Romanian
• Aromanian
• Megleno-Romanian

  

Pronunciation Challenges by Language: A Sampling from Portuguese to Japanese

This is just a brief shortlist and introduction to the most common pronunciation challenges associated with the following languages including a few helpful hints:

Brazilian Portuguese: t vs. ch (Ex. to--chew)

• In Brazilian Portuguese the 't' is sometimes pronounced as an American 'ch' sound. In English, the 't' sound is pronounced with the tongue closer to the teeth on the roof of the mouth, whereas the 'ch' sound is made further back on the ridge of the mouth.

Italian: h vs. a (Ex. hungry--angry)

• Italians must remember that the American 'h' sound is what linguists call an aspirated sound, which means that the speaker must exhale when pronouncing words that begin with 'h' instead of swallowing it.

Japanese: r vs. l (Ex. rock--lock)

• Japanese has one sound for both of these distinct sounds found in English, so students have an especially difficult time with this because no matter what they say it is incorrect, as they are using a sound in Japanese that exists "between" the 'r' and 'l'.  I always tell my students that the tongue is flat with the 'l' and curved back a bit with the 'r'.

Korean: p vs. f (Ex. coffee--copy)

• Remember that making the 'f' sound involves the top teeth and bottom lip, while the 'p' sound involves both lips.

Portuguese: sh vs. ch (Ex. share--chair)

• Portuguese speakers usually pronounce the 'ch' sound in English as 'sh'. 'Ch' is quick as in a sneeze... Achoo!...and 'sh' is soft and long as in Shhhh, the baby is sleeping.

Spanish: inserting an 'e' in front of words beginning with 's' (Ex. eSpain, esleep, esafe and esound)

• Spanish-speaking students need practice beginning the 's' sound without the help of words before or after that normally help the flow and connection of sounnds.

Turkish: v vs. w (Ex. wine--vine)

• The 'v' sound includes the use of the teeth and the bottom lip, while the 'w' sound is formed with both lips as if giving a kiss.