Italian & Portugese Lexical Similarities
"Also the tendency to place ''value" on foreign things also exists in the United States."
Depends on the article, but there is some truth in this.
"I think its just that people find their home country to be uninteresting, and consider anything foreign to be 'exotic'.
A lot of truth there.
"The 1st thing a Brazilian person tells you while introducing himself/himself is something like this: I'm of Spanish origin or I'm of Italian origin, or I'm of Polish origin. Brazilians are obsessed with origin."
Wow, it's the first time I heard this...
I've never used this is my life because I'm JUST BRAZILIAN and very proud of that. The reason for this is because up to my 4 generation of ancestors EVERYBODY is Brazilian and I'm not interested in knowing if there was any "foreigner" (Irrelevant in a country so mixed like Brazil).
Recently I met a guy who descends of Ukranians but he's neither interested in that(He didn't even know who was Ukranian!!!hahaha) or in learning Ukranian...
It seems that some people don't care about origins rather in final result:Brazilian.
There was one problem with origins in Brazil some time ago because some stupid people who descend on Germans stated that they're better than "mixed Brazilians" and wanted to separate to Brazil founding the "República dos Pampas"...I wish they had been kicked from Brazil to Germany to know "how German they are" (Many of them speak a messed up German dialect...).
People who descend on Japanese also have a hard time when they come to Japan just to realize they're "gaijin" and mistreated by the Japanese(I'm better treated by the Japanese 'cause I have no Japanese ancestry and even if I had I'd still call myself Brazilian).
I've never thought that foreign or "exotic"(This word has no meaning to me because people are just the same with expection of the country and the language they speak) is better...
(1835-1845)? You guys are old. Ghosts maybe? Is this the forum of a psychiatric ward?
The Brazilians are obsessed by race? I always thought they were just proud to be 'Brazilian'.
Canadians, on the other hand, are obsessed with race. Here in Canada there are no 'Canadians', because everyone, and I mean everyone, says that they are something else other than Canadian. I have lived in Canada all my life so I know what I'm talking about. God forbid there was ever a war between Canada and another country, because we would have NO Canadian soldiers! Even the so called people of 'British' descent say that they are Irish, Scottish, Welsh, or English, even though they know next to nothing about the heritages and histories of these countries, and their families have been in Canada 4 or 5 generations.
The Brazilians on the other hand, are very proud, and do not hesitate to say that they are 'Brazilian'.
<<I think written Portugese is really similar to written Italian.>>
First time I heard that =D
Yes, He is a genius. And He is the only guy not off topic.
The different grammatical structure and vocabulary is what makes Italian not intelligible enough for Portuguese and Spanish speakers to have a fluid in-depth conversation with them. Unfortunately that's the reality. But Italian is similar enough to Portuguese and Spanish to at least have a basic conversation.
J. C.-san,
Maybe Brazilians interact differently with people from other countries.
Most of the time Brazilians indicate their ethnic origins to me. I never ask first. In some cases, like Nisei in Japan, it is somewhat obvious, in other cases I've heard things like "Some of my people were Syrian." or " I understand what you are saying, because we are mixed. We have everybody in our family." or "I am a Jew." I'm not kidding.
People who are descended from Germans or who have Italian descent in Santa Catarina continue to have cultural traditions (shooting clubs for Germans, a folklore group for the Italian circle). They don't leave out the black pioneers either, but I wasn't able to learn much about their specific group.
Personally, I enjoy this diversity (and not because I am PC, I'm not.), I think it makes for beautiful music, tasty food and interesting people. Brazilians are not boring.
"The different grammatical structure and vocabulary is what makes Italian not intelligible enough for Portuguese and Spanish speakers to have a fluid in-depth conversation with them. Unfortunately that's the reality. But Italian is similar enough to Portuguese and Spanish to at least have a basic conversation."
Remember that Portuguese and Spanish are similar to Italian and not Italian is similar to Portuguese and Spanish. Italy is the place where Latin language was born.
Latin language was not born in Italy. It was carried to Italy by Danubian tribes.
"Latin language was not born in Italy. It was carried to Italy by Danubian tribes. "
ahahah... Are you re-writing History?
When Latins migrated to central Italy they didnt speak Latin. Latin was germinated in Latium region (the region around Rome), by the fusion of different culture.
The Duenos Inscription is one of the earliest known Old Latin texts, dating from the early 6th century BCE. It was found on the Quirinal Hill in Rome (Italy).
That is the first inscription but the language itself is older.
"That is the first inscription but the language itself is older."
You have to prove it.
Prove what? It's already well proven by scholars that the Latins were a Danubian tribe that migrated to the Italic Peninsula. Do you pretend us to believe that the Latins didn't speak Latin until they arrived to Italy and acquired a few Etruscan words and their script?