Why do people speak in their country a language that is not theirs?

[poli]

Every Brazilian I've known speaks Spanish with a veerry Powtugueezze accent. I think that because they are surrounded on three sides by
Spanish-speaking countries, there's a need to know it.

A for people from the same area speaking English with different accents: this is very much a reality where I am from.

[explorator]

I think I've already post this, but I really think that nothing creates such a big unity feeling than speaking the same lauguage, and at the same time nothing creates such a big feeling of difference than speaking such a different language that you can' t understand it. This was the idea of the first racist vasque nationalists, for them as important was for a good vasque knowing the vasque tonque as preventing the "maketos" (derogative way to name the Spaniards without pure vasque blood in the vasque nationalist vocabulary) to learn it. In Catalonia, the nacionalist decided to include the "charnegos" (derogative way to name the Spaniards without pure catalonian blood in the catalonian nationalist language) by making mandatory the use of the catalonian language. Nowadays this is also the trend of the vasque policies. I quess they try to make the people unable to understand any news from the rest of Spain, but in the Catalonia case the differences among languages are not so big that they allow a complete isolation.

[JPablo]

Explorator, "vasco" in Spanish is written "Basque" in English. (Don't ask me why...) I believe "eusquera" or "euskera" also translate as "Basque" in English.

In Catalonia (I am not totally up to date right now, but for what I know) when Franco died, "Avui" was the only Catalonian newspaper... and while nowadays you can get "La Vanguardia" with Catalonian comments and articles... it is mainly in Spanish (or Castilian) and the fact of "enforcing" the language in the Schools and Teachers and Professors, is a very key and tactic aspect on the "expansion" and "establishment" of the usage of the language. Nowadays you can heard Catalonian and Spanish spoken by anybody on the street, without much reference to ancestors... That was not the case 20-25 years ago. Much less 40 years ago. Besides the political factors, the language has to be "alive" by itself and having a "will" to survive, so to speak...

At any rate, I like Catalonian and I started learning it when it was an option I took freely. I do not like it to be "enforced". As far as usefulness go... I'd try to start learning Chinesse... not just as a "challenge" but as a language with a lot more "present and future" in this small planet in this small galaxy... in this small sector of the universe... ;) :)

[pjt33]

Explorator, "vasco" in Spanish is written "Basque" in English. (Don't ask me why...)
En francés también. Igual la hemos cogido de ellos.

[irmamar]

Curiosamente, en euskara no existe la "v". ;)

[explorator]

Thanks for the spelling quotation, I've in mind some etiymolgies about the term vasco that may have affected my fault. In vulgar Latin the word VASCO (used instead of VASCVS in the cult one) was pronounced as [uasko], (I find it closer to the basque prefix "eusko") this evolved into guasco and then into the Spanish Gascón, the French Gascon and Gascoigne and the Catalonian Güasch. The condition of being basque used to be so prestigious in the Spain of the purity of blood, that there are a lot of Spanish surnames that refers a basque origin: Vázquez, Vásquez, Velázquez, Velasco... but also Blasco, Blázquez and Básquez together with the previously mentioned and many others.

[JPablo]

Thanks, Explorator, it's interesting to have the data...