The Internal Regions of Europe

[alfieb]

Native language is the most essential ethnic element in my book.

La lingua rumanzi più sìmili ô nostru è rumena.

[Comte Arnau]

La lingua rumanzi più sìmili ô nostru è rumena.

I disagree.

[alfieb]

I disagree.

Then who? We're not mutually intelligible with Italians, let alone Sardinians. Catalans perhaps?

Romanians understood my language fairly well when I lived in Italy. Italians did not, so I had to learn Italian.

[Comte Arnau]

Then who? We're not mutually intelligible with Italians, let alone Sardinians. Catalans perhaps?

Romanians understood my language fairly well when I lived in Italy. Italians did not, so I had to learn Italian.

Catalan, if anything, is closer to the North Italian languages.

I'm not saying Sicilian is mutually intelligible with Italian. But it's even less with Romanian, which has a great amount of non-Romance vocabulary and a very different structure for some tense constructions. The closeness of languages is not judged by how well some can understand you or not. I'd also understand Sicilian without much effort, but this means nothing.

[alfieb]

We're mutually intelligible with Maltese, to some extent. They are our brothers, so it is only natural.

You said language proximity is the most important factor. I only pointed out that Sicilian and Romanian are close.

[poiuytrewq0987]

This is my view:

[Comte Arnau]

We're mutually intelligible with Maltese, to some extent. They are our brothers, so it is only natural.

Er... Maltese is not a Romance language. That doesn't mean you can't understand each other.

You said language proximity is the most important factor. I only pointed out that Sicilian and Romanian are close.

It is indeed. And yes, all Romance languages are kind of close. But Romanian is clearly the one which is more apart from the others.

This, while not perfect, is one of the best maps around to get a gist of the distances.

[alfieb]

Er... Maltese is not a Romance language. That doesn't mean you can't understand each other.

I never said Maltese was Romance. I said Romanian is the closest Romance language. Maltese is obviously closer than Romanian.

It is indeed. And yes, all Romance languages are kind of close. But Romanian is clearly the one which is more apart from the others.

This, while not perfect, is one of the best maps around to get a gist of the distances.

And that shows that Iberian, Northern Italian, and French languages are as foreign if not more foreign to us than Romanian is.

[Sikeliot]

In my opinion, French and Portuguese are the most different sounding Romance languages to the extent where neither even sounds Romance. Romanian at least to me sounds like a Romance language.

Anyway, I'd divide Europe by religion, history, and where applicable, language family more than anything else. I.e Greeks with Serbs, Bulgarians. French, Italian, Spanish together. Germany, Scandinavia, Netherlands together. Sicilians and Maltese together. Etc.

[Comte Arnau]

I never said Maltese was Romance. I said Romanian is the closest Romance language. Maltese is obviously closer than Romanian.

And that shows that Iberian, Northern Italian, and French languages are as foreign if not more foreign to us than Romanian is.

As you like it.