[RNLD List] documentary
David Valls
davidvalls at gmail.com
Thu Feb 10 20:57:35 UTC 2022
Well, Catalan is spoken by some 10 million people, more than Icelandic,
Estonian, Latvian, Slovenian, Norwegian, Danish or Finnish, among other
European well-established and state languages. So, I would say it's
quite an abnormal situation, although it is the state language of
Andorra, a tiny country. Catalan has a very velar L, like Russian and
other Slavic languages. Sometimes when a Russian speaks Spanish, we may
think that person is Catalan because of these L's. I don't know about
your accent, but perhaps some Catalans thought you were Catalan, I'm
just taking a wild guess.
I hope you enjoy the documentary, it's indeed, a treasure, Roussillonese
or Northern Catalan is dying out. Three of the speakers shown in the
film, in fact, had already passed away. Get back to explain how did you
like the film.
Thanks!
David
El 10/2/2022 a les 17:36, Shawn Bedell ha escrit:
> Thank you! Very informative. Have always loved that region of the
> world, and I particularly loved Catalunya.
> As per the talking to foreigners bit, I do find it interesting. Having
> learned a few languages with few speakers or that are not the majority
> language, by far, in a particular place, I have often been met with
> people who think learning their own language is a silly idea, or they
> might even take a while to come around to the idea of not speaking the
> dominant language to a foreigner. In Catalunya, I found quite the
> opposite. I speak Spanish quite well, but I do not have anything near
> the accent of a Spaniard, so no matter how hard I could (haven't,
> but... haha) try, I am obviously not from anywhere on the Iberian
> Peninsula. Nevertheless, I have been asked many times. to speak
> Catala, even though I wouldn't be able to really piece it all together
> to make anything intelligible in terms of speaking actual Catala, but
> as you noted, it was relatively easy to understand what people were
> saying. So, it seems like there is a contingent of people who feel
> confident enough to assume that obvious outsiders will use their
> language, whereas the opposite is often the case in many places across
> the world.
>
> Anyway, the question was mostly about how (what I perceive, at least)
> a strong linguistic community might play into or influence people
> speaking a related dialect nearby (and in this case, across a national
> border).
>
> Anyway, I look forward to watching to movie and sharing it with
> friends and colleagues (many of whom also know and love the region).
>
> On Thu, Feb 10, 2022 at 10:08 PM David Valls <davidvalls at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Shawn
>
> Catalan has very few dialectal differences, and there's also a
> continuum within the language, going up north in France to the
> very south in Spain. However, as with other dialects,
> Roussillonese or Northern Catalan dialect has some specific
> features not shared with other dialects across the border, in
> Spain. Some specific phonetic and syntax features, as well as some
> specific vocabulary, specially dealing with the fact that after
> more than 300 years of French rule, this Catalan has borrowed from
> the French language, while in the south, Catalan has borrowed from
> Spanish. However, there's mutual comprehension.
>
> According to statistics (
> https://www.idescat.cat/pub/?id=eulp&n=3646
> <https://www.idescat.cat/pub/?id=eulp&n=3646> ), only 11,8% of
> Catalan speakers in Spain do not switch to Spanish when someone
> addresses them into this language. So, perhaps you've talked to
> this 11,8%, which in Barcelona, believe me, it's much, much lower
> than 11,8%. Sorry, but I don't get the relationship between being
> a foreigner and being addressed in Catalan. I've travelled quite a
> lot and in England people insisted me on English, in Japan
> insisted me on Japanese and so on. However, I can tell you of
> thousands of people who live in Catalonia for many years and
> insist on not speaking Catalan at all, this colonial behavior is
> one of the reasons -but not the only one-, why Catalan speakers
> must be bilinguals.
>
> And yes, we are nice ;-) and the language in Southern Catalonia,
> Valencia and Balearic Islands is very alive, although not trouble
> free.
>
> All the best,
>
> David
>
>
>
> El 10/2/2022 a les 14:31, Shawn Bedell ha escrit:
>> Will definitely watch, but I used to live in Toulouse, and I took
>> lots of trips to Catalunya, where Catala is very alive and well.
>> Is there a great difference among the dialects when you cross the
>> border or even get into Barcelona (where people even sometimes
>> insist on speaking Catala over Spanish even to a foreigner,
>> although most always very nice)?
>>
>> <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=icon>
>> Virus-free. www.avast.com
>> <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=link>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Feb 10, 2022 at 8:27 PM Mariona Miret
>> <miretmariona at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Dear David,
>>
>> Gràcies per compartir-lo.
>> It's heart-breaking. Every time I see it I feel the same.
>>
>> I am glad that colleagues from all over the world can now
>> understand it, with subtitles in English and French.
>>
>> Thank you for documenting the last speakers of Catalan in
>> Catalunya Nord.
>>
>> Mariona
>>
>> El dj., 10 febr. 2022 10.28, David Valls
>> <davidvalls at gmail.com> va escriure:
>>
>> Dear all,
>> It's not on Australian languages -or perhaps, it is
>> somehow-, but I wish to share this documentary which I
>> have co-directed. It's about the last native speakers of
>> the Catalan language -and its local dialects- in Northen
>> Catalonia (in the most southern part of France). Now,
>> we've got the English and French subtitles:
>>
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6rUG0xxXNM
>>
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4ZHpq7Vpws
>>
>> Thank you for your kind attention,
>> David Valls
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Tengo billetes, como de octava clase, pero asi viajo, contento de
>> ir de viaje....
>
>
>
> --
> Tengo billetes, como de octava clase, pero asi viajo, contento de ir
> de viaje....
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