What living language is the closest to Latin?

Em Português

The Roman Empire conquered a large portion of Europe, they brought their language, Latin along with them. It was spoken throughout the empire but over the centuries, local, popular, nonstandard forms of Latin called 'Vulgar Latin' evolved into today's Romance languages. 

Image by KayYen

There are 5 major Romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian) and several minority Romance languages (such as Sardinian, Sicilian and Occitan). Romance languages are split into two groups, Western and Eastern. Western Romance languages include Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese, while Romanian is an Eastern Romance language.  

One of my favourite jokes

En español

I thought I'll share one of favourite jokes with all off you. Some of you may know it, but it never gets old. Here it is:

Creative Common by msr

During the Dark Ages, the Pope decreed that all Jews living in Rome had to leave. The Jews did not want to leave so the Pope challenged them to a disputation. No one offered to debate with the Pope until the synagogue janitor, Moishe volunteered. As he was the only one who offered, he was given the responsibility. But, because he only spoke Hebrew, a silent debate was agreed. 

They went to St Peter's Square to sort out the decision, on the day of the disputation. Firstly, the Pope waived his hand around his head and Moishe pointed firmly at the ground. The Pope was surprised and pointed up three fingers. Moishe pointed his middle finger at him. The crowd started to complain but the Pope waived at them to be quiet. The Pope held up a glass of wine and a wafer, then Moishe reached into his pocket and held up an Apple. The Pope said in Latin, "This man is too good, the Jews can stay in Rome". 

Travel Review: Degani Bakery Café - Photo Blog

Last Friday night, I ate at Degani Bakery Café at Plenty Valley. I visited there to taste for myself the mix grill that many have bragged about.

A normal plate, a normal fork, a steak knife

Chicken, two types of steak and salad

Calamari, prawns, salad and potato

My Degani Bakery Café experience was excellent but other reviews won't agree, I guess I struck a good night out. 

Link:
Degani website

What languages are harder to learn - Photo Blog

Source: http://zidbits.com/2011/04/what-is-the-hardest-language-to-learn/

I believe the table is missing German and Indonesian / Malay. If I was going to add them, I would have German in the bottom of the easy list or at the top of the medium list. I would have also put Indonesian in Medium only because of the diverse vocabulary (Indonesian has a lot of loanwords from Malay, English, Dutch, Spanish, Chinese languages, Portuguese, Sanskrit and Arabic). Indonesian grammar is simpler than Spanish and other Romance languages, the sentence structure is logical and there is no tense. Also questions can be made out of sentences very easily. E.g. Saya tinggal di... (I live in...), Anda tinggal di mana? / Di mana anda tinggal? (Where do you live?).

I agree with 80% of the table but the only fact I disagree with is that it takes 88 weeks to learn Chinese, Korean, Japanese or Arabic because Benny Lewis learnt to speak relatively fluent Mandarin in 3 months.  

What do you think of this picture? Please write your thoughts in the comment section below.

Why Indo-Iranian languages are similar to Romance languages

This week, I decided to learn to count to ten in another language. So, I decided with Farsi (aka Persian) because I can already can count in Turkish which is similar to Arabic which is similar to Farsi. The strange thing is that when I started learning it, it reminded of Hindi instead of Turkish. Not surprisingly, they are both Indo-Iranian languages, along with Urdu. 

Hindi Writing In Front 

Of Cave Temple

Photo by Indi Samarajiva

http://www.flickr.com/photos/indi/4385852295/ 

One to ten in Farsi, Hindi and Urdu:

Key:
F - Farsi
H - Hindi
U - Urdu

Yek F / Ek H / Ayk U
Do F / Do H / Deo U
Se F / Tin H / Teyn U
Char F / Char H / Char U
Panj F / Panch H / Panech U
Shish F / Che H / Cheh U
Haft F / Sat H / Sat U
Hasht F / At H / Ateh U
No F / No H / Neo U
Da F / Das H / Des U

As you can see they're very similar. I think it's because most of those numbers originated from Sanskrit. I have also noticed that the French numbers (and other Romance languages) sound similar to Hindi as well.  

One to ten in French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese:

F - French
S - Spanish
I - Italian
P - Portuguese

Un F / Uno S / Uno I / Um P
Deux F / Dos S / Due I / Dois P
Trois F / Tres S / Tre I / Três P
Quatre F / Cuatro S / Quattro I / Quatro P
Cinq F / Cinco S / Cinque I / Cinco P
Six F / Seis S / Sei I / Seis P
Sept F / Siete S / Sette I / Sete P
Huit F / Ocho S / Otto I / Oito P
Neuf F / Nueve S / Nove I / Nove P
Dix F / Diez S / Dieci I / Dez P

Urdu poem by 

Mir Gul Khan Nasir 

Photo by Zoraak Zagr 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/baask/3845622706/

I have also noticed that the word for 'you' in European languages sound similar to Hindi (and other Indo-Iranian languages). 

E.g. 

Tvam - One of the words for 'you' in Sanskrit
Tum - Informal 'you' in Hindi

Teo - 'You' in Urdu

Teme - 'You' in Urdu

To - 'You' in Farsi
Tu - Informal 'you' in Latin, French, Romanian and Portuguese
Ti - Informal 'you' in Italian
Tú - Informal 'you' in Spanish
Du - Singular 'you' in German
Thou - Archaic 'you' in English
ты (ty) - One of the words for 'you' in Russian


If Romance languages originate from Latin but are similar to Sanskrit that means Latin must have a Sanskrit origin. Latin is based on Greek and Ancient Greece (at one stage) conquered India. Also, the Silk Route brought Indian traders to Europe. That means there is a high chance of Romance languages having some Sanskrit origin. 

What do you think? Do Romance languages have an Indian origin? 

Please write your comments in the section below.

What language should you learn?

There are many reasons to learn a language such as being useful for business, it is useful for traveling and it helps you understand how difficult or easy your mother toungue is. If you learn an 'easy' language you will realise that your native language is more difficult than you thought and vice versa with more difficult languages. I have made a quiz to help you decide what language should you learn.
What language should you learn?
I hope you enjoy it.