Would be very interested to hear what non-native/multilingual people think about this. — I like sushi
Spanish is such a mixture of arabian, germanic and latin, very hard to get a grasp on. — Ansiktsburk
For an English speaker, the (b) part might not come up to mind as English has more than a million words. Finnish, my own mother tongue, has roughly about 400 000 words. — ssu
Every country in the world you think of, you should be adding 20-30% of them into the number of English speakers. — Corvus
Well English has more total words in it's vocabulary than any other language. — LuckyR
In addition learning English as a second language increases compensation more than learning any other language. — LuckyR
English is more Arabic even than Spanish. — Lionino
How is it possible if the Nasrid dynasty never went beyond the Iberian Peninsula? — javi2541997
How is it possible that English has Russian words if Kievan Rus never went West of the Rhine? — Lionino
This is not related to what you pointed out previously. — javi2541997
You stated that English is more Arabic than Spanish, something that is quite impossible because the Arab expansion in the Middle Ages never got into England — javi2541997
(Whilst they were here for seven centuries) — javi2541997
Even if English had Russian words, it would sound more reasonable than to have Arabian vocabulary because of the historical and geographical evidence. — javi2541997
Edit: Original post had "You stated that English has more Arabic words than Spanish" (which is 100% true), that is what I am replying to. — Lionino
Not at all, Arabic speakers were much closer to England than Russians. — Lionino
Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance language group. Evolved from the Vulgar Latin of Iberia, the most widely spoken Iberian Romance languages are Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan-Valencian-Balear, and Galician. These languages also have their own regional and local varieties. Based on mutual intelligibility, there are seven language groups: Galician-Portuguese, Spanish, Asturleonese, "Wider"-Aragonese, "Wider"-Catalan, Provençal+Lengadocian, and "Wider"-Gascon.
Andalusi Romance, refers to the varieties of Ibero-Romance that developed in Al-Andalus, the parts of the medieval Iberian Peninsula under Islamic control. Romance, or vernacular Late Latin, was the common tongue for the great majority of the Iberian population at the time of the Umayyad conquest in the early eighth century, but over the following centuries,it was gradually superseded by Andalusi Arabic as the main spoken language in the Muslim-controlled south. At the same time, as the northern Christian kingdoms pushed south into Al-Andalus, their respective Romance varieties (especially Castilian) gained ground at the expense of Andalusi Romance as well as Arabic. The final extinction of the former may be estimated to 1300 CE.
English is more Arabic even than Spanish. — Lionino
Which suggests Spanish was not only more influenced by Arabic than English but was a major conduit for the influence of Arabic on English. — Baden
I find the British accent cool. — Corvus
Which British accent? There are rather a lot! — Beverley
The Oxford or Cambridge accent sound clearer and easier to understand for me.Which British accent? — Beverley
This is true.There are rather a lot! — Beverley
Didn't know Russell was from Wales. I couldn't trace any Welsh accent from his accent. Russell's accent must be from his education.His is RP, but he was born in Monmouthshire. I wonder if he ever had a Welsh twang? — Beverley
These are difficult to understand accent, unless one is used to them.I'd have to say I like a Geordie accent, and a liverpool accent is full of character, as well as a Black Country/Brummie twang. — Beverley
Yes, I heard some folks saying that too. I don't mind it at all. They tend to speak slower, and maybe that's what makes them easier to understand.RP kind of grates on me if it's overdone. It seems so pretentious. — Beverley
Yes, they are interesting to listen to. I might misunderstand them about half.I also really love the sing song nature of a South Welsh accent. — Beverley
What's yours?It's actually almost impossible for me to say which I like best though. — Beverley
Oh interesting. I used to have a friend from Birmingham. He used to speak with non-identifiable English accent, but when he met his own Birmingham pals, he used to come out with his native Birmingham accent, which sounded interesting and difficult to understand.Well, I was born not far from Birmingham, but when I tell people this, they are usually surprised because I have lost my Brummie accent. I think I do occasionally come out with the odd local phrase or word, but I guess that has more to do with dialect. — Beverley
Greece would be an interesting place to live because of all the interesting ancient relics scattered in the country, and for the fact you could visit all the places where we used to read about in the History of Philosophy.When I lived in Greece, there were so many UK tourists and expats living there that a hybrid language developed, locally referred to as 'Gringlish'. Greek people would speak English, but keep
some Greek grammar structures, and the UK people would speak in the same way to be understood better. — Beverley
I tried to learn Greek, because I thought it would help me reading the ancient Greek philosophy, but didn't quite managed to start yet. Also dabbled with the Hebrews with no visible progress, when I was reading the philosophy of Kabbalah.And I learnt that one of the most commonly used international words "Ok" came from the Greek "όλα καλά", meaning, "All good", which is often delivered as a question. — Beverley
My main language is Korean. I have learnt English, German and Japanese as my 2nd foreign languages. Once upon a time, many years ago, I lived in Indonesia and Singapore when I was a middle school pupil, and had a chance to learn Indonesian / Malaysian too.What accent have you got, and what experiences of accents/languages have you had? — Beverley
Where is your evidence for this? And was the mechanism by which the language mixing occurred? — Baden
And was the mechanism by which the language mixing occurred? — Baden
The case for the Arabic influence on Spanish is set out in the following wiki article. — Baden
Dude, The Emirate of Granada was just that, as is shown in the following picture. I hope you are trolling me because nobody with sense believes that a Muslim state has ever occupied England. The Emirate of Granada was the last and only independent Muslim state in Western Europe. — javi2541997
Just post some English words which roots are Arabic — javi2541997
In Spain we have hundreds... Málaga; Almería; Alicante; Jaén; Córdoba; Almaguer; Almagro; Almanzora; Madrid; Alcalá, etc. — javi2541997
Once folks have understood that premise, we have to quote the next evidence: — javi2541997
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