Latin America

Nikolaos

schmikolaos

  • Censor

Location:
Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan
Germanic America.... I think I'll shorten it to German America and keep it. From now on, I live in German America.
 

Iohannes Aurum

Technicus Auxiliarius

  • Technicus Auxiliarius

Location:
Torontum, Ontario, Canada
Many French-speaking Quebeckers do not like people who call their province a part of Germanic America.

In this country, this is a very serious issue and discussions like this can create controversy. In fact, during the 1995 referendum, Quebec was only less than one percent from becoming independent!

Nikolaos dixit:
Germanic America.... I think I'll shorten it to German America and keep it. From now on, I live in German America.
Willkommen in deutschen Amerika!

I did not learn German, but I know what "Welcome to" means in German.

Now, how do we say "Welcome to Latin America!" in Latin?
 

Nikolaos

schmikolaos

  • Censor

Location:
Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan
At the price of unidiomatic translation: Bene ventus in Americam Latinam [es]!

I have no idea how to say "Welcome to" a place.
 

gangleri2001

Active Member

Location:
Aquae Calidae, Hispania Tarraconensis
Yeah but why Latin? Why call hispanic people Latinos?

Why not Spanish America or Hispanic America and call people Hispanic (like they do) or Hispano (which coincidentally is Hispanic in Spanish)

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Optime! I am the 10th greatest poster as of now!
Because they don't speak neither Basque nor Catalan.
 

Nikolaos

schmikolaos

  • Censor

Location:
Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan
There is some difference between hispanic and latino... I'm not sure what it is, but it's probably that hispanic refers specifically to European descent, and latino refers to native American descent... or something like that. In either case, it seems to hang entirely on self-identity in the US.

In other matters, I can't believe I offered that translation. Excuse nee while I find a hole in the sand...
 

Cambrinus

Civis Illustris

  • Civis Illustris

Location:
Anglia
América Latina sounds natural to my ear, but 'Latin America' causes endless cataloguing/searching problems. Call the different parts of the continent, North, Central (i.e. México to Panamá inclusive) and South - and all is clear.
 

Domine

Member

Location:
Claremont, CA.
América Latina sounds natural to my ear, but 'Latin America' causes endless cataloguing/searching problems. Call the different parts of the continent, North, Central (i.e. México to Panamá inclusive) and South - and all is clear.
Amice! Mexicvm est in America Septentrionalis.
 

Domine

Member

Location:
Claremont, CA.
Latin America is all-encompassing and a better way to describe people who speak Latin derived languages. Spanish is spoken throughout North, Central and South of the Americas. Portuguese is spoken in South America (Brazil). French is spoken in French New Guinea, Haiti and the petite islands in the Caribbean. Italian is spoken as a second language mainly in South America (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile) -- although pockets of Italian speakers exist in Mexico and in other Latin American countries. Let's not get started on all the other non-romance languages spoken in Latin America. This is why I think Latin America is appropriate for the aforementioned.
 

Cambrinus

Civis Illustris

  • Civis Illustris

Location:
Anglia
Touché, Domine! I suppose that I personally find it hard to think of Mexico as in North America, because it is a (mainly) Spanish-speaking country. Geographically, it is, of course, part of that land mass.
 

Iohannes Aurum

Technicus Auxiliarius

  • Technicus Auxiliarius

Location:
Torontum, Ontario, Canada
Quebec is quite an interesting case: it is a large province (in fact the largest province in Canada) that primarily speaks a Latin-derived language, yet is not geopolitically a part of Latin America.
 

Domine

Member

Location:
Claremont, CA.
Quebec is quite an interesting case: it is a large province (in fact the largest province in Canada) that primarily speaks a Latin-derived language, yet is not geopolitically a part of Latin America.
Quebec is a Latin American exclave. The Québécois have sought independence from Canada, too, largely on this particular reason. Spanish is increasingly being spoken (more than any other language) in the United States -- especially in the Southwest. We could technically ascribe that region as Latinized, right? Why? Because such states have traditionally have had Spanish speakers before it was the United States.

Touché, Domine! I suppose that I personally find it hard to think of Mexico as in North America, because it is a (mainly) Spanish-speaking country. Geographically, it is, of course, part of that land mass.
It is still in North America yet it shares much more with Latin America.
 

Aurifex

Aedilis

  • Aedilis

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Location:
England
Because such states have traditionally have had Spanish speakers before it was the United States.
Not to mention speakers of other languages with a much longer history of occupation than the Spanish.
 

Domine

Member

Location:
Claremont, CA.
Not to mention speakers of other languages with a much longer history of occupation than the Spanish.
Very True. In contrast, the Native-American languages are isolated in small communities and declining substantially as time passes by.
 

Tels

New Member

The Romans conquered and spread vulgar (common) latin across europe, and after the subsequent end of the Roman empire, the languages of the main western European countries (France, Italy, Spain, Portugal) began to diverge. One might argue that in all of these countries, modern forms of latin are spoken, albeit highly diversified.
One example is: Castellano, Gallego and Portuguese.... all very similar to each other and clearly derived from Latin.

Hence South America is referred to as Latin America, as (almost) all the languages spoken there are Latin derived. At least that's my reckoning/logic on the matter.
 
 

Matthaeus

Vemortuicida strenuus

  • Civis Illustris

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Location:
Varsovia
A good book to have on that subject is Ad infinitum: a biography of Latin, by Nicholas Ostler, thoroughly in-depth and enjoyable.
Another, more scholarly one, is The Regional Diversification of Latin, by Adams.
 

Aurifex

Aedilis

  • Aedilis

  • Patronus

Location:
England
Hence South America is referred to as Latin America, as (almost) all the languages spoken there are Latin derived. At least that's my reckoning/logic on the matter.
That's demonstrably untrue. The overwhelming majority of languages spoken in South America are non-Latin. If you're talking about which languages have the most speakers or are most dominant, that's a different matter, of course, and Spanish and Portuguese are then top of the list.
 

Iohannes Aurum

Technicus Auxiliarius

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Location:
Torontum, Ontario, Canada
Central America and Mexico are considered part of Latin America, especially in a geopolitical context. Some definitions of Latin America can include the Caribbean. Only the purely linguistic definition of Latin America includes Quebec.
 

Tels

New Member

That's demonstrably untrue. The overwhelming majority of languages spoken in South America are non-Latin. If you're talking about which languages have the most speakers or are most dominant, that's a different matter, of course, and Spanish and Portuguese are then top of the list.
Salve, Aurifex.

I take your point, I was of course referring to the dominant-spoken languages, as you suggested.

A good book to have on that subject is Ad infinitum: a biography of Latin, by Nicholas Ostler, thoroughly in-depth and enjoyable.
Another, more scholarly one, is The Regional Diversification of Latin, by Adams.
Salve,

Many thanks, I should like very much to get hold of either text. I'll look into it.
 
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