21 ms·
What culture do Germans, Greeks, Latvians, Bulgarians, Fins, and Spaniards share? It takes more than vastly differing attachments to a vague sense of liberalis
by redthrowaway 10y ago
What culture do Germans, Greeks, Latvians, Bulgarians, Fins, and Spaniards share? It takes more than vastly differing attachments to a vague sense of liberalism and a desire to not blow the continent to high hell again.
- dalore 10y agoLatin
- esquivalience 10y agoGreek =/= Latin!
- seesomesense 10y agoFinnish is one of the few European languages with no connection to Latin
- Spearchucker 10y agoOne of two, I believe. The other being Hungarian.
- fulafel 10y agoCeltic languages, Estonian is another Fenno-Ugric one, Sami, there are lots.
- DonaldFisk 10y agoCeltic languages (Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Manx, Welsh, Cornish, and Breton) are all distantly related to Latin, and probably closer to Latin than other branches of Indo-European. Basque is a language isolate spoken in parts of Spain and France. There's also Turkish - part of Turkey is in Europe, but not in the EU.
- frobozz 10y agoThough Basque is an isolate, it has a lot of Latin-origin loan words, due to centuries of contact.
- rbanffy 10y agoI live in Ireland and I can tell you Irish has very little to do with Latin. Those who say Hungarian is hard have never been here.
- DonaldFisk 10y agoAn bhfuil Gaeilge agaibh? I was correcting someone who didn't think that the Celtic languages and Latin were in any way related. That is not true: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italo-Celtic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italo-Celtic explains this, even if the similarities are no longer obvious. Hungarian is unrelated to Latin.
- rbanffy 10y agoNo, I'm Brazilian/Hungarian. I've been here for months and still can't even figure out the structure of sentences, much less their meaning (unless it's obvious from external clues). I've always thought of myself as having a knack for languages, but Ireland humbled me. I can write Klingon, but I wouldn't be able to read safety warnings on the train were they not also written in English below. Which makes me want to put up some bilingual fake warnings with jokes written in Irish and innocent information written in English as if it were a translation from the text above. It'll be fun to learn Irish from my daughter as she starts school in the next months.
- tankenmate 10y agoActually Finno-urgic languages include Finnish and Hungarian; but also include others like Estonian, and many others besides in Russia, northern Norway, Sweden, etc.
- vetinari 10y agoSorry, it's one of many languages with no connection to Latin. Latin languages are French, Catalan, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Romanian. That's it. All the others are not.
- esquivalience 10y agoAre you honestly suggesting that the English language has "no connection" to Latin? ... even the English word "language" is itself derived from Latin!
- vetinari 10y agoThat does not mean that English is a Latin descendant. English sits on Germanic/West Germanic/Anglo-Frisian branch of the language tree. The Germanic branched together with Romance, Slavic, Celtic, Baltic, Helenic from the Indo-European/European branch, but Latin belongs to Romance, not Germanic.
- frenchy 10y agoThose trees are not a terribly good metaphor, though. English is more "descended" from its Germanic roots, but it also has enough in common with Romantic languages that I think it is reasonable to say that it descended from both.
- logfromblammo 10y agoPerhaps that is because the language tree does not effectively express multiple inheritance. Multiple invasions of Britain by different ethnic groups have patched together so many language roots into English that the conjugation of the core existence verb "to be" is just an aggregation of the same verb from seven or eight different languages, pasted together in one etymological mishmash. At some point, English started stealing vocabulary from any language used in international trade, and simply invented any new words that needed saying, using whatever etymological root that was convenient or marketable. At some point, the Normans and Picards hammered enough French words into Middle English that there should be at least a second root extending into the Romance branch from English. How else would you get "milk" from a "cow" (Germanic), but get "beef" from "cattle" (Norman), and refer to them all as "bovine" (Latin)?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- reirob 10y agoWhat about Greek, the family of the Slavic languages like Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Kroatian, the family of Finno-Ugric languages Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian, the isolated language Basque and finally the big share of the Germanic languages: English, German, Dutch, Swedish and Danish? If we want to define language as a common value for the European Countries, then it might be some Indo-European proto-language (even then it's not clear where Basque comes from). I agree that Latin had a huge influence in most of the European languages, but this mostly through the Roman Empire and later through the Catholic Church.
- kinkdr 10y agoThe western civilization? From philosophy, to mathematics, to physics, arts, and to democracy, we built everything based on each others past ideas. Our foundations are really the same.
- tomp 10y agoDon't forget morality. There are many atheists in Europe nowadays and not all countries are Catholic or even Christian, but I think we share a very similar set of moral values.
- kinkdr 10y agoI agree, ethics are pretty much the same across Europe too.
- konart 10y ago>mathematics >physics The foundations here are not all and only western though.
- visarga 10y agoWe've been warring with each other for 2000 years. Also, the same space was very integrated culturally.
- _pmf_ 10y ago> What culture do Germans, Greeks, Latvians, Bulgarians, Fins, and Spaniards share? What culture does a hill billy from the Ozarks share with a Bostonian? (And no, it is not a function of social status only; it really are deep cultural differences.)
- nradov 10y agoHistorically they would likely share a belief in American exceptionalism. Although that widespread cultural belief may be coming to an end.
- humanrebar 10y agoBostonians generally don't believe in exceptionalism. Ozarkians tend to, but I know liberal citizen-of-the-world people from, and actually residing in, the Ozarks. Anyway, exceptionalism isn't really a common bond.
- mcguire 10y agoBostonians generally don't believe in exceptionalism?
- virtualwhys 10y ago> What culture does a hill billy from the Ozarks share with a Bostonian? TV. From east to west to north to south everyone in the States has this common bond, television, and through this medium our "culture" is propagated. Flip on the TV in Europe and not only will the language very likely vary from country to country, so to will the content, which is based on the cultural norms of that particular country (or language group from which the country evolved). Also, given how new the country is, the "united" in United States is easily traced to the American Revolution and Civil War. In Europe there is no such common identity given the rich and varied history.
- riffraff 10y agoin europe most of the the time if you turn on the tv you _will_ find the same stuff. Holliwood movies, Game of thrones, Kommissar Rex, the borgias, eurovision song contest, european football championships, local versions of "the billionaire" or "big brother" etc. Did you grow up in southern europe in the '80s? Then you probaly watched the same dubbed animes like "Captain Tsubasa". In eastern europe? Same, but this time it was Krtek. Are you a kid now? Then you are likely watching Masha & The Bear across the whole continent.
- ivanhoe 10y agoAnd what are those big differences, other than the language?
- return0 10y agoChristianity
- fsloth 10y agoThat's something they share with South Korea, Ethiopia or Russia. I would not call them as a culturally coherent group - thus I would not hold having a major christian population in a country very uniting. Especially since parts of those are protestant and partly catholic - and that creates hugely divisive cultural views on e.g. womens rights even today. So one could claim 'christianity' a thing which culturally divides them as well.
- maartendb 10y agoJust travel a few times outside the continent and you'll have your answer.
- meigwilym 10y agoI'd propose sport, namely football. Take a look at how the Euro16 tournament is going, and how the fans are interacting together in France.
- pizza234 10y agoWhatever is happening between football factions in Euro16 is nothing specific to international European matches; violence is very frequent even for national ones.
- igl 10y agoWhat culture do bavarians and frisians share?
- ommunist 10y agobeer
- kolme 10y agoAs a expat Spaniard living in Germany, I can tell you, we have much more in common as one would intuitively think. I would go to the extend to say, I am culturally much closer to the Germans, than to other American nations, even if we share the language, Spanish.
- exclusiv 10y agoBut to the news at hand, many English people don't like to be referred to as Europeans. They don't think they have much in common with Spaniards as an example. And no offense or disrespect, but Spain has a history with Latin American countries that they don't have with the Germans. That cannot be ignored.
- dzhiurgis 10y agoTo me, it seems they are deliberately trying to differentiate themselves, when reality is they are very similar.
- TheOtherHobbes 10y agoThe UK sees itself as an important world player in its own right. EU membership challenges that, because in the EU the UK is one country out of many - and not even the most important one. Of all the countries in Europe the UK has been least able to deal with the loss of empire in the previous century, and hasn't yet worked out a way to look forward to the rest of the 21st century instead of back to the 19th. This is unfortunate because there's a lot of talent of all kinds. But it's trapped in a political and financial wasteland which is built on a bizarre nostalgia for the glory days of the 19th century. If the UK had been like this in the 18th century, the industrial revolution would never have happened here. We'd have been pining for the old pre-civil war monarchy instead of building a future.
- davrosthedalek 10y agoThere is a difference between wishing/thinking to be different and actually being different. The moral code, greater world view, etc. is very much alike. We celebrate our differences, as we should, but it seems that Britain forgot the common base we share. I fear it will hurt them more than they realize.
- klunger 10y ago> What culture do Germans, Greeks, Latvians, Bulgarians, Fins, and Spaniards share? Eurovision?
- NetStrikeForce 10y agoCoca cola, modern sports, national health care, the Internet, videogames and on a more serious side a higher degree of respect for minorities that countries bordering the EU, no death penalty, gun control, a will to improve civil rights and liberties, ... should I go on? Once you start meeting people from all those countries you realize even more how similar your cultures are. Some common sayings, some common tales, very similar political divisions, etc There's a reason why Europe is many times referred as a whole. "They do it like this in Europe", "In Europe they prefer that" (and it's not always ignorance ;)).
- exclusiv 10y agoExcept if you go to England they don't like to be referred to as Europeans even if they are technically. These countries like their distinct identities. They like to visit other European countries but they really don't want a melting pot at home.
- Ma8ee 10y agoAs a European I say that you are wrong. Of course there are quite a few right wing extremists in Europe, but in general we are very happy with people from other European countries coming to study or work in our own home countries. (Those who come to beg are seen as more problematic.) In addition, we as everyone else are capable of identifying with many things, and what is important at the moment depends on the context. When I speak to an American or Chinese, I'm European, when I speak to an Englishman I'm a Swede and if I speak to another Swede I'm from Stockholm.
- NetStrikeForce 10y agoIn Europe, I identify as Spaniard. In Spain, I identify as Catalan. In Catalonia, I identify as someone from Barcelona. In most world affairs, I identify as European. It is human nature to look for your own identity; and sharing that with your neighbours substracts from your own personality. On the other hand, against external competition you would look for group membership. What I'm saying is, the Brits are not special or different on their aspirations than their neighbours. Their main difference is who owns the media and the aspirations of those media moguls.
- ommunist 10y agoThe answer is Nokia.
- mioelnir 10y ago1000 years of religious oppression.