Comments on: Why does everyone say that all countries in S. America speak spanish except Brazil?

By: BRAZILIAN BLOOD

BRAZILIAN BLOOD — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:40:45 +0000

AND THE MOST COMMON LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN SOUTH AMERICA IS SPANISH, FRENCH, ENGLISH, ITALIAN, PORTUGUESE, DUTCH, AND GERMAN BUT THE MOST COMMON LANGUAGES ARE PORTUGUESE AND SPANISH EVERY BODY IN SOUTH AMERICA GOTTA TALK AT LEAST 3 LANGUAGES DUE TO THE MAYOR IMMIGRATION FROM EUROPE AND OTHER COUNTRIES TO SOUTH AMERICA THE MAYORITY OF EUROPEANS LIVING IN SOUTH AMERICA, ARE GERMANS, PORTUGUESE, SPANIERDS, ITALIANS AND POLISH GO BACK TO SCHOOL AND LEARN HISTORY

By: Musica

Musica — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:35:37 +0000

People are ignorant re: geography.

By: doug0102

doug0102 — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:35:37 +0000

Everyone? Have you talked to EVERYONE about this? I actually talked to one guy, who didn’t say it, so you are wrong.

By: Carlos M

Carlos M — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:35:37 +0000

… Geography is not a priority in the American school system. We are behind just about every European country in that field.

By: camila

camila — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:35:37 +0000

For the most part people are ignorant and don’t know. Though I imagine that some people do know this but are making a general observation of the language that’s spoken the most. Every continent has different countries that have different languages that have different dialects. Unless you’re really getting into the specifics…its just easier to answer broadly.

By: horsebackrider94

horsebackrider94 — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:35:37 +0000

People are ignorant. Dx

By: cmk796

cmk796 — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:35:37 +0000

I am sure they mean the majority speaks spanish except brazil. Who wants to list all of the exceptions when there are only a few.There is no point.The only reason I take out brazil when speaking generally is because Brazil is a very big country so it would be an insult to not include that exception.On the other hand who cares about Guyana or French Guiana?

By: Alere'sh

Alere'sh — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:35:37 +0000

PORQUE son tan pequeños esos paises que los sudamericanos no los toman en cuenta, eso es todo

By: Iochi T

Iochi T — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:35:37 +0000

well, south america is a large country with some very large world presences, and some very small. if one is looking to proide a short and sweet description of a place, they will lean towards summing it up based on what the vast majority of the population is doing. thats not to say it is the right thing to do, mind you, and doesnt respect the complexity of things, but if you are in a conversation with people who are relatively unfamiliar with south america, and are talking about south american cultural life, you are more likely to mention spanish and portuguese, as the vast majority of the populations speaks them, at least in the continental south americas, than english or french.

its an issue of practicality. sure, they might not know, but do you know off the top of your head what languages are spoken in southeastern china? western europe? i bet you can guess the family, but…

my point is, dont get bent out of shape because some ignorant americans + others tend to generalize and leave out small facts/outliers. ignorance is inevitable, and you need an effective way to present information in a short period of time. perhaps if suriname were the 5th largest economy in the world, dutch would be on the map, but according to wikipedia, its population is a little under half a million, in a continent with almost 400 million people.
but yes, ignorance is still bad.

By: siemrateunamata

siemrateunamata — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:35:37 +0000

because they are not as well known as all of the Spanish or Portuguese speaking countries. If you live in Florida or New York more than likely you will meet people that are Guyanese or Surinamese but I have NEVERRRRRRR EVER meet someone from French Guiana

Also Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname were all English Guyana until all the wars but Guiana is how you say Guyana in French and Suriname is how you say Guyana in Dutch