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<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"><B>My language question is this: I speak Brazilian Portuguese, and some Spanish, also good French. Will all that help me get along in Gallego? What is Gallego, anyway? And, how do </B><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">you keep your languages separate? </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
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<I>Wow, that's a lot to tackle....</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
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<I>Yeah, you should do very well. Just by speaking "Brazilian" Portuguese u got a </I><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"><B><I>doctorate</B> in <B>"portoñol," </B>easily understood by Spanish speakers. Matter of fact, I believe Portoñol will be understood all over the peninsula, as it is in Spanish speaking America.</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
Portuguese (from Portugal), is easier for galegos to understand than </I><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Brazilian Port, because it's mais parecido. </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
See, there was once a linguistic connection, <B>Galego-Portugues</B>, which was one of <BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">the sources of what eventually came to be known as Spanish. There is lit in G-P, Alfonso, el sabio, in his cantigas, is an ex.</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<I>Galego is a language in its own right: has its own grammar, authoctonous lit., et al. As far as keeping languages apart...hmm...knowing them help....With me it's been some of that, as well as developing an auditory perception which aids me in distinguishing, for example, Portuguese, Portoñol, Galego &Spanish.Don't worry. Most everyone is literate in Spanish. Galego was suppresed under Franco and there's still a great, great, great stigma in different sectors about speaking it (my friend José Luis, from El Ferrol, has told me that he doesn't want to "galleguizar" his name (to "Xosé") because he doesn't want to upset his parents!). The Galego monolingual speakers live mostly in the countryside (hmm...which we may find in the Camino!). I don't know folks..Yes, knowing the languages of the countries through which we travel definitely help and there's no discussion there. On the other hand...when you don't know the language, folks find ways in which to communicate. And there's originality and fun in that. I do not speak one word of Chinese. Yet, when I spent a couple of months there sometime ago, I got by, no probs. <BR>
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It's "the language of the heart," right, the one that matters.<BR>
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But listen, what do I know? <BR>
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Xosé Manuel</I><BR>
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