"Iberian" languages questions

[Barrister]

Jake, where do you get this impression that people in the US have a hard time understanding each other?

My Cousin Vinny.  'What is a yoot?'

Well, now I want to see that movie again.

It stands up remarkably well to repeat viewings.

And it is one of the most accurate courtroom portrayals in Hollywood.

[Admiral Yi]

The one major plot hole in Vinny is that whereas Marissa is supposed to be the automative genius, she's not the one who has the insight about the tire tracks. 

The lesser difficulty with the move is: how the hell is a dude that looks like that fucking Marissa Tomei?

[Ed Anger]

Pssst. It's a movie. 

[Sheilbh]

Also, I should point out - once again that I never said all English speakers can understand one another - clearly that's not true, but that in general one doesn't have to worry at all that one will be unable to understand other speaker's of English.  Now that may be the case for the various Spanish and Portuguese groups, but it wasn't the impression I got from this thread.

Well that's because there are lots of different languages in Iberia. Surely the difference is that all of the variations of English descend from English. They're dialects of English and that's the original mother tongue. Whereas Catalan and Castillian and Portuguese and Galician are languages that come from Latin. They're not dialects of Castillian, but rather separate languages. Given their proximity and so on they're bound to have some bits which are mutually intelligible, but they're dialects of that branch of Latin.

I'm sure there's some Guarani-Spanish language that would really confuse any Spaniards but the differences within Castillian (as opposed to between Iberian languages - which is like Scots Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, Welsh, Breton and Cornish) aren't generally that deep.

[Admiral Yi]

Pssst. It's a movie. 

That's why it's called a plot hole. 

[Jacob]

Jake, where do you get this impression that people in the US have a hard time understanding each other?

[Duque de Bragança]

Also, I should point out - once again that I never said all English speakers can understand one another - clearly that's not true, but that in general one doesn't have to worry at all that one will be unable to understand other speaker's of English.  Now that may be the case for the various Spanish and Portuguese groups, but it wasn't the impression I got from this thread.

Well that's because there are lots of different languages in Iberia. Surely the difference is that all of the variations of English descend from English. They're dialects of English and that's the original mother tongue. Whereas Catalan and Castillian and Portuguese and Galician are languages that come from Latin. They're not dialects of Castillian, but rather separate languages. Given their proximity and so on they're bound to have some bits which are mutually intelligible, but they're dialects of that branch of Latin.

e.g Galician and Portuguese are dialects of Galaico-Portuguese. 
Specially for North Portuguese.

As for Catalan, there is still a school linking it to Occitan/South French/Langue d'oc (French is Francilian Langue d'oïl), so it would not be an Iberian language originally.

[Razgovory]

The one major plot hole in Vinny is that whereas Marissa is supposed to be the automative genius, she's not the one who has the insight about the tire tracks. 

The lesser difficulty with the move is: how the hell is a dude that looks like that fucking Marissa Tomei?

Cause Joe Pesci is a badass?

[Ed Anger]

Pssst. It's a movie. 

That's why it's called a plot hole. 

Hey, us uggos can get cute chicks.

[Sheilbh]

e.g Galician and Portuguese are dialects of Galaico-Portuguese. 
Specially for North Portuguese.

Yeah, West Iberian Latin

Like two Brythonic languages as opposed to two broader Celtic ones.

As for Catalan, there is still a school linking it to Occitan/South French/Langue d'oc (French is Francilian Langue d'oïl), so it would not be an Iberian language originally.

That makes some sense. I mean the paisos Catalans included bits of Southern France so they've always been culturally linked. Plus there are weird bits of Catalan that seem very French: 'si us plau' for please, or 'diumenge' for Sunday. From what I've read you're as likely to need a spattering of French and Italian, as you are Castillian, to understand bits and pieces of Catalan.

[The Larch]

Diumenge for sunday is quite similar to other romance languages, you have domingo in Spanish, Portuguese and Galician, and domenica in Italian.

[Sheilbh]

True. It's very close to Langue d'Oc too, which is 'dimenge'.

Admittedly all the Catalan I know is from a guidebook for a holiday I never took and a cookbook

[Razgovory]

Pssst. It's a movie. 

That's why it's called a plot hole. 

Hey, us uggos can get cute chicks.

Also he's a lawyer, chicks eat that up.

[Queequeg]

That makes some sense. I mean the paisos Catalans included bits of Southern France so they've always been culturally linked. Plus there are weird bits of Catalan that seem very French: 'si us plau' for please, or 'diumenge' for Sunday. From what I've read you're as likely to need a spattering of French and Italian, as you are Castillian, to understand bits and pieces of Catalan.

There's a lot of debate over if Catalan and the Lang d'Oc are separate languages, and if so when it happened.  There are models that have them as two registers or dialects of the same language.  I don't have enough expertise to comment.  The Catalan language, unlike all of the other present Iberian languages, has roots in the eastern Marca Hispanica rather than the mountains of northern Iberia. 

[Queequeg]

Like two Brythonic languages as opposed to two broader Celtic ones.

It seems plausible that the divide between Brythonic and Goidelic is wider than between Romance languages. It dates to before the foundation of the Empire by a few centuries at least.