Culture and Languages
The two dominant cultures are English on the north shore of the Channel, French on the south. However, there are also a number of minority languages that are or were found on the shores and islands of the English Channel, which are listed here, with the Channel's name following them.
- Celtic Languages
- Breton - "Mor Breizh" (Sea of Brittany)
- Cornish - "Mor Bretannek"
- Germanic languages
- English
- Dutch - "het Kanaal" (the Channel)
- German - "der Ärmelkanal" (the Sleeve Channel)
Dutch previously had a larger range, and extended into parts of modern-day France. For more information, please see French Flemish.
- Romance languages
- French - "La Manche"
- Gallo - "Manche", "Grand-Mè", "Mè Bertone"
- Norman, including the Channel Island vernaculars:
- Anglo-Norman (extinct, but fossilised in certain English law phrases)
- Auregnais (extinct)
- Cotentinais - "Maunche"
- Guernesiais - "Ch'nal"
- Jèrriais - "Ch'na"
- Sercquais
- Picard
Most other languages tend towards variants of the French and English forms, but notably Welsh has "Môr Udd".
Read more about this topic: English Channel
Famous quotes containing the words culture and, culture and/or languages:
“With respect to a true culture and manhood, we are essentially provincial still, not metropolitan,—mere Jonathans. We are provincial, because we do not find at home our standards; because we do not worship truth, but the reflection of truth; because we are warped and narrowed by an exclusive devotion to trade and commerce and manufacturers and agriculture and the like, which are but means, and not the end.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“With respect to a true culture and manhood, we are essentially provincial still, not metropolitan,—mere Jonathans. We are provincial, because we do not find at home our standards; because we do not worship truth, but the reflection of truth; because we are warped and narrowed by an exclusive devotion to trade and commerce and manufacturers and agriculture and the like, which are but means, and not the end.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The trouble with foreign languages is, you have to think before your speak.”
—Swedish proverb, trans. by Verne Moberg.