Even in Latvia a Romance language conference is a good showcase of the Mediterranean culture:) Yesterday I came back from lunch just in time, only to find the room empty. About 4 persons came in 20 minutes, so I left in order to not miss my work.
Today the after-lunch part is exactly the same: four guys back on time. At +10 minutes I went down to grab some coffee — and found Spaniards, French and Italians having a casual sobremesa in the faculty café:)
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P.S. It’s absolutely amazing how everybody speaks whatever language they fancy, and everyone understands. Someone makes their point in French, receives an answer in Italian, responds in Italian, and the next speaker comes in with Spanish. Wow 
<3
Tag: романские языки
Dialects of Italy
For the first time ever I saw a shitstorm arise during a conference. It sufficed to say “dialects of Italian” in a room full of Romance philologists 
😀 Italians started to shout “LANGUAGES!”, someone got on their feet to make the point clearer.
/The funny part is that such a discussion is essentially a deadlock since no precise criteria to tell languages and dialects apart have been established yet. /
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Впервые в жизни видела срач на конференции. Достаточно было произнести “диалекты итальянского” в помещении, забитом романистами. Итальянцы стали кричать “ЭТО ЯЗЫКИ!”; кто-то даже вскочил на ноги, чтобы яснее донести мысль.
/Шутка в том, что подобные дискуссии бесплодны по определению, так как точные критерии для различения языков и диалектов ещё не установлены./