# Romansch & Latin **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 19, 2000, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romansch-latin/33683 "2000-09-19T03:24:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2000, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romansch-latin/33683/1 "2000-09-19T03:24:06Z")
I read that Romansch is a variant of Latin. How close is it to Latin Is it more a dialect or a seperate language. If it is a dialect then Latin isn’t really a dead language? ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2000, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romansch-latin/33683/2 "2000-09-19T03:48:12Z")
Latin, in its purest form, is technically a dead language; there are no countries that speak it as their native (vs. ceremonial) tongue. When I went to Romania in 1994, I did a good deal of research about the country, culture, and language. One thing mentioned repeatedly in various sources was that Romansch is the closest of the “living” romance languages to the original Latin. It is not a dialect. It was curious to me, however, that the language didn’t _sound_ as lilting and, well, Latin-like as French or Spanish. Yes is “dah,” car is “mashina,” and “do you speak Romanian?” sounds like, “Say spoon-ay romaneshti?” Hmm. Almost looks closer to pig latin, heh heh heh. One member of my team was from Mexico; it was curious–he could have conversations with the people using his Latin-based Spanish with their Romanian. A random note: during my visit, I would actually _dream_ in Romanian/Romansch. Sure, I had no idea what the people were saying, but I heard that rolling language even in my dreams while visiting. Man, I really want to go back. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2000, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romansch-latin/33683/3 "2000-09-19T04:00:12Z")
Ruffian, in Romania they speak Romanian. Romansh has about 70,000 speakers in SE Switzerland and was recognized in that country in 1937 as a national language, co-official with German, French, and Italian. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2000, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romansch-latin/33683/4 "2000-09-19T04:06:56Z")
Romansch (65,000 active speakers), one of of the 4 national (semi-official) languages of Switzerland, is a dialect of the Rhaeto-Romance language. (There is some dispute over whether they are languages or dialects). Some others in the group are Friulian (320-750,000 active speakers) and Ladin (10-20,000 active speakers; it is not to be confused with Ladino). They are spoken in eastern Switzerland, western Austria, and northern Italy. I have read that they are closer to classical Latin than any other living language, but I don’t know if that’s true. If there is confusion, it may be because in the German language, Ladin can refer to two different things: the modern Rhaeto-Romance dialect of Northern Italy, or the ancient Latin language. However, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Friulian/Ladin is not very closely related to Romansch. F/L is similar to Italian, R is similar to French. See more at [endangered languages](http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/europe_report.html) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2000, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romansch-latin/33683/5 "2000-09-19T04:24:55Z")
I could be mistaken about what Ladin means in German. I can’t confirm that it has two meanings. Apparently, Ladin is called Ladino in Italian. This is confusing, since there is another Romance language called Ladino, spoken by (a very few) Sephardic Jews. The Pater Noster and the Ave Maria in one form of Romansch can be seen [here](http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-rum-surmiran.html). It doesn’t seem all that close to Latin, if you ask me. And [Pater Noster in Ladin](http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-l-badiotto.html) and [Pater Noster in Friulian](http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-furlan.html) and for comparison [Latin](http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-latin.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2000, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romansch-latin/33683/6 "2000-09-19T05:16:50Z")
Ah, then. Thank you for the clarification, sailor. 🙂 What fooled me is the similarity of the word Romansch and the Romanian word for, well, Romanian, which sounds like (I do not remember the spelling) Romaneshti. That aside, what I said about the Romanian language remains. Wowzers, has it really been six years since I was there?