What underlies the divergent history of two languages: Catalan and Piedmontese.

By Toislex, adding information to the map of F. Rubat Borel - "Il piemontese in tasca" , 2006, Edizioni Assimil, Chivasso, modified, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Answer to a Quora question

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I am a Spanish speaker, with Piedmontese and Catalan ancestry currently living in Barcelona, and our opinion reflects exactly the facts about Catalan and Piemontèis. But behind this phenomenon there is a problem that has to do with nationalism. In Catalonia, the language is driven - in addition to the interest of maintaining the language itself - for political reasons: separatism. Catalonia has a long history of conflicts with Castile, while Piedmont had exactly the opposite role: to unify Italy. The Piemontèis is becoming the language of the elderly; the new generations speak basically in Italian, while in Catalonia one can see the new generations of African or Latin American immigrants speaking Catalan everyday.

Both Catalan and Piedmontese reflect the great power that schools have; in Piedmont, children have been italianized and in Catalonia they have been catalanized.

In addition to the above, due to the European Union and the global weight of the English-speaking countries, all of them are also beginning a process of integrating English gradually more and more, which causes an "internationalization" that has the potential to sweep away regional and national identities (luckily !!! This continent is characterized by causing some major nationalist wars)

Then there are very different attitudes among the young Piedmontese and Catalans: the former are imbued with the spirit of unification, while the latter (always speaking only of the hard Catalan speaking sector) have a segregationist spirit against Spain and everything Spanish… and also - although it is difficult for the Catalans to recognize this - by definition this nationalist spirit is also anti-European.

The experience I had in Piedmont and Catalonia is colored by this fact. To speak Piedmontese in Piedmont is greeted with surprise and joy, but not as necessary; while speaking Catalan in Catalonia has become quite a political statement and is forced by public institutions.

Old Roman Empire, New American Empire, and a story about mixing races

Part of a discussion in Quora with Patrick, an american citizen

Well, I'm still improving my English. Seems that there are chances that you also will have to improve your Spanish very soon XD

Too many concurrent themes to deal with at once.
Well, let's go, anyway.

Throughout the Roman empire the nordic people were admired by the color of their eyes and hair, and were considered good warriors, but in all cases they were also considered as barbarians. At the same time, Germans always admired Rome. Proof of it were the attempts they made to join Rome through the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire, etc. Hitler himself was an admirer of Mussolini, from whom he drew many ideas.
But... during those thousands of years the Chinese, Japanese, and Indians (from India) considered ALL Europeans as backward in many ways, mainly in the religious-philosophical fields. The stories of Marco Polo can attest to the enormous difference that existed between them and us even in the Renaissance. Marco Polo did not hesitate to say that the Chinese were the most intelligent people in the world. A similar impact had Alexander the Great when he invaded India and knew a little bit of Hindu philosophy.

Speaking of the Renaissance, the Italian of that time was even more admirable than his Roman ancestors. And this was because Rome took the best gladiators from Africa and Northern Europe, the best Greek philosophers, the best artists from all over the Mediterranean, and so on. And concentrated them in Italy, where they left their genes. Of course, they also took the most beautiful women around. The best dancers, actresses, singers..
Once the ingredients were concentrated the resulting cocktail is Italy and its descendants, France, Spain, Portugal, etc. and all the culture they have created.

The Romans also took the Jews, by the way. One of the ethnicities with the highest IQ in the world. 1/5 of Spaniards have Jewish genes. 

Of course, the genetic mix is not always positive. It is like the famous story of the conversation between Isadore Duncan and Anatole France, who were discussing eugenics, came to a sudden stop when Isadore said: 
“Imagine a child with my beauty and your brains!” 
and Anatole responded: 
“Yes, but imagine a child with my beauty and your brains!”

As proof of that, there is Michelangelo on the one hand, and Al Capone on the other.

After the various genetic ingredients have accumulated in an area begins a process of natural social selection, where certain genes will go to the upper classes and others go to the lower classes.

In short, what I say is that the genetic mix is favorable in the long run, although at the beginning it causes many problems. We are very conditioned by our genes, our past. You are probably an almost pure blond, and therefore a descendant of a long selection of ancestors who liked blondes, so for you, blondes are demigoddesses. But the same goes for the Asians: many, many of them do not like whites at all. For example, because our "dog noses" seem grotesque to them. You'd be surprised by how many Latinos (and mediterranean) do not like too-white skin, because it looks like "sick". And it is known how the Italians, but particularly the French, think that the rest of the world seems that "lacks something", some kind of charm or good taste.
But if you have two or more genetic pools in your blood, your tastes will diversify a lot. Personally I find Asians very attractive. Maybe I have some aboriginal American gene, then that is expressed in that way.

I have a great respect for the Nordic civilization. Scandinavians are great examples in many ways. USA is on its way to being a new Rome. I think it is no coincidence that the Capitol is inspired by the Roman architectural style (another example of Germanic admiration for Greco-Latin culture)

Part of the future greatness of the American global empire will be how it handles the difficult subject of racial and cultural mix. It would be good, in this sense, to learn what happened in Italy and France, the process of "aristocratic mixture" that took place through the centuries.
 
Ave Patricius!
XD