Community Chat

[Oznell]

Is anyone else fascinated by tiny little countries?   Think of them as magical little kingdoms, whether they are ruled by royalty or not!

When little, I used to love looking at maps of them--  Switzerland, Lichtenstein, (sp?), Armenia, Luxembourg, etc.

Also like little self-contained minority linguistic groups, which don't necessarily have their own countries, like the Kurds, the Basques, Gypsies, the Lapps in Finland, the Ainu in Japan, and on and on.

It's interesting that a country of only 8 million like Switzerland, has four official languages, German, French, Italian and Romansh, each with their own distinct area (roughly) in the country.  There's something so appealing about a country that is mostly Alpine too.

Do you have favorite countries or peoples you like to learn about?

[Oznell]

How could I forget-- it was an interest in Wales that started me out on this!

[candys mine]

I'm not so well read as you on this area but it has always facinated me that there are seperate languages for just about EACH country in Europe, Which to me are all relatively small compaired to U.S.. They are not that far from each other and  yet they speak a different language.  I guess geography has a lot to do with it.  Isolaion leads to diffiernt speech pattern development but just how different they all are is what amazes me. It's like someone from Maine having a different language from someone in New York.  And I don't mean the local accent. ! 

PS I've always wanted to visit Hallstat (sp) that's a little city, does it count?

[traveler]

I surprised to enjoy American Appreciation Day in Luxenbourg.

[PilatesLover]

The week the MOAB was dropped on Afghanistan is the first time I've heard of Tajikistan and Kyrgystan.

So many of the countries of central Asia end with "istan" - it is Persian for "place of."

[Oznell]

candys mine, I had never heard of Hallstatt, so I looked it up.  What a gorgeous place, perfectly situated!  No wonder you want to go there...

[Oznell]

TRAVELER, I didn't know either that Luxembourg celebrated American Appreciation Day.  How refreshing!  Another reason to like that place!

[Oznell]

PilatesLover, you are right, there always seems to be yet another country in that area that is not generally well known.  Also very interesting to know the meaning in Persian of the frequently seen suffix, "istan".