Columbus did NOT discover America...neither did the people who lived here

My guess about the Oriental issue is that the people migrated there before written language and some limited common language evolved overtime to be what they became.

My college roommate had a job in a chemical company based in Belgium. He had to go there 5-6 times a year. Definitely an interesting place . . . everyone spoke multiple languages and were fairly laid back.

 

The differences in oriental languages and cultures seem less mysterious when I think about the first time that I visited England. I always thought that I spoke English, until then. I think it was Winston Churchill who described Britain and America as two countries separated by a common language. I remember the first Yorkshire farmer that I encountered. I got maybe one word out of five. Then I made it to Newcastle, and understood absolutely nothing. That's not even taking into account the Gaelic speakers.

In our own country, watching "Swamp People" demonstrates how unique languages and cultures can develop within just miles of others.

I agree with you about Portuguese. The first time that I heard it was was the Carary Islands. My plane landed there in the middle of the night, and it was like stepping into another world. The language sounded to me like a drunk German speaking Spanish.

The Middle East is another region where fairly unique languages and cultural practices have evolved over a relatively short time. Most Arabs understand classical Arabic, but no one speaks it outside of universities and news rooms. The spoken languages of the various Arab countries have no resemblance to one another, and are absolutely incomprehensible to someone not trained in that particular dialect. I know. I was trained as an Egyptian Linguist and sent to Lebanon. My first thought was, "I thought these people spoke Arabic. What is this language I keep hearing?"