Linguae Europaeae

by Karol Funez Karol Funez is a senior in Political Science and Global Studies at The University of Illinois. Karol is planning to work in sales after graduation and is interested in Law, she hopes to attend law school in the near future. She wrote this blog post in 418 'Language and Minorities in Europe' course, in spring 2019.  One of the best-known and highest ranked soccer teams in the world; known for having soccer players such as Lionel Messi; is the Football Club Barcelona (FC Barcelona). My family follows Spain’s soccer league very closely and, naturally, are huge fans of FC Barcelona. Usually, both, before and after soccer matches, the soccer players will have either press conferences or interviews. As a Spanish speaker myself, I would notice when soccer players would switch from Spanish to a language that sounded like Spanish but was not. I later learned that this language is called Catalan. Catalan is a Romance language that developed two thousand years ago and remai...

by Dorothea Christophorou Dorothea Christophorou is a senior in Political Science and communication at The University of Illinois. Dorothea’s future plans include working in Chicago with non-governmental organizations. Dorothea wrote this blog post in 418 'Language and Minorities in Europe' in spring 2019. Βρισκόμενη στα ανατολικά της Μεσογείου, η Κύπρος έχει μια μοναδική γεωπολιτική θέση και είναι ανάμεσα στο σταυροδρόμι τριών ηπείρων (Ευρώπη, Αφρική, Ασία). Ένα μικρό νησί που έγινε ανεξάρτητη χώρα το 1960, υπήρξε σημείο συνάντησης πολλών πολιτισμών και Κουλτούρων και έχει μια μακρά και πολυτάραχη ιστορία. Μέσα από τους αιώνες της ιστορίας της, η Κύπρος κατακτήθηκε από τους Φοίνικες, τους Ασσύριους, τους Πέρσες, τους Άραβες, τους Βενετούς, τους Ρωμαίους, τους Έλληνες, τους Οθωμανούς και τους Βρετανούς από τα πρώτα χρόνια της ύπαρξης της. Οι κατακτητές άφησαν στοιχεία από την ιστορία τους, την αρχιτεκτονική, τον πολιτισμό και τη γλώσσα στο νησί και κάποιες από αυτές τις επιρροέ...

by Dorothea Christophorou Dorothea Christophorou is a senior in Political Science and communication at The University of Illinois. Dorothea’s future plans include working in Chicago with non-governmental organizations. Dorothea wrote this blog post in 418 'Language and Minorities in Europe' in spring 2019. Situated in the far eastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea, the island of Cyprus has a unique geopolitical position at the crossroads of three continents (Europe, Africa, Asia) and at the meeting point of great civilizations. A small island which became an independent country only in 1960, it has had a long and turbulent history. Throughout its history, Cyprus has been conquered by Phoenicians, the Assyrians, the Persians, the Arabs, the Venetians, the Romans, the Greeks, the Ottoman Turks and the British. They all left their historical, architectural, cultural and linguistic influences on the island, some of which remain to this day. Among all its conquerors, the Greeks, t...