#freecatmeow

[ask-the-eu6]

Do u guys speak English when you work together? If not, in which language do u guys communicate :D

Belgium: It is a bit more complicated than just being able to say we speak this or that language...

Some more (a lot more) information under the cut!

In the EU 24 languages are spoken, they are treated as equally as possible but despite this some countries (Especially France, but also definitely Germany) will try and push their own language to the forefront as their language users are a big percentage of the total population. Which is understandably really!

In this way there are 5 big or "main" languages: German, French, Spanish, Italian and English. Yes despite Brexit and the big debate about whether or not English would still be spoken.

Especially the French wanted to put French or Latin as main language post-Brexit and get rid of English, which is what is briefly touched upon here as well. We can talk about this in another post if someone wants to send a question regarding that because it's pretty hilarious. More information on that is here X

the EU only speaking one language wouldn't do though, yes it would indeed be more practical and cheaper as some of the more frugal countries (The Netherlands *cough cough*) would prefer.

(Actually the amount of money this costs us a year each of us is 2€ source: X so it's worth it for the sake of transparency etc...) Indeed, one of the EU's founding principles is multilingualism (X) meaning that the EU will promote and attempt to:

communicating with its citizens in their own languages

protect Europe’s rich linguistic diversity

promote language learning in Europe

If you ever want to work for the EU know you have to be at least trilingual and be able to speak at least 2 big languages fairly fluently (at least enough to pass the entrance exams). (No they aren't paying me to tell you this. Maybe they should... Hmmm...)

So all this information aside lets get back to the characters! We already touched upon languages in this ask so we thought we could combine them!

Belgium: I speak Flemish X, which is basically a Dutch dialect, French (some Walloon dialects) and German. These are also my official languages. I have no language of my own, sadly. Although when people tell me I speak Belgian, it will be because I have a very distinct Belgian accent in each of those languages. Something I get teased/bullied for a little bit by my neighbours. :(

Luxembourg: I, however, do have my own language! Something that surprises people a lot... Luxembourgish sounds a lot like German with some French word thrown in but despite that is not comprehensible to Germans unless it is written. Due to there being so little native speakers we do not really have a fixed written language. Everyone just writes this language like they want meaning there is sometimes communication issues. Something funny about my language is "that is" which is "Dat ass," which never fails to make my siblings laugh. Next to that my people also learn French and German at a young age and then English meaning my entire population is at least quadrilingual to some extend! There is also a big Portuguese diaspora in my country so those people then speak 5 languages. I picked that up a little as well... in short, I am very multilingual!

France: That's great! I will not lie, I love French and therefore if I could, I would only speak my own language as it is obviously the most beautiful of all languages!

Romano: bullshit.

France: But I am able to speak some local dialects in addition to some regional languages such as Basque and Breton! (X)

Netherlands: I mostly speak Dutch, although just like France I am also able to speak the regional dialects and regional languages such as Frisian X and some low German dialects X which I speak with Germany from time to time to annoy my siblings. :) 

Germany: As the Netherlands said I speak some Frisian as well however, I mostly speak German and German dialects. One of these dialects is the Bayern dialect which I speak with Austria whenever I have to interact with him. 

Romano: Finally! it’s our turn! So, t’m going to keep it short because I’m not a dick. Anyway, me and my brother speak so many regional dialects of Italian most of the time I have no idea what he is saying. X

Italy: Brother! Don’t be mean! 

Romano: U viditi? Un sacciu cchi sta diciandu. (See? I don't know what he is saying)

Italy: Fine! I’m going to go speak some Tirolese with Austria! :(

Belgium: So yes... the EU is home to over 60 indigenous regional or minority languages, spoken by some 40 million people!  Thus we are all bound to speak a lot of languages! Thank you for your question! 

[elija-oc-art]

@freecatmeow (Sorry it seems like I couldn’t tag you properly)

Expression meme: 2A (2 / 5) 

Not accepting more!

[buruzaitama]

freecatmeow ha respondido a tu publicación: Ohh! Is it your birthday? I hope you will have a...

Happy birthday!!! :)

Thank you!!! ♥

[pazsune]

You remember about Vandal Hearts 2! *_* I loved that game (and Jacob XD) when I was a kid! Glad someone else knows about it

aww, thank you!! I only learned about it within the last couple of years from like-minded RPG fans, but I still really love it. I’m happy that my art was able to reach some fans ;w; 

it makes me sad how inaccessible the game is to new people, I think that there’s still so much juiciness in the plot that modern gamers could appreciate 😅

[your-fave-is-jewish]

I'd like to request Austria from Hetalia, his human name is Roderich Edelstein

sorry, but i’m not comfortable with doing hetalia characters :(

[artsbysmarty]

I would like a drawing of APH Czechia, she is cute ^_^

She is very cute indeed! ^^ Here’s some APH Czechia from a while back! 

[elija-oc-art]

@freecatmeow (sorry I can’t tag you properly)

Actually they don't really feel bad when the French left in 1814, and don't be surprise if they attended celebration events for the Habsburgs right after. But eventually these two would recognize the importance of this short period as the the further growth of national consciousness in later periods of the 19th century.

@flyingsassysaddles​

Now she will consider it movement is very important for her in so many ways. She did feel excited when in touched of these works published back then when she was only represent Carniola and haven’t be Slovenia yet.

(Also I am not taking more 19th century event asks at the moment)

Following the Napoleonic Wars, in 1809 the French Empire ceded territory along the Dalmatian coast and established Illyrian Provinces (contained contemporary Slovenia, Croatia and some parts of Austria), named after the Roman province of Illyricum with Laibach/Ljubljana as the capital. The main purpose was to cut off Austria’s access to Italy and the Mediterranean Sea and but also tighten the blockade to against British Empire. The Napoleonic Code was introduced, roads and schools were constructed, local citizens were given administrative posts and native languages were used to conduct official business. The French rule was short-lived, Austria declared war on France and their troops invaded Illyria in 1813 and retook in 1814.

On the one hand the reforms were not that successful and didn’t gain much popularity from local people since the high tax and they didn't like being conscripted into the French army and such. On the other hand the French rule was gratitude by the intellectuals and did contributed to their nationalist movements. Since the late 18th century under the influence of the Enlightenment, Slovene intellectuals published works about language, culture, art and ect, thus the term Slovene Enlightenment. Kingdom of Illyria (without Croatia and Dalmatia) established as a crown land of the Austrian Empire in 1816, the capital was Laibach/Ljubljana.

Few decades later, the Illyrian Movement from 1830s to 1840s occurred in Croatia,  not only Croatian language got the standard orthography (devised by Ljudevit Gaj) during this time but the movement itself was also embraced all South Slavs. Illyrian Provinces was the first time South Slavs were united outside the Habsburgs or the Ottomans.  Slovene intellectuals, however choose to not associate with this movement. Later in 1840s the Slovene alphabet still in use today that was based on Gaj's was standardized.

Note: It should be mentioned that, the lands that comprised contemporary Croatia and Slovenia were not under single political units during the early 19th century. Slovene were the vast majority of Carniola, much lesser in Gorizia then minor in Styria, Carinthia and Istria. All of these regions expect Carniola are divided in different countries now. The term and the idea of an united Slovenia was mentioned first in 1840s. Croatia and Slavonia were under the crown of St. Stephen of Hungary, Dalmatia and the Military Frontier was under the direct administration of Vienna.

(xxxxx)

[elija-oc-art]

My father's family is from Croatia and my mother's is from Slovenia <3

Thank you!! And I am glad you’re interested in my characters 😄