Talk:Venezuela

Etymology - Little Venice

In the 16th Century there was a colony called Klein-Venedig (q.v.), which is the German rendition of Little Venice. So it would help the discussion of the Little-Venice theory of the name Venezuela if the existing discussion had dates for when the two different etymology hypotheses arose and for a bonus, it would help if the German colony's name would also be accounted for. Cardiffman (talk)

COVID-19

It would help to have a history update, including the country's response to the pandemic as well as more recent financial conditions. Kdammers (talk)

Socialism

If we ever get to the point to explain why Venezuela failed, we should say socialism ABruhRandomUser (talk) 00:19, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

...any concrete suggestions for the article? That's what the talk page is for. It's not at all a secret that Maduro is part of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and he is quite often blamed for Venezuela's current state. But this article is about the country in its entirety. Prinsgezinde (talk) 11:53, 24 March 2021 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 19 February 2021

Under external links, an archived version of the Gobierno en Línea web portal is given because the website was down for several years.

It has been re-launched and is available at http://gobiernoenlinea.gob.ve/

Please replace the archived link with the current, working website. Thank you!

--23.28.91.150 (talk) 19:37, 19 February 2021 (UTC) 23.28.91.150 (talk) 19:37, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

All set. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 19:47, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 14 June 2021

Include English as recognized language. Fernandmendi (talk) 19:38, 14 June 2021 (UTC)

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. ◢  Ganbaruby!  (talk) 19:49, 14 June 2021 (UTC)

Please see reference in language section. English is the only compulsory language other than Castillan Spanish taught in schools at a national level. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Venezuela#cite_ref-ReferenceA_5-0Fernandmendi (talk) 20:12, 14 June 2021 (UTC)

A mandatory subject in school, a subject students have to study, isn't "recognition". Largoplazo (talk) 20:32, 14 June 2021 (UTC)

It's a mandatory subject in syllabi nationwide that all local students have to not only study, but in most cases, master at some point. Especially for the high-skilled workforce. In addition, Venezuela is a tourist destination in the region where the main language spoken with visitors is English. That's what defines the word "recognition"Fernandmendi (talk) 20:51, 14 June 2021 (UTC)

Mathematics and history are also subjects all students have to study and, presumably, are expected to master. But that isn't what "recognized" means. (Imagine saying that Latin was ever a "recognized" language in any part of the US or the UK just because secondary schools required students to study it.) That English is important for international business communications and talking to tourists is generally true around the world and is a simple fact involving no bestowal of recognition.

When it comes to languages, recognition implies, roughly, some formal provision allowing them to be used for specified purposes, requiring services to be supplied in them in specified circumstances, or granting support to communities using those languages:

• allowing them to be used in courtroom testimony
• allowing them to be used by legislators in session
• providing that civil servants be available to offer services to citizens in those languages
• offering public education in those languages to students who primarily speak them
• allowing municipalities to conduct their official affairs in those languages
• and so forth.

Largoplazo (talk) 21:55, 14 June 2021 (UTC)

Definitely, English may be broadly taught, in a very "passive" manner (more on that in a moment), but it is not widely spoken or recognized. You cannot expect to be able to work only in English (except in very specific circumstances, for example, as an English teacher or as an employee in an Embassy or Consulate), to run errands in English, to do shopping in English... Some people are able to handle the language fluently, but they are a minority. English is taught in most schools in a "passive" manner: Students are presented with a simplified English grammar, and they repeat pre-built sentences and structures over and over and over without being required to use their brains to speak the language in a constructive way. They memorize some vocabulary, they learn patterns, they learn conjugation of some verbs... and they use all the information just to pass tests that they have to pass (if they pass them), but nothing else.

Private Sector

In the Economy section, it is noted that, "The private sector controls two-thirds of Venezuela's economy." The source is the 267th reference, which is attributed to the Associated Press in the corresponding footnote but links to this Fox News article. The article itself provides no source for its statement; it merely claims the Central Bank of Venezuela has estimated the private sector's proportion to be such. I scoured the Internet and could not verify this statistic. Unless anyone else can, I see no reason why this sentence should stay on the page. Wiki Vicki99 (talk) 07:41, 14 August 2021 (UTC)