Languages

[SweetCheaks]

My first language is German but I prefer to speak English. I tried to learn Russian when i was younger but i screwed up

[shadows]

Originally Posted by SweetCheaks

My first language is German but I prefer to speak English. I tried to learn Russian when i was younger but i screwed up

You can speak two languages. That is still pretty good!

[rockabilly]

I'm fluent in Elvish and Klingon.

[smc]

Originally Posted by rockabilly

I'm fluent in Elvish and Klingon.

Then you need to get out more.

[rockabilly]

Originally Posted by smc

Then you need to get out more.

I gotta hit the conventions and bring home an Elven maiden.

I wanna be the "Lord of her Ring". lol

[smc]

Originally Posted by rockabilly

I gotta hit the conventions and bring home an Elven maiden.

I wanna be the "Lord of her Ring". lol

Yeah, I remember when I had my first beer.

[SweetCheaks]

Originally Posted by shadows

You can speak two languages. That is still pretty good!

Thanks to you, sir.
But I think English and German arent?t that hard to learn. There are languages like Japanese, Mandarin...you have to learn the "letters", the speech and the gestures. Thats a lot to handle

[smc]

Originally Posted by SweetCheaks

Thanks to you, sir.
But I think English and German arent?t that hard to learn. There are languages like Japanese, Mandarin...you have to learn the "letters", the speech and the gestures. Thats a lot to handle

I have long argued with my students and others that German is the easiest language for English speakers to learn. In America, most young people think it is Spanish. But English is a Germanic language, and approximately 60% of English derives directly from Germany. I found it very easy to learn German and now speak and read fluently.

[ila]

Originally Posted by smc

I have long argued with my students and others that German is the easiest language for English speakers to learn. In America, most young people think it is Spanish. But English is a Germanic language, and approximately 60% of English derives directly from Germany. I found it very easy to learn German and now speak and read fluently.

I do agree with you, smc. I found German very easy to pick up. The sentence structure is so similar that I was able to form correct sentences without having to think about it. It didn't take long for me to be able to think in German and when speaking or listening to German I never had to mentally translate between English and German to carry on a conversation.

Of all the dialects in German I like the Vorarlberg, Austria dialect the best. It is very easy to understand and native speakers speak slowly and clearly, enunciating their words.

[Tread]

Originally Posted by smc

I have long argued with my students and others that German is the easiest language for English speakers to learn. In America, most young people think it is Spanish. But English is a Germanic language, and approximately 60% of English derives directly from Germany. I found it very easy to learn German and now speak and read fluently.

Did you compared it to Dutch, Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish (also Germanic based), but the grammar could be more similar to English.
Or only compared with World languages, witch wouldn?t exclude Dutch.

[smc]

Originally Posted by Tread

Did you compared it to Dutch, Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish (also Germanic based), but the grammar could be more similar to English.
Or only compared with World languages, witch wouldn’t exclude Dutch.

I read Dutch, which is in the West Germanic sub-group of Germanic languages, and thus most closely related to German and English. I find Dutch difficult to speak because of the odd, rounded vowel sounds; whenever I try, I sound really off. I also read Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish with varying degrees of proficiency, and can speak Swedish after I'm in Sweden for a few days (or my Stockholm friends visit). These are Germanic languages in the sub-group of North Germanic languages, also known as Nordic languages.

I would say from my own experience that Danish is the easiest of the North Germanic languages, because Danish strikes me as the closest to German of these particular languages, both grammatically and syntactically. Of the North Germanic languages, Danish and Swedish share a similar sub-sub-group generally called East Scandinavian. Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese are in the West Scandinavian branch, further removed from the original German.

Icelandic is an interesting case, because while it is Germanic in vocabulary, it has an inflectional grammar that's like Latin and even more like Old English.

You can probably tell that languages are of great interest to me.

[ila]

Originally Posted by smc

I read Dutch, which is in the West Germanic sub-group of Germanic languages, and thus most closely related to German and English. I find Dutch difficult to speak because of the odd, rounded vowel sounds; whenever I try, I sound really off. I also read Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish with varying degrees of proficiency, and can speak Swedish after I'm in Sweden for a few days (or my Stockholm friends visit). These are Germanic languages in the sub-group of North Germanic languages, also known as Nordic languages.

I would say from my own experience that Danish is the easiest of the North Germanic languages, because Danish strikes me as the closest to German of these particular languages, both grammatically and syntactically. Of the North Germanic languages, Danish and Swedish share a similar sub-sub-group generally called East Scandinavian. Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese are in the West Scandinavian branch, further removed from the original German.

Icelandic is an interesting case, because while it is Germanic in vocabulary, it has an inflectional grammar that's like Latin and even more like Old English.

You can probably tell that languages are of great interest to me.

I read once that up to the widespread use of printing presses, when spelling was becoming standardized, that Dutch used to be considered a dialect of German.

I don't want to start an argument here about which is considered a language in its own right as the Dutch will claim, and rightly so, that Dutch is a language and not a dialect. There is also Frisian which I have heard some Dutch say is a dialect, but the Frisians will say that it is a language. I once saw a program on German television in which everyone was speaking Frisian. At first I thought that I was listening to English.