im trying to teach my self spanish right now, i see it as the most useful language..in north and south america anyways..
what are your reasons for wanting to learn such a hard language, that is only used in one small part of the world?
eckmek
quote:
Originally posted by Lira
Well, that makes a whole lot of sense and is to be expected.
I usually like to simplify this sort of debate myself because there's this fictitious entity called "The <Insert Nationality here> Language", but that's how most people see languages in the world. What you often do have, instead are continua that go from one "language" to another, reason why Germans that live close to the Dutch border find it way easier to understand Dutch (and speak a very "funny" kind of German themselves) when compared to German speakers from more remote areas.
It's only natural that those living next to you (even if they live in another country) sound more familiar than those living in the capital. Even when the languages are unrelated, if they're spoken next to one another for long enough, they eventually borrow a few things from one another.
That's because the written language is more static. Portuguese and Spanish aren't mutually intelligible when spoken, but if you're a Brazilian high school student and you pick up a book in Spanish, you're probably able to tell what it is about - even if you have to guess the meaning of every other word and go through dozens of false friends.
Yeah, I just feel like having pizza now :p
You're always so friggin' nuanced in your answers Lira, can't you be a little more narrowminded every once in a while!? :p
I was thinking of describing how to speak Danish but then realized it wound up sounding like some freaky porn, 'cause speaking Danish requires you to use your tongue in weird ways and use the back of your throat a lot :gsmile:
Cloudburst
If Scandinavia was LotR Danish would be Orc, Norwegian would be Hobbit and Swedish would be Elven.
eckmek
quote:
Originally posted by Cloudburst
If Scandinavia was LotR Danish would be Orc, Norwegian would be Hobbit and Swedish would be Elven.
That just reaffirms my idea that danish children are being punished by their parents when made to wear those clothes...
dj_alfi
quote:
Originally posted by nortek
eeewwwww... i hate that show.
but on a related side-note; the times i've been to holland/flamish belgium i have been able to understand pretty much any sign, poster, shampoo bottle etc. i came over without knowing anything about the language. i had 3 years of german in junior high tho, but i rarely paid any attention.
igottaknow
Did the Vikings talk like this too?
Lira
quote:
Originally posted by eckmek
You're always so friggin' nuanced in your answers Lira, can't you be a little more narrowminded every once in a while!? :p
Well, that's why I often talk about breasts... the space between them is narrow enough for me to mind :D
netroM
quote:
Originally posted by igottaknow
Did the Vikings talk like this too?
Nope.
"Ah, the languages of the Nordics.
Few people realize this, but Norwegians actually speak a language that is far closer to old Danish than Norwegian, while people on Iceland actually speak something close to old Norwegian.
Little FennoSwede is holding on to his uncle Finland because FennoSwedes are Finns who speak Swedish.
Though, you could really just say Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and to some extent Icelandic (But not Finnish) are nothing more than different dialects, seeing as we understand each other if we talk reeeeaaaaly slow and clear."
I disagree with being able to understand Icelandic even if it is spoken reeeeeealy slow, otherwise the statements are pretty accurate.
Watts
quote:
Originally posted by LoveHate
im trying to teach my self spanish right now, i see it as the most useful language..in north and south america anyways..
what are your reasons for wanting to learn such a hard language, that is only used in one small part of the world?
I've studied Swedish in the past, so I already had a foundation for the language.
Goebbel Goebbel
best danish thing of all time, probably because he wasn't born there:p
Joss Weatherby
This really actually makes me want to learn swedish or danish or maybe finnish.
I used to hear my grandparents speaking it and my grandma has tons of books in Finnish and Swedish, and my moms last name is Finnish (but she is Swedish decent).
