. . of proper pronunciation? After all, English is a Germanic language, with some Norman (Scandinavian) bastard French tacked on. It was much more Germanic in pronunciation up through Shakespeare's time.
Well, are you sure this isn't actually restoration . . .
. . of proper pronunciation? After all, English is a Germanic language, with some Norman (Scandinavian) bastard French tacked on. It was much more Germanic in pronunciation up through Shakespeare's time. |
|
English is more like Scandinavian than German
Recent research thinks it's the other way around: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121127094111.htm Notably, English grammar is like the Scandinavian languages grammar, not German grammar. I have learned both Swedish and German, and Swedish was by far the easier of the two. It's basically English in structure and sound whereas German can be wildly different. Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson. |
|
English is a thieving language.
|
|
That has always been the way English works.
If you need to express something and no English word or phrase is exact - look for an exact word or phrase in some other language (Swahili will do) and steal it. It takes on a new life as an English word or phrase. This story is probably from a Reader's Digest, 1959 or earlier, because that's about the last year I ever saw a Reader's Digest. An American tourist was traveling through Germany on a train. She sneezed loudly. A lady near her said, "Gesundheit". The American lady turned toward her and said, "Oh, you speak English!". The German lady, who did speak English, laughed and explained that "Gesundheit" is a German expression adopted into English. |
|
..and that's a Keeper too; your encyclopædia Rocks
and reminds of my (wayback reported) tale of the guy--in DACHAU /the town,( where I was cashing a Travelers cheque and about to visit Die Götterdämmerung Kamp) asking moi: Why does everybody hate us Germans? And yes, I did offer a conciliatory reply; on-Inspection: this was NOT an occasion for blurting out any nasty lIsticles as only a Murican thuggee wouild do /while salivating. Travel broadens ..even in despair My all-time fav Confucius Language quote was torn from a magazine (@prolly ~age 14) and I thought maybe it was a discarded Readers Disgust issue--but its tattered remains seem a bit too shiny for that odious 'condensed!-books-for non-Readers' paper quality. Argosy? maybe. (Amazing ..the idiot-details of stuff within that ∞/space of jelloware!) |
|
I wrote "Germanic", not German.
The Scandinavian languages are all Germanic. Finnish is Uralic, which is why it's an error to call Finland "Scandinavian". For some purposes I do lump Finland with the Scandinavian countries - under the term "Nordic". English originated from a now extinct north Germanic language. Scandinavian languages are also North Germanic, so the closeness to Swedish is not outlandish. |
|
Going the other way
My true native language is the Ostend dialect (no, not an accent). My official native language is Dutch. Both are closely related to German. I had to work hard for 6 years to learn (Parisian) French to the point I could maintain a basic conversation. Don't ask me to do that anywhere near the Spanish border. It is an entirely different language. I ran with English* in 2 and I have never had any issues understanding anyone in the US. The differences across the country are really minor compared to what you would run into over 20 miles in Flanders. You have to go from way North to below Arkansas before you could speak of the differences as a dialect. * That started off as the Queen's English. Not much left of that now... |
|
I recall reading that the King's / Queen's English . . .
. . was originally promoted as a uniform military language, so commands could be easily understood by all on the battlefield. |