31 Mar 09
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Originally posted by zozozozoThe expression you sought is: grammatisches Geschlecht or gender, but that word has been hijacked I think.
Yeah i think so,
German has alot of...i dunno: der die das sort of riddle stuff,
I have a small story:
I worked at a place where a lot of foreigners worked also. At one day a colleague fteched me to the phone and a Lady asked me if I spoke German I replied a bit astonished that I think to have a basic command of that language. This enraged the Lady, since I do have a quite distinctly German name (Kraut). I asked her why she asked then in the first place...in fact my chinese colleague wasn't able to understand that the chimney sweep would require access to his flat at a certain date 🙂
Edit: corrected a few stupid typos in my second language text 🙂
31 Mar 09
1 edit
Originally posted by zozozozoit's another germanic language, which to me all seem quite simple. BUT I haven't studied dutch, so it's just a hunch.
Yeah i think so,
German has alot of...i dunno: der die das sort of riddle stuff, but the dutch grammar is way more stupid.
swedish, english, norwegian, danish, german seem all quite straightforward. english being the most complicated of the germanic languages according to my limited experience.
in my subjective opinion of course, a sino-tibetan speaker for example would probably strongly disagree. 🙂
edit: oh, about the topic: I can speak finnish (my 1st) correctly, but avoid it like the plague in everything except official contexts. grammatically correct text just doesn't read well. it's stiff and choppy. that's why nobody speaks 'correctly', it just doesn't flow well. in any language.
31 Mar 09
Originally posted by Ponderablekraut. that's pretty funny. 🙂
The expression you sought is: grammatisches Geschlecht or gender, but that word has been hijacked I think.
I have a small story:
I worked at a place where a lot of foreigners worked also. At one day a colleague fteched me to the phone and a Lady asked me if I spoke German I replied a bit astonished that I think to have a basic command of that langu ...[text shortened]... s flat at a certain date 🙂
Edit: corrected a few stupid typos in my second language text 🙂
31 Mar 09
1 edit
Originally posted by zozozozoyeah, spanish seems very easy. I understand it better than portuguese, which was my 2nd language. and I've never studied spanish.
u should lol, ull probably laugh your ass off because of all the silly rules^^
I think spanish is one of the most simple languages?
the difficulty of a language is relative though. it's been proved that all languages are equally difficult/easy to learn as your 1st language. but after that the difficulty is defined by the "linguistic distance" between your native tongue and the one you're learning. linguistic distance between different germanic languages is obviously very small. for a germanic speaker learning a sino-tibetan language would be much more difficult. but for a mandarin speaker learning, say, cantonese (both chinese languages) would be much easier (about as easy as an english speaker learning german I would guess).
31 Mar 09
Originally posted by wormwood"the difficulty of a language is relative though. it's been proved that all languages are equally difficult/easy to learn as your 1st language."
yeah, spanish seems very easy. I understand it better than portuguese, which was my 2nd language. and I've never studied spanish.
the difficulty of a language is relative though. it's been proved that all languages are equally difficult/easy to learn as your 1st language. but after that the difficulty is defined by the "linguistic distance" between your ...[text shortened]... ) would be much easier (about as easy as an english speaker learning german I would guess).
I doubt this. You mean the pronouncement of languages? That could be the same. But learning a language with alot of silly rules must be harder then spanish for example.
31 Mar 09
1 edit
Originally posted by wormwoodIt is for people like you that my ascending Finnish sounds ridiculous & impossible to grasp in the street. Is it too hard to speak like in Kivi's Seven Brothers, damn it?!?!?!?! ðŸ˜
edit: oh, about the topic: I can speak finnish (my 1st) correctly, but avoid it like the plague in everything except official contexts. grammatically correct text just doesn't read well. it's stiff and choppy. that's why nobody speaks 'correctly', it just doesn't flow well. in any language.
31 Mar 09
Originally posted by zozozozono, I meant learning the languages: everywhere around the world the children reach the same linguistic proficiency in their mother tongue at the same age. the speed of learning doesn't differ between spanish, finnish, english, chinese or any other regions in any way.
"[b]the difficulty of a language is relative though. it's been proved that all languages are equally difficult/easy to learn as your 1st language."
I doubt this. You mean the pronouncement of languages? That could be the same. But learning a language with alot of silly rules must be harder then spanish for example.[/b]
every language has it's own quirks, easy things and complicated things. for example, the tonal variation in chinese languages are extremely foreign to westerners, which make it difficult. BUT the words are static, there are no conjugations, which makes THAT part exteremely simple. english is a bit similar, very few conjugations.
but take finnish or hungarian for example, we have up to 100-200 slightly different conjugations for every word, which is a nightmare for someone coming outside finno-ugric languages, like seitse can confirm. BUT out pronunciation is exactly the same as in japanese, so THATS easy if a finn wants to learn japanese or the other way around.
then again, finnish doesn't have articles nor prepositions, which WE find very confusing in germanic languages like english.
there's always pros and cons in every language, and as a whole it all evens out. for everything that's more complex than in your mother tongue, there are things that are similar or even simpler than you're used to.
have you ever met a japanese person who spoke good english, and learned it as an adult? I haven't. but we had a japanese exchange student, who nailed finnish in 6 months. without books. I know brits and frenchmen who speak worse finnish after living 30-40 years here.
31 Mar 09
Originally posted by Seitsehey, it was the first book ever written in finnish, the language was what it was. NOBODY understands it (nor kalevala). I strongly recommed you use something more modern as a reference. 🙂
It is for people like you that my ascending Finnish sounds ridiculous & impossible to grasp in the street. Is it too hard to speak like in Kivi's Seven Brothers, damn it?!?!?!?! ðŸ˜
31 Mar 09
Originally posted by wormwoodI have a Phd in linguistics and i can tell you i have no idea what you just said.
no, I meant learning the languages: everywhere around the world the children reach the same linguistic proficiency in their mother tongue at the same age. the speed of learning doesn't differ between spanish, finnish, english, chinese or any other regions in any way.
every language has it's own quirks, easy things and complicated things. for example, the ...[text shortened]... books. I know brits and frenchmen who speak worse finnish after living 30-40 years here.
GRANNY.