English and romance languages extremely similar?

<<Well, Old French has had a large impact on the English language and caused its structure to alter drastically>>

No.
Anglo-French had a large lexical influence on English, but no structural changes to English were made.

English structural syntax comes from Old Norse, and from the "blending" of Old English and Old Norse in the Danelaw.


I think the original question: "English and romance languages extremely similar?" needs to be extended to --> "English, Scandinavian, Dutch/Afrikaans and romance languages extremely similar?

German syntax is different from the other germanic languages like English and Danish, and German is the odd-ball germanic language as it pertains to structure. German structure is NOT representative of germanic structure.



So we have these following structural groupings:

1). {English, Afrikaans, Danish, Icelandic, Swedish, Norwegian, Faroese, Scots & Frisian}

2). {Dutch (intergrade between Group 1 above and German)}

3). {German, Yiddish}

4). {Romance languages}

Where 1 Group 1 and 4 are also similar. English structure is no more similar to say French than Swedish is. English is not more like a romance language than a germanic one.

<<If you compare English, French, and Chinese, and picked the two closest languages from the three, clearly it'd be French and English, especially the written languages. >>

If you compare English, French, Dutch and picked the two closest it would definitely be English and Dutch.

English and Dutch are even mutually intelligible on a basic level.

ENGLISH: Stop the world, I want to get off!
DUTCH: Stop de wereld, ik wil eraf!
GERMAN: Haltet die Welt an, ich möchte aussteigen!

ENGLISH: I think that Dutch is like an intermediate between English at one extreme, and German at the other.
DUTCH: Ik denk dat het Nederlands is als een intermediair tussen het Engels aan het ene uiterste, en het Duits op de andere.
GERMAN: Ich denke, dass Niederländisch einem Zwischenglied zwischen Englisch an einem Extrem, und Deutsch am anderen ähnlich ist.

Here is a link to a Dutch interview (Interview with Walter) where you can actually hear Dutch being spoken. Any English speaker can easily make out 70-85% of what is being communicated.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dutch/self_study_packs/english_language/trydutch/interview.html

<<In the French and Frisian examples above, I could puzzle out far more of the French and only a handful of the Frisian words.>>

This is due to the orthography of French vs Frisian; the basic familiarity almost all Engish speakers have with at least some French; and because of the evolution of Frisian away from English.

Frisian orthography is very offputting to an English speaker, and very foreign looking. Looks almost Scandinavian. Dutch--though less closely related genetically to English--has a more familiar feel and appearance. The same passage [not a literal translation] in Dutch looks like this:

{Louisiana (Frans: Louisiane) is een van de staten van de Verenigde Staten van Amerika. De standaardafkorting voor de "Pelican", zoals de bijnaam van de staat luidt, is LA (niet te verwarren met de stad Los Angeles die dezelfde afkorting heeft). De hoofdstad is Baton Rouge.

Het gebied dat nu de staat Louisiana vormt, werd oorspronkelijk bevolkt door Indianenstammen als de Choctaw. De eerste Europeanen in het gebied waren de leden van een expeditie geleid door de Spanjaard Pánfilo de Narváez, die in 1528 de monding van de rivier de Mississippi ontdekte. Ongeveer dertien jaar later verkende een expeditie onder leiding van Hernando de Soto het gebied.}

DO-OVER

Not all of the words marked out are the property of romance (i.e. Latin).
They were also borrowed, by Romance, from another/other source(s).

others like "around" were created in English partially from Romance roots ("round")

words in < > are Latin
{ } are Greek ("anomaly"), Arabic ("average"), Celtic/Germanic ("german-") or unknown

--------------------------------------------------------------------
As a <native> speaker of a <romance> <language> my answer is <clear>ly no, not at all.

in an english {average} <text> maybe at best 15-20<%> of the words can be <recognisable>, more often a<round> 5-10<%>. ***All the others are {german}<ic>*** and so <complete>ly <alien> to us.

The <structure>, well to me I find it <very> <different> to my <language>, word <order> almost always <inverse>; not at all the same <tenses>, <very> <different> <congugation> (does not even <exist> in English) <mode>s, <etc.>..

And lastly, spelling and <pronouciation> is <very> {german}<ic> to me, at least <very> <alien>.

Well, the answer is <clear>ly no.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Your <text> <exceed>s by far the <limit> of 20<%> of <Romance> and <Latin> words. Do you <consider> this an {anomaly}?



Counting main words (no affixes) you would speak if the passage were read aloud (including numbers ["20"], hyphens as "to", and "%" as percent; "etc" as one word [et-cetera]) this is the breakout more or less:

89 germanic words (69.4%)
36 Latinate words (26.9%)
4 other (3.7%)

These numbers include repeat/reused words

<<89 germanic words (69.4%)
36 Latinate words (26.9%)
4 other (3.7%)
>>

In my math, I left out the portion of text below the dotted line. However, when re-calculated, the margin of difference is less than 1%, so it doesn't really make a difference :-)

<<
<<In the French and Frisian examples above, I could puzzle out far more of the French and only a handful of the Frisian words.>>

This is due to the orthography of French vs Frisian; the basic familiarity almost all Engish speakers have with at least some French; and because of the evolution of Frisian away from English.

Frisian orthography is very offputting to an English speaker, and very foreign looking. Looks almost Scandinavian. Dutch--though less closely related genetically to English--has a more familiar feel and appearance. The same passage [not a literal translation] in Dutch looks like this:

{Louisiana (Frans: Louisiane) is een van de staten van de Verenigde Staten van Amerika. De standaardafkorting voor de "Pelican", zoals de bijnaam van de staat luidt, is LA (niet te verwarren met de stad Los Angeles die dezelfde afkorting heeft). De hoofdstad is Baton Rouge.

Het gebied dat nu de staat Louisiana vormt, werd oorspronkelijk bevolkt door Indianenstammen als de Choctaw. De eerste Europeanen in het gebied waren de leden van een expeditie geleid door de Spanjaard Pánfilo de Narváez, die in 1528 de monding van de rivier de Mississippi ontdekte. Ongeveer dertien jaar later verkende een expeditie onder leiding van Hernando de Soto het gebied.}>>



LOL -- dude, that's not any better than the Frisian!

"Is een" "staat" "expeditie" "rivier" "in" and "onder leiding" -- that was all I got. Those recognizable words were more than drowned out by such incomprehensible terms as "standaardafkorting" "ontdekte" "hoofdstad" "ongeveer" "vormt" "oorspronkenlijk" and really, most of the rest of the passage!

Familiar words in Germanic languages seem to be less recognisable than in Romance languages... The spelling is too distorted.

I have to admit that CID's Dutch audio link was pretty compelling -- I actually could understand a lot of it! Much of it, in fact, sounded EXACTLY like English. Which made the words I didn't understand all the stranger. A bizarre experience. Like listening to Spanglish. But I would imagine that had I read a transcript, I would have called it all gobbledegook. (Which is still what spoken German and Scandinavian languages sound like to me.)

In a similar vein, I find it far easier to understand written French and Spanish than the spoken variety. How fuuny that it works the opposite way with Germanic tongues!

Danish and Icelandic

These two languages have a complete differenct structure nowadays

Listening to a Dutch voice really is fun, whether the speaker is using Dutch itself or English. If you can overlook the extreme guttural nature of the Dutch Language and concentrate on the intonation instead then it really is quite pleasnt in its own way......the general friendly and open dispostion of the Dutch people seems to come out when they speak, and it's the same when they use English, as the vast majority do with ease.

English is far and away the second Language of the Netherlands...they start learning it as soon as the dummies are removed from their mouths so no monoglot English speaker need flounder there.

Astonishingly the only person I have ever encountered in the Netherlands who had to pass me on to another member of staff was a late teens lad in a shop in Alkmaar who only seemed to manage to say "hi" - bless him...he obviopusly held onto his dummy much longer than normal. I don't think I scared him in any way at all as I'm a pretty friendly, open and very approachable guy myself....unaccountably in a country like the Netherlands the lad's apparent understanding of English was about 0.1% but the lad who took his place, roughly about my own age, was word perfect and with the typical Dutch accent. Maybe he was just shy...very unlikely though, not if he works with the public, and there's no such thing as a shy teen is there? Certainly not here in the UK there isn't....in fact I don't think I personally know anyone who is what you would call "shy"....if there is then they hide it well!

In fact, a surprising number of Dutch people seem to be able to speak English with an accent which can sound quite British in a way, especially the lady assistant I met in a store in Amsterdam who put me right directions wise. She sounded really native born "Berks., Bucks., or Beds." but told me she had never crossed the North Sea in her life! I was gobsmacked when she told me.....I get so intrigued in situations like that but I have to curb my natural journalistic inquisitive instincts in case they get misinterpreted.

Of course, you can always use You Tube to see for yourself just how close, or otherwise, English is to Dutch....in this case by comparnig spoken English with written Dutch. If you can distract yourself away from the action of the AdFab lassies and concentrate on the language thing then you can make your own mind up....just be sure to follow it all closely:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0RO-9Owbck

I think Jane Horrocks appears in this clip at some stage....she has just about the most distinctive of Lancashire accents.....it's 100% pure Lancastrian....so it should be...she comes from a place called Ramsbotton! Yes she does - honest! Another one of those funny UK names. Google it and see for yourself - Ramsbottom, Lancashire.

>> Certainly not here in the UK there isn't....in fact I don't think I personally know anyone who is what you would call "shy"....if there is then they hide it well!
<<

Have you ever seen the play "The Foreigner"? It's about an Englishman that travels to Georgia. But he's so shy that he is afraid of talking to anyone, so his friend comes up with a plan. He tells everyone in the lodge that they're staying at that his friend is a foreigner and can't speak a word of English. It's a really funny play. He even speaks in a very funny sounding made up language.

<<"Is een" "staat" "expeditie" "rivier" "in" and "onder leiding" -- that was all I got. Those recognizable words were more than drowned out by such incomprehensible terms as "standaardafkorting" "ontdekte" "hoofdstad" "ongeveer" "vormt" "oorspronkenlijk" and really, most of the rest of the passage! >>

Oh it's not that hard...you just have to acclimate yourself to Dutch orthography

"standaardafkorting" is actually a compound word: "standaard" ("standard") + "afkorting" ("abreviaition") < "af-" ["off"] + "-korting" ["shortening"]

"hoofdstad" = capital [city] (lit. "head-city") < hoofd ("head") + "stad" ("city", cf. Eng. "stead")

"vormt" = "formed"

"oorspronkelijk" = "original" < "oor-" (= out, from origin, cf. Eng or-deal) + spronke ("spring", cf. Eng. "sprung") + "-lijk" (-ly, -like) [so lit. "out-sprung-ly"] --but I must admit this is rather oblique and only for those deeply interested in Dutch wordbuilding

<<But I would imagine that had I read a transcript, I would have called it all gobbledegook.>>



Well...here's the transcript...

Anne-Mie: Hoi. Ik ben Anne-Mie. Ik werk op het departement Nederlands van University College London. Wij hebben hier een Nederlandse student. Zijn naam is Walter. Oh, daar heb je hem net. Hey,Walter. Kom even binnen. Mag ik jou interviewen? {trans.--> Hi. I am Anne-Mie. I work in the Dutch department of the University College in London. We have here a Dutch student. His name is Walter. Oh, there have I him now [--there he is now]. Hey, Walter. Come inside. May I interview you?}

Walter: Ja, natuurlijk, geen probleem. {Yes, naturally, no problem.}

Anne-Mie: Walter, waar kom jij precies vandaan in Nederland? {Walter, where do you come from precisely [--exactly] in the Netherlands?}

Walter: Ik kom uit Zwolle. {I come from [lit. out of] Zwolle.}

Anne-Mie: Uit Zwolle? Waar is dat? {From Zwolle? Where is that?}

Walter: Zwolle is in het noorden van Nederland, ongeveer 2 uur rijden van Amsterdam. {Zwolle is in the north of Holland, approximately a 2 hour ride from Amsterdam.}

Anne-Mie: En waar studeer jij in Nederland? {And where do you study [--where do you go to school] in Holland?}

Walter: In Utrecht. {In Utrecht.}

Anne-Mie: Utrecht. Wat doe je daar? {Utrecht. What do you there [--what do you do there]?}

Walter: Ik studeer linguïstiek. {I study linguistics.}

Anne-Mie: O, dat is interessant en wat doe je dan hier in Londen? {Oh, that is interesting, and what do you then here in London?}

Walter: Ik loop stage op het departement Nederlands en ik studeer hier ook linguïstiek. {I [run] do placement work at the Dutch department and I also study linguistics here.}

Anne-Mie: Aha. Hoelang ben je hier al? {Aha. How long have you been here already?}

Walter: Bijna een jaar. {Nearly/almost a year.}

Anne-Mie: En wat vind je van Londen? {And how do you find London?}

Walter: Ja, het is fantastisch! Het is een hele grote stad en er is heel veel te doen. {Yes, it is fantastic! It is a very [lit. wholly] big [cf. "great"] city and there is a lot to do.}

Anne-Mie: En wat doe je in het weekend? {And what do you [do] on the weekend?}

Walter: Ik speel gitaar en ik ga uit met mijn vrienden. {I play guitar and I go out with my friends.}

Anne-Mie: En jouw hobby’s, wat zijn jouw hobby’s? {And your hobbies, what are your hobbies?}

Walter: Nou, muziek en reizen. {Well [cf. "now"], music and traveling.}

Anne-Mie: Reizen? Wat is jouw favoriete land? {Traveling? What is your favorite country {lit. land]?}

Walter: Australië. {Australia.}

Anne-Mie: Australië! Leuk! Ja, bedankt Walter voor het interview. {Australia! Wow! Yes, well Thanks, Walter, for the interview.}

Walter: Graag gedaan. {My pleasure/you're welcome!.}

Anne-Mie: Tot ziens. {See you soon.}

Walter: Dag! {Bye! [lit. (Good) Day!]}

Anne-Mie: En nog veel plezier in Londen. {And yet lots of pleasure in London [to you!]}

Walter: Ja dank je wel. {Yeah thank you much [lit. thank you well]}

Anne-Mie: Dag! {Bye! [lit. Day!]}

Walter: Doeg!




Still a gobbledegook?

With the translation right next to the Dutch, it becomes a little easier to look back and forth and start to pick out cognates. Often they are not the cognates you were expecting, and it takes a little effort to place them correctly. Sometimes they are eerily exactly like English that's just been misspelled. But without that, it really would be gibberish. The odd spelling really throws you off. And there are whole phrases that remain very alien, like "graag gedaan" and "tot ziens".