There you go; mea culpa then. I thought you were unknowing of such case :D
Does English sound like other Germanic languages?
hm I don't think English is generally really difficult to pronounce for a native German speaker.
I never had a big problem with it.
The only problem I have noticed is the english "th". Some German can't really say it and it sound more like an "s".
This can end up in a very funny situation at times... :P
I never had a big problem with it.
The only problem I have noticed is the english "th". Some German can't really say it and it sound more like an "s".
This can end up in a very funny situation at times... :P
****This can end up in a very funny situation at times... :P***
How right you are! Our German friends need to practice the art of placing their tongues between their teeth and then exhaling......it really is quite simple if you do this little exercise! ;-) I refuse to believe that our Continetal cousins have a different physiological make up from us!
It can literally be a matter of life and death if you can't distinguish "sinking" from "thinking!"
Yes - zuh Germans DO have a sense of humour!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGVc05Te7Ps
How right you are! Our German friends need to practice the art of placing their tongues between their teeth and then exhaling......it really is quite simple if you do this little exercise! ;-) I refuse to believe that our Continetal cousins have a different physiological make up from us!
It can literally be a matter of life and death if you can't distinguish "sinking" from "thinking!"
Yes - zuh Germans DO have a sense of humour!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGVc05Te7Ps
>> -) I refuse to believe that our Continetal cousins have a different physiologica make up from us <<
That was a rather poor attempt at humor. You do realize that they simply can't hear the difference between the two sounds at all--they sound like rather subtle variations on the same thing, sort of like how many English-speakers tend to be unable to tell the difference between u and ü at first.
That was a rather poor attempt at humor. You do realize that they simply can't hear the difference between the two sounds at all--they sound like rather subtle variations on the same thing, sort of like how many English-speakers tend to be unable to tell the difference between u and ü at first.
<<That was a rather poor attempt at humor.>>
WHAT! That was frickin' hiLARIOUS
you need to lighten up
WHAT! That was frickin' hiLARIOUS
you need to lighten up
Existe un tribu de nativos de Sudamérica en cuyo lenguage el color amarillo y el naranja se dicen igual. Pues bien, se comprobó que ninguno de ellos era capaz de distinguir mediante la vista un objeto amarillo de otro igual pero de color naranja. Para su cerebro, moldeado por la lengua que hablaban, eran lo mismo. Con los sonidos pasa igual, de hecho yo conozco a franceses que aunque saben positivamente que el sonido RR del español es muy diferente a cualquier otro que exista en el idioma francés y a pesar de que les he explicado cómo deben posicionar la lengua en la cavidad bucal para emitir tal sonido, se muestran totalmente incapaces. Su aparato fonador es igual al mío, pero el que lo maneja es el cerebro. Al parecer a a éste lo moldea de una forma decisiva la lengua que hablamos.
Guest,
It appears that you are discussing things that are distinct. One is the conception of what constitutes a color according to culture and the other is the anecdoctal inability of some French speakers to make a good RR sound in Spanish. Some people are better mimics than others. And the real secret: Some people do not want to sound like a native for cultural reasons even if they want to be able to manage in a language.
It appears that you are discussing things that are distinct. One is the conception of what constitutes a color according to culture and the other is the anecdoctal inability of some French speakers to make a good RR sound in Spanish. Some people are better mimics than others. And the real secret: Some people do not want to sound like a native for cultural reasons even if they want to be able to manage in a language.
I still think that both things are related. In some way language shapes our brain's perception of the world. If you don't have certain sound in your language it's difficult for you to reproduce it. That there are people who can mimic other language's sounds is another thing. That is subjective. But the objective fact is that sounds that are not present in one's language (or colors in my example) are hard to identify and thus to reproduce . Another example, in Japanese L and R are homophones and as consequence they can't pronounce RR as well.
Sorry to change the subject. You can keep talking about that, but I'm just gonna say this. It occurs to me that people whose native language is English really can't be sure they're hearing other closely related languages right, so to people whose native language is something where the words aren't as similar, do the Germanic and Latinate languages still sound the same to you? For instance, on that video I gave the link to, do Spanish and German sound that way to you if you speak a language that's further away from English? It would have to be a language further away from those two than they are to English, though. Any help would be appreciated, but just to make it easy, do the Spanish and German in that video sound right to you? Sorry for being so long-winded.
to me english does not seem west germanic. though there are some notable similarities between it and other west ones, i would think it was a north germanic (because of its stronger resemblance to norwegian and swedish)[i find] ,if i didnt know better;but i've been wodering why english is west germanic rather than north if its old form and old norse were, for a time, mutually intelligible languages.
It is West Germanic. You're probably mostly comparing it to Moden High German, which has undergone a consonant shift that has made it seem more distant.
E.g. Water -> Wasser
Better -> Besser
&c.
The northern Germanic languages haven't gone through that consonant shift, so cognates between those languages and English are easier to recognize.
E.g. Water -> Wasser
Better -> Besser
&c.
The northern Germanic languages haven't gone through that consonant shift, so cognates between those languages and English are easier to recognize.
<<to me english does not seem west germanic. though there are some notable similarities between it and other west ones, i would think it was a north germanic (because of its stronger resemblance to norwegian and swedish)[i find] ,if i didnt know better;but i've been wodering why english is west germanic rather than north if its old form and old norse were, for a time, mutually intelligible languages. >>
English is primarily West Germanic--and is especially West Germanic in origin--yet you are correct to note strong influences from the North Germanic languages. It does at times seem that it could fit nicely in among them. This being said though, English still has more in common with the languages of the Low Countries and Northern Germany.
English is primarily West Germanic--and is especially West Germanic in origin--yet you are correct to note strong influences from the North Germanic languages. It does at times seem that it could fit nicely in among them. This being said though, English still has more in common with the languages of the Low Countries and Northern Germany.
<<to me english does not seem west germanic.>>
For most people it doesn't even look Germanic, not to mention its sound.
For most people it doesn't even look Germanic, not to mention its sound.
If it doesn't sound Germanic, what does it sound like? It can't never sound Germanic. It's simply impossible.
Here's a demonstration. You can't say these words don't sound Germanic.
German English Dutch
aus out uit
auf up op
zu to toe
bei by bij
Buch book boek
kann can kan
Here's a demonstration. You can't say these words don't sound Germanic.
German English Dutch
aus out uit
auf up op
zu to toe
bei by bij
Buch book boek
kann can kan