Fun Stuff > CHATTER
English is weird
Case:
--- Quote from: Akima on 10 Sep 2017, 05:43 ---My brain has problems with Flemish. When I watch cycling videos with Flemish commentary, it tricks the English-language part of my brain into thinking that of it ought to be able to understand it, but of course it can't. It feels like... my needle is skipping on their record? Like the meaning is on "the tip of my tongue" (well, ear really), and just out of reach. I don't have this problem listening to German or Spanish or other languages I do not know.
--- End quote ---
Even more annoying when you're hearing an interpreter's translation mixed on top of the original audio and happen to be fluent in both languages - feels like my 'ears going cross-eyed'.
Flemish theaters run English-language movies with the original audio track, and two subtitle-tracks (Dutch/Flemish and French). Drove me nuts, because I got acoustic info and visual info in my second, third and fourth language respectively, and my brain feels obligated not to miss any of it (*), which not only ruins the immersion, but is also stressful, since I can't read French that fast (more truthfully, I can 'decipher' French. Calling what I do 'reading' is a bit of a stretch).
(*) In the past, I had this 'training routine' where I used to watch English-language movies with the English audio instead of the dubbed German track (which is almost always offered) and the English subtitles as 'training wheels'. These days, I don't need the subtitles any more & find them distracting. Even more distracting is when the top row subtitles are in Dutch (which I can mostly read quite speedily), and the bottom row in French.
Morituri:
Sigh. English does in fact have a very forceful one-word command for that. "Avaunt!"
Unfortunately it hasn't been popular for a few centuries. Now that it's no longer in people's immediate vocabulary, it can hardly be called forceful anymore; they're too busy trying to remember what it means.
Certain bits of English vocabulary make sense, if you think about the way words are related and then notice another word that may be a bit less popular.
When I was younger, I was always amused that people who were reckless always wound up in wrecks. But now I can see how it came about: People who are reckless lack rectitude.
Of course, then I think of some other people I know, and I have to go look and see if "fecktitude" was ever a word. Maybe it should be.
LTK:
--- Quote from: Case on 09 Sep 2017, 08:54 ---(*) Those can put the inexperienced German student of Dutch at risk of accidentally swallowing their tongue, or throwing up. It's accepted wisdom that the adult German student of Dutch, regardless of the effort they invest, will never completely get the pronunciation of words like 'Uit' right (can mean 'out(side)' or 'Exit').
--- End quote ---
That reminds me of trying to teach my international student friends the pronunciation of 'uien', 'euro', 'eieren' and other arcane Dutch vowel combinations. The Spanish speakers picked it up with relative ease (meaning I only had to slowly break down the sound a handful of times), it took a lot of effort for English speakers and yes, it was basically impossible for German speakers. Saying "Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis" was considered a tongue-twister of epic proportion.
Also, if you want to tell someone to get out in even stronger terms, you have "Rot op", alternatively "Oprotten", and many verbs other than 'rot' can be substituted to reach the equivalent of 'fuck off', like 'tief' or 'flikker' which share that nice forceful F.
Case:
--- Quote from: LTK on 10 Sep 2017, 11:54 ---
That reminds me of trying to teach my international student friends the pronunciation of 'uien', 'euro', 'eieren' and other arcane Dutch vowel combinations. The Spanish speakers picked it up with relative ease (meaning I only had to slowly break down the sound a handful of times), it took a lot of effort for English speakers and yes, it was basically impossible for German speakers. Saying "Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis" was considered a tongue-twister of epic proportion.
--- End quote ---
'De kat krabt de krullen van de trap' :laugh:
I think it's because German and Dutch are almost 'fraternal twins' - they are so similar that the similarity can be misleading. I was always worried about accidentally using 'false friends' ('verstopt' means 'hidden' ('versteckt' in German), but is almost identical to the German 'verstopft' (clogged)), or to speak 'Germenglutch' (German vocabulary, English Grammar, Dutch pronunciation), rather than proper Dutch. For me it was even easier (or more confusing, respectively) since I'm from the western part of Northrhine-Palatine, so I'd heard in regional dialects some of the Dutch peculiarities that are defunct in modern standard German (like the 'continuous aspect').
Like the 'g' in 'gaan' superficially sounds like a hybrid between the German 'ch' and 'r', and 'ij' in Nijmegen is close to the German 'ei' etc.etc., so you sometimes have to 'unlearn' the German sounds to make place for the Dutch ones - and just when you start thinking "Hey! This is hardly a foreign language, more like a dialect!", sounds like 'ui' or 'eie' sneak up from behind & try to strangle you.
German is more strongly inflected than Dutch, afaics (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niederl%C3%A4ndische_Sprache#Grammatik), which mostly makes Dutch grammar easier to learn for Germans than vice versa, IMO. What I found confusing at first: Dutch, like English, has a continuous aspect that was replaced by a different construction in standard German: 'Ik ben mijn handen aan het wasse' (I'm washing my hands) vs. "Ich wasche mir gerade die Hände" ('I am washing my hands (right now)'). However, this continuous aspect appears in several German regional dialects, especially regional Rhenish dialects in my native Northrhine-Palatine - "Ich ben/bin am Hände waschn" - and is sometimes used for comedic effect, or to mock people, and stuff like that sometimes felt weird at first, like 'Bad/Mock German'.
Weirdest word in the Dutch language: uitnodigen ('to invite (invite smb. in)') - to a German, it sounds like a combination of '(hin)aus' ('out (of)') and 'nötigen' ('to coerce'), so that one always gave me cognitive dissonance .... like 'You invite somebody in, so you can kick them out?'
JoeCovenant:
'English'... alright, I suppose...
I just wanted to let you know of a nice little idiosyncracy of the Dundonian dialect...
(As an exmple, phonetically the above sentence would be said.)
"Ehh jist waantid t'lit y'ken o a nice wee idiosincrisay o' the Dundonian dehehhlecct "
We're well know for our glottal stops and gutteral T's, (Which is apparent when you realise you can say an entire sentence and use no vocalised consonant's at all... "Eh, eh e' i' a'!" (Yes, I ate it all!))
But something I love is the use of the word Ehh. (Like the E in PEN only slightly elongated)
This word has three meanings.... "I", "Eye", and "Yes" ("Ehh, ehh got sand in meh ehh!" ("Yes, I got sand in my eye!")
The first two uses "I" and "Eye" make immediate sense, being homophones.
But the "Yes..."?
Immediately it doesn't make any sense at all. "I" and "eye" and "Yes" are not remotely alike...
Until you realise what the SCOTS word for 'yes' is...
And you know what that is, aye? :)
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