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| 3 MAY 2005 at 7:32pm |
Chris.Schattenjger
Posts : 1842
Joined: 8 MAR 2005
Status : Online | I meant the sound found in words like "nach" or "Tochter". It may be more frequent in Dutch, but I don't know.
...not to be confused with Keira Knightley
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| 3 MAY 2005 at 7:49pm |
EvaGuild Master
Posts : 3247
Joined: 5 NOV 2002
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By chris156 (3 MAY 2005 6:37pm)
By the way, do you consider Israel to be part of Europe?
I think it'll still be a while before they join the EU.
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| 3 MAY 2005 at 7:53pm |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By chris156 (3 MAY 2005 7:31pm)
I meant the sound found in words like "nach" or "Tochter". It may be more frequent in Dutch, but I don't know.
No, Dutch has a different sound, a lot throatier. I don't know how to describe it The German "ch" doesn't sound too different from the Scottish one, or at least doesn't have to. Germany of course has just as many dialects as Britain, and they tend to be wildly different. Sometimes hard to believe it's the same language.
I forgot my sig.
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| 3 MAY 2005 at 7:57pm |
MorgausePrivate Detective
Posts : 687
Joined: 2 SEP 2004
Status : Online | Hmm, perhaps we shall all learn esperanto... That might not be such a good idea though.
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| 3 MAY 2005 at 8:05pm |
EvaGuild Master
Posts : 3247
Joined: 5 NOV 2002
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By MichalN (3 MAY 2005 7:53pm)
No, Dutch has a different sound, a lot throatier. I don't know how to describe it
Dutch sounds a bit like Danish, from a distance. I'll sometimes hear someone speak it and be sure they're Danish till I realize I can't understand a word of it.
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| 3 MAY 2005 at 8:16pm |
Chris.Schattenjger
Posts : 1842
Joined: 8 MAR 2005
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Alneyan (3 MAY 2005 7:57pm)
Hmm, perhaps we shall all learn esperanto... That might not be such a good idea though.
I started to teach myself Esperanto a while back, it's an extremely easy language. I got bored of it though, because I was doing it by myself.
...not to be confused with Keira Knightley
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| 3 MAY 2005 at 8:25pm |
MorgausePrivate Detective
Posts : 687
Joined: 2 SEP 2004
Status : Online | Well, out of idle curiosity, what sort of grammar is used in Esperanto? I would expect it to be something pretty much like English, as English grammar has been freed of things like conjugations and declinations (hurray!).
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| 3 MAY 2005 at 8:44pm |
Chris.Schattenjger
Posts : 1842
Joined: 8 MAR 2005
Status : Online | The grammar is like a simple version of latin and sentence structure is very free.
For example: "The man ate the cake" can be written as
-La viro mangxis la kukon
-Mangxis la viro la kukon
-La viro la kukon mangxis
etc.
There are no genders to words. All nouns end in -o; all adjectives end in -a; verbs end in -as (present tense), -is (past tense) or -os (future tense). Each letter can only be pronounced one way.
...not to be confused with Keira Knightley
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| 3 MAY 2005 at 9:54pm |
AnneGuild Master
Posts : 4800
Joined: 8 MAR 2003
Status : Online | Remember there are Yanks here who still speak 16th c
English.Like`cute`,
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| 3 MAY 2005 at 10:03pm |
Chris.Schattenjger
Posts : 1842
Joined: 8 MAR 2005
Status : Online | Funny you should mention that, I read something recently that said in Shakespearian times everybody sounded like Americans, and it's our accents that have changed, not theirs...
That's also why they use strange words like "gotten", which was standard English 400 years ago.
...not to be confused with Keira Knightley
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| 3 MAY 2005 at 10:04pm |
AnneGuild Master
Posts : 4800
Joined: 8 MAR 2003
Status : Online | Yup.
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| 3 MAY 2005 at 10:40pm |
| Deleted User | Now that's interesting (unlike the initial topic of the thread! )!
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| 3 MAY 2005 at 10:45pm |
MorgausePrivate Detective
Posts : 687
Joined: 2 SEP 2004
Status : Online | Certainly one of my favourite subjects.
Chris, I guess there are rules about the syntax, to prevent things like "the cake ate the man" from happening? A shame.
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| 3 MAY 2005 at 10:50pm |
Chris.Schattenjger
Posts : 1842
Joined: 8 MAR 2005
Status : Online | The object of the sentence (cake) and its adjectives have an -n on the end to prevent confusion. Unfortunately
...not to be confused with Keira Knightley
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| 3 MAY 2005 at 10:59pm |
Chris.Schattenjger
Posts : 1842
Joined: 8 MAR 2005
Status : Online | Also, there are half as many adjectives to learn, as anything can be made opposite by putting mal- in front:
Big and small = granda kaj malgranda
Good and bad = bela kaj malbela
Also there is no verb conjugation:
Me, you, he, she, it, we, they, one
= Mi, vi, li, sxi, gxi, ni, ili, oni
My, your, his, her, its, our, their, one's
= Mia, via, lia, sxia, nia, ilia, onia
I am, you are, he/she/it is, we are, they are, one is
= Mi/vi/li/sxi/gxi/ni/ili/oni estas
...not to be confused with Keira Knightley
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| 3 MAY 2005 at 11:29pm |
WimliGuild Master
Posts : 3259
Joined: 14 MAR 2003
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By MichalN (3 MAY 2005 7:53pm)
No, Dutch has a different sound, a lot throatier. I don't know how to describe it
Please try I actually think the 'k' in German is much more throatier/aspirated as the one in Dutch. Maybe you mean another sound? Or do you know an example of a German word, the Dutch one is quite often similar to it.
@Eva:
you're right about Danish - Dutch! that's why I thought it wouldn't be too difficult to learn Danish. Boy, was I wrong (we did have a lousy teacher though...)!
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| 4 MAY 2005 at 1:59am |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Wimli (3 MAY 2005 11:29pm)
Please try
Eva can actually produce this sound, I think she has much better chance
Maybe you mean another sound? Or do you know an example of a German word, the Dutch one is quite often similar to it.
No, I don't... I don't speak Dutch at all. Although if I see it written down, I can often enough make some sense of it by comparing it against English and German.
I forgot my sig.
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| 4 MAY 2005 at 10:50am |
EvaGuild Master
Posts : 3247
Joined: 5 NOV 2002
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By MichalN (4 MAY 2005 1:58am)
Eva can actually produce this sound, I think she has much better chance
I can?
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| 4 MAY 2005 at 1:22pm |
WimliGuild Master
Posts : 3259
Joined: 14 MAR 2003
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By MichalN (4 MAY 2005 1:58am)
Eva can actually produce this sound, I think she has much better chance
lol, Eva, this calls for a demonstration. The Dutchies here will judge whos Dutch pronunciation is best.
No, I don't... I don't speak Dutch at all. Although if I see it written down, I can often enough make some sense of it by comparing it against English and German.
eg:
'Kind' (child) is both the Dutch and German word for child. In German the pronunciation of the 'k' sound gets much more aspiration and after the 'k' you can clearly hear an 'h' sound before going to the 'i' sound. In Dutch that 'h' sound is less prominent and often not audible. So German is the throatier one (At least if that was what you meant with throatier sounds )
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| 4 MAY 2005 at 1:26pm |
Chris.Schattenjger
Posts : 1842
Joined: 8 MAR 2005
Status : Online | Are you sure? I would pronounce the "k" in German "Kind" the same as in English "kid".
...not to be confused with Keira Knightley
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