[quote=“mattlock, post:563, topic:293”]
Those Danes are proud about their wierd Swedish dialect which they can’t even pronounce properly. Don’t mind the Danes. [/quote]
That’s how I describe Portuguese! To my ears, Portuguese is similar to Spanish if you were talking around a mouth full of mashed potatoes, plus extra weird words. (Hey, I can say that! My Grandpa is from the Azores! Portuguese islanders.) I only know a few words of Portuguese even though I grew up in ‘Little Azores.’ All the kids spoke English or Spanish outside their houses and my mom didn’t speak Portuguese so we never learned it at home.
[quote=“mattlock, post:563, topic:293”]
Also, there might be some rivarly between Sweden and Denmark, they used to kill each other over the spot as top dog in the Nordics, so they might not be as willing to understand eachother while these 2 don’t have the same with other Nordic nations [/quote]
Yea, they say fights between relatives are the worst.
It is interesting to hear your language clips. Those languages were not heard in my part of San Francisco Bay Area.
Hmmm. I am not sure how to classify my language acquisitions. They aren’t related other than occurring in the same neighborhood.
Childhood languages:
My first language was English even though none of my ancestors were English. It was the lingua franca between all my ancestors.
Second language was Spanish - Grandpa was Portuguese, not Spanish, but Spanish is what was spoken in my neighborhood so that is what I learned - Street Spanish - not proper Spanish.
Third language was Tagalog which I also picked up from neighbors. For those who don’t know, Tagalog is a language from the Philippines.
So right there are 3 languages that are different language groups - Germanic, Latin and Malay/Polynesian based. Can’t use any of those to help with the other languages.
Then as a late teen/Young adult. I learned Irish Gaelic - Decided to learn G-G-Grandmas language. Yep. another unrelated language group to those above.
Then I learned basic Dakota (Sioux) and American Indian language, from friends - yep. Not related to any of the above either.
Now, I am learning Korean. Yep. Not related to any of the others either.
This is why my English is whacked at times. None of my languages are related to each other.
It used to be I’d start a conversation in Spanish and as soon as I came to a word in Spanish word that is used by Tagalog speakers, I’d switch to Tagalog. But it was never the other way. NOW, I am finding myself listening to Korean, which is a language isolate not related to any other languages, and if there happens to be innocent Korean syllables that coincidentally make a word in Tagalog, I instantly hear the Tagalog meaning. And that makes for some VERY strange sentences! Yea, My mind snaps like a rubber band.
Actually yes. My language acquisition is all based on friends or family. It is as diverse as my friendships from growing up in California. I learn from all my friends except the Gaelic was in college because in my family only words and expressions survive. I don’t know anyone personally, who speaks Korean. I am learning Korean online so I don’t have to wait for subtitles. I did take a semester of Arabic in college.
However, I am not fluent. I understand a whole lot more than I can say but I can’t give an exact translation. I just know what people are talking about. I’d be a lousy UN translator. Yea, ‘get the idea’ is probably NOT going to work for nuanced political discussion.
Oh! I forgot to add the languages that I just know a few words and phrases.
Japanese -
Arabic -
Mandarin -
Shoshone - American Indian language - Shoshone speaking people have reservations in Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming. Comanche are Shoshone language group people who have a reservation in Oklahoma.
Navajo - You gotta be careful with your pitch and meter with Navajo or you’ll end up saying something that was not intended. ( The story there is, “Why Juno refuses to try to speak Navajo anymore.”)
Dakota - Sioux - Current reservations are in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Canada.
And I don’t speak French at all but it is weird that I can understand a good chunk of it. Probably because so many French words are borrowed to English.
Oh! I looked up language samples for those who are curious what American Indian languages sound like.
Navajo
No. It probably is a great joke (on me) I am an ignorant American who doesn’t know the real name of the place where her great-grandmother was from. Swedish language did not survive in my family. It’s been over 100 years since any ancestors spoke Swedish in my family. I think the only word I know is Tak and I learned that from a cook I once knew.
The only German I know is ‘caput’ head meaning dead and ‘gezuntheight’. I think my dad liked that word caput which he must have learned from his grandfather when he was a little kid. When watching a gangster movie where someone just got wiped out, he’d say, "He’s caput.’
Ah ok. I thought someone maybe saw goats there and called it Goat-land instead of Gotland. Gotland is an island and a popular summer attraction with great beaches and ruins from the viking era and middleages.
And it’s Tack - Tak means roof hihi.
We use the word ‘kaput’ and it means broken. Not sure if it has a doublemeaning in german but I thought it meant the same so when they said in the movie that the person was broken it probably was a eufemism for dead. We’ll see what the german speaking crowd here has to say about it
In German the regular meaning is “broken” as well. But I think they might indeed use it in those film scenes as well.
The Dutch word “kapot” also means broken.
Technically Both Götaland and Gotland have the same etymology and could thus both be infamous “Goatland”. Same with the Goths, same etymology. Gotland, Götaland and todays northern Poland all compete for the position as the homeland of the famous Goths. If not all where home to them at one point.
Interesting song. and yea. I don’t know how to spell. I only heard those words.
My dad used ‘caput’ meaning ‘that one is dead’. I think he liked the old Cagney gangster movies because his family was from Chicago. My dad was born in Illinois but my grandpa came to California during WWII to work in the shipyards and lived in the barracks for about a year and brought his family out once he found a house. So my dad was homesick for Chicago, I think, He never went back.
My great grandmother and her family stem from Gotland as well, as far back as it’s possible to trace it actually. So, hello fellow Gotland descendant I guess.
If you ever get the chance (and this corona craziness stops), then I’d recommend going there. It’s a beautiful island in the summer and Visby (biggest town) has a lot of cool old medieval buildings.
They aren’t related other than occurring in the same neighborhood.
But it was never the other way. NOW, I am finding myself listening to Korean, which is a language isolate not related to any other languages, and if there happens to be innocent Korean syllables that coincidentally make a word in Tagalog, I instantly hear the Tagalog meaning. And that makes for some VERY strange sentences! Yea, My mind snaps like a rubber band. 
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