Does English have a 'germanic' sound

Sanja   Tuesday, January 11, 2005, 18:09 GMT
I've also always thought that German, Dutch and Scandinavian languages sound alike, while English sounds kind of different. I don't know if that is just because I'm familiar with English and not those other languages, or is it really that way?
chrisco christmas hamper   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 01:30 GMT
NO it sounds nothing like German or any other germanic langugaes.
american nic   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 02:52 GMT
I believe English is a freak of a language that mixes German roots, Latin roots (now the majority), and bits and pieces of hundreds of other languages. Because of this mix, I can read and understand basic words in German (because they are related to English), but not less common words. On the other hand, I can't read or understand basic Spanish words (except ones that I have specifically learned), but most words longer than about three letters I can figure out. Hence, I can read Spanish, not German.
Adam   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 04:03 GMT
I think it is good that English has a distinctive sound, I just wish someone could characterise what it sounds like, instead of what it doesn't sound like.
Jenny   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 04:21 GMT
People here get sucked into taking German courses (or German as an elective language at school) thinking it's going to be like English. Well they think because English is a Germanic language that German is going to be easy in the areas of pronunciation, spelling and grammar, but a few months into the course they discover it's a real nightmare. That's what most of them usually find, mainly those who have never learnt a second language. I personally think Italian or Spanish would be the go, for English speakers looking for an easier path to a second language, one they will study in reasonable depth.
Adam   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 05:14 GMT
I would say that french would be one of the easiest languages for an English speaker to learn. Once you get down the basics you'll start to recognise words without having to be told what they mean because we use so many of the same words, or similar words. French pronunciation is not that difficult either, we share most sounds as it is, and the few new ones are not that difficult to learn.
chrisco christmas hamper   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 07:22 GMT
english sounds funny, like mumbling and slurr. It is hard to tell where one word finishes and the next starts.
Tiffany   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 07:31 GMT
I'm with Jenny. Though English is classified as a Germanic language, Italian was much easier for me than German.
Adam   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 07:52 GMT
I have heard a little Danish spoken and to my ears it also sounds very indistinct. Very hard to tell where one word ends and the next begins, I would probably say a little mumbly as well. Is that anything like the sound of english, minus the gutturals.
Someone   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 08:15 GMT
"english sounds funny, like mumbling and slurr. It is hard to tell where one word finishes and the next starts."

That's just because you don't speak English well.
Fredrik from Norway   Friday, January 14, 2005, 01:27 GMT
I agree with you Adam. Among the Germanic languages I find the sound of English most similar to Danish, Frisian and Dutch. Of course this makes sense, as the Anglo-Saxons came from the coastal areas stretching from Jutland to Holland. Norwegian, Swedish and German have a harder, more distinct and less fluid sound than English. (And Icelandic may sound like Italian!)

However, the flat tone in some types of American English (like the phrase from the American Pie movies: "And one time, at band camp...." , when spoken by this female actor) is also found in modern German! Something which also may make sense, considering that German ancestry is the most common ancestry registred in the US. (just look at all the German family names: Katz, Mueller, Meyer and so on). It might be that the German immigrants gave American English a more flat tone, while British English kept a very singing tone.
chrisco christmas hamper   Friday, January 14, 2005, 02:11 GMT

<That's just because you don't speak English well.>

Yes I know that i don't speak it well, but I also don't speak well Japanese and i can say that it is much easier to understand. These people speak much clearer than the english speakers.
american nic   Friday, January 14, 2005, 02:31 GMT
My state, Minnesota, is made up of 50% Germans, 25% Scandinavians (mostly Norwegian), 15% English/Irish/Scottish, 10% other. It affects rural speech.

Also, Fredrik: aren't Danish and Norwegian the same language? If they are, then how can you say Danish sounds more English to you?
Fredrik from Norway   Friday, January 14, 2005, 03:11 GMT
American nic:
In some way you are right about Danish and Norwegian being very similar. All languages in Scandinavia (Danish, Swedish and Norwegian) are very mutially intelligible.

But Norway is an odd case. Due to an almost 400 year long union with Denmark we have two language norms: Bokmål (Book Tongue)), which is a norwegianized form of Danish quite similar to the dialect spoken in our capital, Oslo, and Nynorsk (New Norwegian), based on the many different dialects spoken in the rest of the country. These dialects have more similarities to the old language of the Vikings, Norse, than Danish. All people in Norway, whatever their social status, speak the dialect of their home place and 80 % of us write in Bokmål and 20 % of us in Nynorsk.

When it comes to vocabulary Norwegian (and especially Bokmål) is close to Danish, but when it comes to pronounciation we are more like the Swedes. The Danes speak in a strange, soft and unclear way, as if they have a potato in their mouth, so we some times have to ask them to speak more slowly in order to understand them. But reading Danish is so easy that you often forget that you are reading Danish in stead of Bokmål. Swedes are easier to understand orally, but their vocabulary is sometimes a bit different.

In short, the differences are very minor and usually only affect declinations and some diphtongs or other sounds.

Here are some examples:

English
In the three Scandinavian countries everybody understands each other, but not in the Nordic countries, because that includes Iceland and Finnland also.

Norwegian (Bokmål):
I de tre skandinaviske landene forstår alle hverandre, men ikke i de nordiske landene, for det inkluderer også Island og Finland.

Norwegian (Nynorsk):
I dei tre skandinaviske landa forstår alle kvarandre, men ikkje i dei nordiske landa, for det inkluderar og Island og Finland.

Norwegian dialect (my own, south-west-Norway):
I di tri skandinaviske landå forstår adle kverandre, men ikkje i di nordiske landå, for det inkludere Island og Finland og.

Danish:
I de tre skandinaviske land forstår alle hverandre, men ikke i de nordiske land, for det inkluderer også Island og Finland.

Swedish:
I dom tre skandinaviska länderna förstår alla varandra, men icke i dom nordiska länderna, för det inkluderar ochså Island och Finland.
Fredrik from Norway   Friday, January 14, 2005, 03:13 GMT
And I could add: Knowledge of the neighbour languages is so wide-spread that I did not need any kind of dictionary or translator to translate these examples!