Germanic, romance, slavic or some other?
Which language family do you specialize in?
I like Indo-European languages a lot, but I study other languages as well.
Jmo, but I would find it boring to only study one group and never venture outside of it. You wouldn't know the interesting ways Russian, Portuguese, Greek, and Italian are related, for example.
Jmo, but I would find it boring to only study one group and never venture outside of it. You wouldn't know the interesting ways Russian, Portuguese, Greek, and Italian are related, for example.
<< Jmo, but I would find it boring to only study one group and never venture outside of it. You wouldn't know the interesting ways Russian, Portuguese, Greek, and Italian are related, for example. >>
-- That's right. And you wouldn't know that the similarities and phonetic differences between Swedish and Danish strangely replicate the relationship between Italian and Spanish.
-- That's right. And you wouldn't know that the similarities and phonetic differences between Swedish and Danish strangely replicate the relationship between Italian and Spanish.
Quite simple. While learning Swedish I trained myself to guess (not always succesfully should I say) what matching Danish words should be.
Later I became interested in Italian and Spanish, and noticed some parallels could be drawn:
- Spanish often adds an 'i' to make a diphtong from plain Italian vowels.
Simple and famous example: SP. 'mierda' vs. It. 'merda'.
Similarly: Dk. 'bjerg' vs. Sw. 'berg' (= "mountain")
- Spanish often eliminates It. final vowels, and substitutes a voiced consonant for an Italian unvoiced consonant. For instance:
It. 'Salvatore' vs. Sp. 'Salvador'
Dk. 'uden' vs. Sw. 'utan' (= "without")
Dk 'laeger' vs Sw. 'läkare' (= 'doctor')
- Spanish sometimes skips an unstressed middle consonant (e.g. 'caer' instead of Italian 'cadere' (= "to fall"); Danish is also famous for such shortcuts.
- And many unexpected 'v' sounds where there should be a voiced plosive ('skov' vs 'skog' = "forest"), somewhat like Spanish with its obnoxious 'b' pronounced like 'v'.
- Etc.
Later I became interested in Italian and Spanish, and noticed some parallels could be drawn:
- Spanish often adds an 'i' to make a diphtong from plain Italian vowels.
Simple and famous example: SP. 'mierda' vs. It. 'merda'.
Similarly: Dk. 'bjerg' vs. Sw. 'berg' (= "mountain")
- Spanish often eliminates It. final vowels, and substitutes a voiced consonant for an Italian unvoiced consonant. For instance:
It. 'Salvatore' vs. Sp. 'Salvador'
Dk. 'uden' vs. Sw. 'utan' (= "without")
Dk 'laeger' vs Sw. 'läkare' (= 'doctor')
- Spanish sometimes skips an unstressed middle consonant (e.g. 'caer' instead of Italian 'cadere' (= "to fall"); Danish is also famous for such shortcuts.
- And many unexpected 'v' sounds where there should be a voiced plosive ('skov' vs 'skog' = "forest"), somewhat like Spanish with its obnoxious 'b' pronounced like 'v'.
- Etc.
Okay. I see what mean. I ask, rather than guess, but it's really the same thing. Simply thinking a "little" helps a lot in language learning.
Whoa! I just noticed something. The word for "doctor" reminds me of the words in Ukrainian and Bosnian. I haven't seen the words in print, only heard them. I need to check this out-a hit or a miss?
Spanish is in a state of flux. I hear all kinds of Spanish. Some people use "b" and some "v" and some use a sound between the sounds . More and more I hear "h" in words where "h" is usually silent.
Merci vielmols.
Whoa! I just noticed something. The word for "doctor" reminds me of the words in Ukrainian and Bosnian. I haven't seen the words in print, only heard them. I need to check this out-a hit or a miss?
Spanish is in a state of flux. I hear all kinds of Spanish. Some people use "b" and some "v" and some use a sound between the sounds . More and more I hear "h" in words where "h" is usually silent.
Merci vielmols.
Apparently it's very similiar in Finnish, Czech, Polish and Norwegian, but I didn't make the connection until today. It's child-like, but it's like Hebrew or a language where you put out the consonants and start to guess the vowels.
L_ _g/k__r/e.
Interesting.
L_ _g/k__r/e.
Interesting.
<< a language where you put out the consonants and start to guess the vowels >>
-- Very efficient method with Slavic languages.
R-B-T: 'aRBeiT' = 'RaBoTa'
-- Very efficient method with Slavic languages.
R-B-T: 'aRBeiT' = 'RaBoTa'