So called multilinguals of western languages r monolinguals!

simond   Wed Oct 28, 2009 5:17 pm GMT
<<Especially the Low Dietsch spoken in the Walloon province of Liège is an interesting language/dialect; it even has 'tones' to form plural nouns rather than suffixes, just like in many Limburgish dialect that haven't been influenced heavily by Dutch yet. It's actually a intermediary dialect/language between Limburgish and Ripuarian (spoken in Germany). >>
Do you mean Aubel, Gemmenich,Welkenraedt dialects? Ripuarian dialects are spoken in Kerkrade (Kirchroa),Netherlands too.
tupoi   Wed Oct 28, 2009 9:27 pm GMT
Shuimo, if your claim is correct then I guess Thai, Lao, Korean, Japanese, Indonesian, Tongan, Hindi, Mongolian are all dialects of Chinese, right?
Antimooner K. T.   Wed Oct 28, 2009 10:38 pm GMT
"Only someone who is able to know a Western language and an Oriental language can lay claim to be multilingual!"

I gave you some points, Shuimo, but not a perfect score. Indo-European languages are alike-a lot alike, but they aren't what I would call dialects. Germanic languages are like Germanic languages. Romance languages are like Romance languages. Slavic languages are like Slavic languages.

I can understand almost every dialect of ENGLISH I've heard-almost. Some Scottish dialects and other dialects take careful listening, but they are English, so they are understandable.

That's NOT the case with Polish. I do not understand Polish when it is spoken even though I've been told by people that it is very close to Russian (a language I know slightly). If your theory is correct, Shuimo, you should be able to understand the "dialect" of Polish since you know English.

*Do you understand Polish, Shuimo?*
Baldewin   Wed Oct 28, 2009 10:48 pm GMT
<<I can understand almost every dialect of ENGLISH I've heard-almost. Some Scottish dialects and other dialects take careful listening, but they are English, so they are understandable.>>

Are you sure?

Here a link with two Scots songs. One in Scots from Scotland and one in Ulster Scots (Northern Ireland).
http://www.nos-ur.eu/pressmedia.html

Yes, there's a dialectal continuum between English and Scots dialects, but several 'different' languages have these also, even though this phenomenon is disappearing as a language becomes more uniform thanks to modern communicational means and the improvement of schooling and 99,9% literacy.
Baldewin   Wed Oct 28, 2009 10:58 pm GMT
<<Do you mean Aubel, Gemmenich,Welkenraedt dialects? Ripuarian dialects are spoken in Kerkrade (Kirchroa),Netherlands too.>>

Yes. They're called Low Dietsch by the populace for some reason.
Antimooner K. T.   Wed Oct 28, 2009 10:59 pm GMT
I did say almost, and only the ones I've heard. Scots is its own language.

I could not understand one American dialect spoken by some senior citizen ladies who were of African descent. They could understand me.

Travis provided a sample of his dialect that still shocks me.

I'd have to go through the continuum of accents and dialectal speech from English to Scots before I could say EVERY dialect. Whew! I did leave myself an "out".

I heard a contestant on Britain's Got Talent who was very difficult to understand, but I think she may have been hearing impaired.

I'm not like Oprah Winfrey, though She wanted subtitles for Susan Boyle, I read.
Baldewin   Wed Oct 28, 2009 11:38 pm GMT
Indeed. I've skimmed your text, but indeed you said almost.

Assimilation often happens in urban areas. In Friesland the Frisian spoken in the towns called 'Stedsk' can be considered dialects of Dutch due to heavy influences from Hollandic (especially in vocabulary).

Frisians are aware of this though.
Antimooner K. T.   Wed Oct 28, 2009 11:47 pm GMT
Are you interested in Gaelic languages?
simond   Thu Oct 29, 2009 8:50 am GMT
<<Scots is its own language>>
Some linguists invent separate "languages",such as Scots,Limburgish;Low Saxon;West,North and Saterland Frisian ;West Flemish;Schwyzerdütsch and so on.Lëtzebuergesch is an official language too. What is language and what is dialect?It is endless discussion.
Guest or User   Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:12 am GMT
Well, Shuimo is partially right.

if we study English and Spanish or English and French, for example, people that speak them have a similar point of view in a lot of things.

If we study a language completely different, like Arabic or Chinese, we can know people from very different cultures, different points of view.

These languages open our minds and make us more tolerant with other people, cultures and religions.

So, Westerners should study two European languages and one from Asia.

For example, English, Spanish (or French) and Chinese (or Arabic) are a good choice.
kop   Thu Oct 29, 2009 11:05 am GMT
If you are an English person and you want to speak French fluently you need years. My native language is a romance one and it is really hard work to undestand an English novel completely!
Shuimo   Thu Oct 29, 2009 3:18 pm GMT
>>>Antimooner K. T. Wed Oct 28, 2009 10:38 pm GMT
I gave you some points, Shuimo, but not a perfect score. Indo-European languages are alike-a lot alike, but they aren't what I would call dialects. Germanic languages are like Germanic languages. Romance languages are like Romance languages. Slavic languages are like Slavic languages. <<<
Hnmmmm, that is good to see my post has set you into some sort of thinking!

>>>I can understand almost every dialect of ENGLISH I've heard-almost. Some Scottish dialects and other dialects take careful listening, but they are English, so they are understandable. <<<

Here, the term DIALECT, as used by Shuimo, needs to be understood in its very broad, if not the broadest, sense!


>>That's NOT the case with Polish. I do not understand Polish when it is spoken even though I've been told by people that it is very close to Russian (a language I know slightly). If your theory is correct, Shuimo, you should be able to understand the "dialect" of Polish since you know English. <<

Cantonese even makes no phonetic sense to Shuimo even though it is one of the many dialects of the Mandarin Chinese language!


>>*Do you understand Polish, Shuimo?* <<

What for?
Shuimo   Thu Oct 29, 2009 3:20 pm GMT
Guest or User Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:12 am GMT
Well, Shuimo is partially right.

if we study English and Spanish or English and French, for example, people that speak them have a similar point of view in a lot of things.

If we study a language completely different, like Arabic or Chinese, we can know people from very different cultures, different points of view.

These languages open our minds and make us more tolerant with other people, cultures and religions.

So, Westerners should study two European languages and one from Asia.

For example, English, Spanish (or French) and Chinese (or Arabic) are a good choice.
=========================

Gooooooooood to see you turn to Shuimo's side!(*^__^*) ……

Shuimo knows I am 99% right and correct with my statement!
Antimooner K. T.   Thu Oct 29, 2009 7:05 pm GMT
If Polish is just another Western DIALECT, then Shuimo should be able to understand it with just a minimal amount of exposure-after all, it uses the alphabet....and some diacritical marks.

Why? Because Shuimo speaks English, a western language.
South Korean   Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:13 pm GMT
Well, some non-western people, when they discover some of the similarities between western languages, such as the similar vocabulary (information, philosophy, multimedia) or the grammatical patterns, they are so shocked by their discovery that they tend to believe German, French, English, and Norwegian are just different dialects of one another. Yes, I've heard a Korean say to a Dutch visitor, "oh, you speak so many languages, but it's just like dialects(like we have in Seoul or Busan), right?" Or a number of people who think German is based on Latin.

Maybe because only Romance languages(French or Spanish) and English is so well-known in other parts of the world, non-western people often overestimate the similarities.