What English sounds to Non English Speakers

Vinlander   Sat Feb 13, 2010 12:40 pm GMT
This is what scientific talk would sound like if it weren't for the norman invasion. It's about particle physics.



For most of its being, mankind did not know what things are made
of, but could only guess. With the growth of worldken, we began
to learn, and today we have a beholding of stuff and work that
watching bears out, both in the workstead and in daily life.

The underlying kinds of stuff are the *firststuffs*, which link
together in sundry ways to give rise to the rest. Formerly we
knew of ninety-two firststuffs, from waterstuff, the lightest and
barest, to ymirstuff, the heaviest. Now we have made more, such
as aegirstuff and helstuff.

Just so you guys aware Spanish was heavily influence by Arabic, portuguese by celts, French celts and germans, Romanian by slavic languages, Yet no one would consider any of them less Latin based.
And Latin america has a huge effect on pronuciation of Spanish and Portuguese
Armada   Sat Feb 13, 2010 2:54 pm GMT
Portuguese does not have any Celtic influence.
blanc   Sat Feb 13, 2010 6:43 pm GMT
" It's simply that most people (non-linguists) don't know that English is a Germanic language. "

No need to be a linguist to realize that most languages in Europe are being part of three main very different groups; The Latin (romance); the Teutonic (germanic) and Slavic groups. everyone (at least here in Europea) knows what languages belong to what group; the differences are too obvious to not being aware of it.
en   Sat Feb 13, 2010 8:16 pm GMT
>> everyone (at least here in Europea) knows what languages belong to what group; the differences are too obvious to not being aware of it. <<

Then I applaud everyone in Europa. But here in the US, and I would imagine it is true in the UK and other Anglophone countries, almost nobody who is not interested in linguistics, would know that English and German are more closely related than English and Spanish. The vast majority think that English is based on Latin, as they keep hearing "Latin is the basis of [sic] all languages."
Edwina Highheels   Sat Feb 13, 2010 8:28 pm GMT
I thought English was part Celtic, every time I've ever heard Irish it always sound so similar to English.
Check this out it the narrator sounds so close to english it's scary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PVuNb5QoEc


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Can not hear too good the Irish Gaelic spoken coz the blooming wind and Irish fiddle harking in the background. Anyway, chill out, Irish Gaelic spoken in a Dutch accent would sound frightfully similar to Dutch.
Armada   Sat Feb 13, 2010 10:06 pm GMT
English is a Germanic language, no doubt. But one must recognize that it has a really nice Latin-Romance patina not matched by the rest of Germanic tongues. This means a lot for Romance speakers like us . I am also learning German and believe me it looks much more alien than English when I began to learn it. Maybe the lack of substance of the English language (no declensions, simple conjugations) plays a role too.
Uriel   Sat Feb 13, 2010 10:11 pm GMT
<<But here in the US, and I would imagine it is true in the UK and other Anglophone countries, almost nobody who is not interested in linguistics, would know that English and German are more closely related than English and Spanish. The vast majority think that English is based on Latin, as they keep hearing "Latin is the basis of [sic] all languages." >>

I would disagree. Before joining this forum, I had no particular interest in linguistics, but I had seen an Indo-European language family tree a few times in my life and the subject was certainly covered in school at some point. I was well aware of the various language groups and their origins. And I went to plain ol' free public school, nothing fancy.
Vinlander   Sat Feb 13, 2010 11:01 pm GMT
Uriel Sat Feb 13, 2010 10:11 pm GMT

I was about 20 before I heard about indoeuropean languages, I knew Europes languages were related but only due to geography and not genetic links. I thought Greek and latin were pretty much the same thing, and that Russian was related to french due to words like soviet. I understood that they were all related but through mixing and not parentage. I knew the anglo saxons invaded England but assumed the native celts had to have a large impact on the language. I thought both german and french were very similiar due to the use of berg as a place name and words like prussian and austrian. I was aware both languages had genders and that there accents could sound quite similiar and when they didn't I assumed it was the slavic influence on german.

It wasn't that I was completely ignorant on Europe. It was simply that I assumed that because english has mixed with french and gaelic all languages did the same. I simply had no interest in languages at the time. As do most people in north america, or europe for that matter.

My view on languages was like this they are all mixed, like friends at a party all have different relations depending on where they sit in a room. No one is related through genetics only through history. The reality is that languages are like families, where parentage means everything. You can't just take features from other families you can only mimic them.
Wintereis   Sat Feb 13, 2010 11:02 pm GMT
<<I would disagree. Before joining this forum, I had no particular interest in linguistics, but I had seen an Indo-European language family tree a few times in my life and the subject was certainly covered in school at some point. I was well aware of the various language groups and their origins. And I went to plain ol' free public school, nothing fancy.>>

I second that
en   Sun Feb 14, 2010 3:59 am GMT
OK, maybe 500,000 out of the 33 million in the US know that English is a Germanic language. 30 million think it's based on Latin, and the rest never gave it a thought in their life.
Luisita   Sun Feb 14, 2010 4:08 am GMT
I was about 20 before I heard about indoeuropean languages


LOL
en   Sun Feb 14, 2010 5:22 am GMT
>> LOL <<

Yes, I'm surprised too. Most Americans *never* learn about language families at all.
Uriel   Sun Feb 14, 2010 5:41 am GMT
There was an Indo-European language tree printed on the inside cover of the dictionary that my parents had (big old unabridged Webster's edition that you could have committed murder with, if you had been able to pick it up high enough!) It also had great full-color plates of all kinds of things. i used to look through it every so often as a kid. Learning can be a pretty passive activity that happens when you least expect it!

<<OK, maybe 500,000 out of the 33 million in the US know that English is a Germanic language. 30 million think it's based on Latin, and the rest never gave it a thought in their life. >>

Oh, dude. Maybe you should so a little reasearch before you talk shit about us and go pulling numbers out of your ass. There aren't "33 million in the US". Try 300 million, and counting....
europeans aren't that sma   Sun Feb 14, 2010 6:19 am GMT
As if Europeans are experts on language families.
Hahaha.

Basically the average Americans know nothing
And all the average Europeans knows is: (*) Spanish, French and Italian are Romance languages. German, Scandinavian, Dutch and English are Germanic languages. Germanic and Romance are branches of the Indo-European language familiy, and Slavic is another branch. Russian and Polish are Slavic (*)

Wow, such a big difference in knowledge.

PS: If you're American and don't know about language families, no worries, just read the (*)-ed part and you know as much as the average European. Done? Good job!
hating stereotypes   Sun Feb 14, 2010 10:14 am GMT