Your favorite language websites

Juan   Tuesday, December 02, 2003, 02:45 GMT
Will do...if I have the time and determination that is. I am interested in learning a bit of Dutch and French but I don't know if I have the time do dedicate myself to it.
Clark   Tuesday, December 02, 2003, 06:09 GMT
For me, languages are a hobby, so I generally just pick one up until I get bored with it and go to the next one. Eventually, I pick up a lot from the languages, even though there has been a significant time period. Dutch is one language that I was never truly interested in. Afrikaans I like a lot, and French obviously. I would say that my favourite languages are:

French = I have an ancestral connection to France
Danish = I have an ancestral connection to Denmark
English = it is my native language and a majority of my ancestors came from England
Spanish = a fun language for me because I can easily understand it
Portuguese = it is easy for me to read because I know Spanish and French
Afrikaans = I love the history of the European settlement of South Africa
Pennsylvania German = I love the history of the German people in New York

I do not know why I wrote all of this down; I just feel like writing tonight.
Boy   Tuesday, December 02, 2003, 07:24 GMT
No worries, Clark. Your qualification is enough to make other people feel jealous. How you learned those languages so easily. I'm still shaking by English. :)
Lou   Tuesday, December 02, 2003, 11:09 GMT
My info. about the site, www.ego4u.com wasn't clear. It's a site for learning English, but is useful for German speakers learning English, because all the explanations are in German. Sorry!
Clark   Tuesday, December 02, 2003, 17:56 GMT
Boy, well, like I said, languages are a hobby. So naturally for me, they are very fun. Sometimes learning them can be a bore, but I have found that applying them to reading an online newspaper, participating in a Yahoo Group, writing e-mails or simply just printing stuff off of the internet to read in foreign languages is very fun.

I have known several people who are much better at learning foreign languages than I am, but most people who are better at learning languages and can pick them up faster do not have the same love and respect for language like I do.
Tremmert   Tuesday, December 02, 2003, 19:18 GMT
Another good link for language learning (just in case there's anybody who _hasn't_ heard of it by now ;)) and just about anything else
google.com

>> Holland is such a puny country in comparison to Germany, woulndn't it be the other way round? <<

Dutch or Deutsch I think means something like common, ie the common language of a region. German means something like relative or cousin, which is probably why English uses this word since as a result of the Saxon invasion the people of Britain would have been related to the people of Germany (Deutschland ;))
Clark   Tuesday, December 02, 2003, 20:27 GMT
Actually, we are more related to the Dutch than the Germans. If one looks at the Germanic family tree, one wil see that the parent language of Old English is Anglo-Frisian; which happens to be the parent of Old Frisian.

Huh, I wrote "we" because I guess I just feel pretty English all the time. Anyways...

I know that "Nether" means "low," hence the English term, "Netherlands." And in Netherlandic, the word for Netherlandic is "Nederlands." The word for "low" in the language is "Neder." The village idiot could see the connection! :-P
Templar   Wednesday, December 03, 2003, 01:52 GMT
Tom:

Sorry for taking so long to answer you.
I've been studying German using the Deutsche Welle courses and I think they're very good, although I've downloaded some additional stuff. I've downloaded the Portuguese version of the course, so I can't tell you if the English version is so good, but I believe it must be as well.
Templar   Wednesday, December 03, 2003, 01:58 GMT
Clark,

But are you able to speak all those languages fluently or some of them you can just read and write, but not speak, and others you can speak, write and read?
Juan   Wednesday, December 03, 2003, 05:43 GMT
Pardong my ignorance, but is why is Holland considered "low". Is it because there are not many hills and mountains in Holland or some other reason? Reason I ask is because it kinda sounds like an oxymoron for one of the most northern european nations to be considered "low".

I probably should look this up my-self, but I'm just plain lazy. Sorry.
Clark   Wednesday, December 03, 2003, 06:18 GMT
Templar, no, as I have said in other forums before, the only language I speak fluently is English. And then I can hold a conversation in French, Spanish and German. Then, I can read and understand Italian and Portuguese without much difficulty.
Templar   Wednesday, December 03, 2003, 06:29 GMT
Clark,

Thanks.

Juan

As far as I know, it's considered low because it's under the sea level.
Juan   Wednesday, December 03, 2003, 06:53 GMT
Thank for your response Templar, appreciate it.

>>As far as I know, it's considered low because it's under the sea level.<<

Really!!??

I never thought it could be possible for land to be under the "sea level". If that is so, then how come Holland isn't submerged under water. If you're correct it has aroused my curiosity even further and I'll do a bit of research my-self.
Guilhem   Wednesday, December 03, 2003, 09:23 GMT
Hello Juan,

More than half of the country that makes up the Netherlands was once under the sea. The Dutch have spent centuries draining the land and building dykes to keep the water out. It is quite remarkable when you think about it.
Lou   Wednesday, December 03, 2003, 12:28 GMT
Clark, something is worrying me. You mentioned that you love the history of the European settlement of South Africa. I don't understand why this is so for you. A lot of awful things happened to the indigenous people, and Europeans had no concept whatever of the traditions and ways of people who were already there, and also no respect for them.