The two Baltic languages sound totally different. (cont'd)
Orig. message:
<< Thomas Sat Nov 17, 2007 4:58 pm GMT
Hi alltogather! Couple of weeks ago I visited wonderfull Baltic states Latvia (Riga) and Lithuania (Vilniuss). I should mention, that Latvian and Lithuanian sounds TOTALLY different despite of fact that both languages belong to the Baltic branch. Guys, I hope I'll will nobody insult, but Latvian sounds like a Scandinavian languge (for instance, Finnish, Estonian, Swedish) but Lithuanian to my ears sounds like a Slavic language...does Lithuanian has a strong Polish influence??? Any comments???? >>
That's exactly what I thought!
I was surprised myself. I thought Lithuanian would sound somehow similar to Latvian, but Lithuanian sounded Slavic to me, whereas Latvian more Nordic.
AFAIK Lithuanian does have a strong Slavic influence, especially Polish, but most Lithuanians today wouldn't want to admit this.
Baltic.
It is a subgroup of the Baltoslavic group of Indo-European languages.
The two living Baltic languages are indeed so different that Latvians and Lithuanians don´t understand each other, only some words here and there. One reason is that though the Baltic nations are neighbours, they have lived for very long in the area that is a supposed homeland of the Indo-European peoples (Lithuanian is by far the most archaic living Indo-European language). Latvian has changed more, partly due to the long German rule since the end of the 12th century. The Germans didn´t succeed in conquering Lithuania. On the contrary, Lithuania became in the 15th century the greatest land in Europe that extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Latvians have again assimilated Livonians, a Finno-Ugric nation, and Livonian has left strong impact on Latvian. Therefore, stress in Latvian is almost always on the first syllable, as in the Finno-Ugric languages. This is probably the main reason why Elbart089 found that Latvian sounds like Finnish, Estonian and Swedish. (Swedish and other Germanic languages have also stress on the first syllable in genuine Germanic words). Lithuanian, on the other hand, has a moving stress that can be on any syllable, as is the case with Russian and most other Slavic languages. Palatalisation, or softening of the words, is more common in Lithuanian than in Latvian - this is also a feature that makes Lithuanian sound Slavic.
<< Palatalisation, or softening of the words, is more common in Lithuanian than in Latvian - this is also a feature that makes Lithuanian sound Slavic. >>
I see!
I didn't know that.
Thank you!
Русский язык намного лучше и полезнее этого деревенского сленга. Говорите по-русски, так наверняка вам повезет.
<< Русский язык намного лучше и полезнее этого деревенского сленга. Говорите по-русски, так наверняка вам повезет. >>
Could someone translate that to English please?
<< Русский язык намного лучше и полезнее этого деревенского сленга. Говорите по-русски, так наверняка вам повезет. >>
<< Could someone translate that to English please? >>
Don't bother. It's off-topic and completely unrelated.
"Russian is a little bit better and useful than this countryside slang. Speak Russian, and you will probably be lucky". (I´m not quite sure for the last part). Rosemachinegun is right, this is only a expression of ultra-nationalist attitude that rejects everything else except one´s one language and nation. Of course, this attitude exists everywhere, but it´s sad and frightening to see how it is growing especially in the Big Bear that is my neighbor.
Thanks for the translation, nevertheless!