[ot] Swedish langauge

[Psyckosama]

Verbing weirds language.

Having only ever learned a bit of French (aside from English, of course), I really can't say much for the relative difficulty of other languages. However, compared to French at least, I've always found English to be a much less strictly structured language - knowing nothing, I would much rather try to learn French than English.

--Impeesa--

You'd also have the added bonus of learning 75 new way to say "I surender!"

 

[Alzrius]

Verbing weirds language.

I can access that.

 

[RangerWickett]

Funny no one has mentioned any Middle Eastern or African languages yet, or at least I haven't seen them mentioned. I, for one, would love to learn Arabic one day; it's just so pretty.

I'm studying Japanese now, and really, the characters ain't that hard, since at least 'Nihongo' (as Japanese is called in Japan [Japan itself is called Nihon {I can't understand why English decided to change the names of places, like Deutschland}]) has letters. Sure, there are two separate alphabets for if you're speaking native words or foreign words, but at least you can spell things phonetically.

I don't see the real value of having 30-stroke kanji to write words that can be spelled with 10 strokes worth of letters, but at least it saves some space, and is pretty. Plus it gives me more chances to pull my grade up since we have a kanji quiz every few days.

Chinese, though, is tonal, and as far as I know doesn't really have an alphabet, relying just on . . . what are those characters called? They're the same thing as Japanese kanji pretty much, but there's a lot more of them, I'm sure.

I recall reading that there is a language with three different "t" sounds. Try to say "Tom is taking a taxi," but for the first 't,' put your tongue near your teeth. For the second, have it in the middle of your palate, and for the third, have it at the back of your mouth. I can't tell the difference myself, but my ears haven't been trained for it. I guess it's similar to Japanese people having a hard time with words like "Strength" or "McDonalds."

Suturengutsu = Strength.

Makudonarudozu = McDonalds.

Then again, I also originally had a hard time with the difference between Oishii and Oishi, and properly pronouncing 'tsu,' but I've rambled enough for one evening. Goodnight.

 

[RangerWickett]

You'd also have the added bonus of learning 75 new way to say "I surender!"

I would retaliate with a similar insult against your home nation, but you have neglected to mention. Who's the coward now, eh?

Seriously, though, it's not nice to use this variety of stereotyping insults. It's not polite, and it can invite political flamefests, which we try to avoid, especially when the topic has thus far avoided touchy material. Of course, I get to insult Morrus for being British, because he's far more derogatory of Americans. It's unsurprising, though, that he's so good at sarcasm. The British drive on the wrong side of the road, so they must be used to turning around the meanings of things.

 

[Alzrius]

I don't see the real value of having 30-stroke kanji to write words that can be spelled with 10 strokes worth of letters, but at least it saves some space, and is pretty.

It's basically pictograms. The value is that, unlike letters, the character drawn out has an intrinsic meaning, one that doesn't rely on pronounciation. The character for "people" will always let you know its talking about people, despite being pronounced "jin" "hito" or whatever. Admittedly, some of them are damn hard to draw, but for the simpler ones at least, the benefit is somewhat obvious.

Plus it gives me more chances to pull my grade up since we have a kanji quiz every few days.

Kami, I hated those. They only pulled me down.

Chinese, though, is tonal, and as far as I know doesn't really have an alphabet, relying just on . . . what are those characters called? They're the same thing as Japanese kanji pretty much, but there's a lot more of them, I'm sure.

I'm not sure what they're called either. Japanese did have about as many as Chinese did, but there was a series of reformations that both simplified the format of them (for example, the shape of the kanji for "waru" changed, as any fan of Ruroni Kenshin's Sanosuke who knows Japanese can tell you), and the number that was taught in schools. The last reformation happened just after WWII, and busted the number of "common use" kanji (essentially, the ones taught in school) down to just under two thousand.

 

[green slime]

IMO, Swedish is one of the easiest languages in the world to learn, at least for Europeans.

1) Words are pronounced as they look like they should be. No archaic spelling rules.

2) The working vocabulary you are required to know to be regarded as fluent is far smaller than, for instance, english. This due to the fact that that small words are stringed together to create new concepts, rather than having a completely different word.

Example:
brunhårig (consisting of the words brown and hairy) meaning brunette. Do NOT confuse the "brunhårig flicka" with the "brun hårig flicka". (flicka meaning girl)

 

[Staffan]

1) Words are pronounced as they look like they should be. No archaic spelling rules.

On the other hand, many sounds can be spelled different ways. "Skälla" och "sjasa" are pronounced with the same sound in the beginning, but aren't spelled the same.

 

[Sixchan]

I can't understand why English decided to change the names of places, like Deutschland.

I didn't think we did. I thought 'Germany' came from 'Germania', the Latin name for the area, and 'Japan' came from the Malay name 'Japang'.

 

[Liquide]

On the other hand, many sounds can be spelled different ways. "Skälla" och "sjasa" are pronounced with the same sound in the beginning, but aren't spelled the same.

Well the swedish language and the sch-sounds

sj
sh
sch

ch
tj
tch



and the list goes on even further LOL

 

[Michael Tree]

I can't understand why English decided to change the names of places, like Deutschland

The reasons are largely historical. I suspect that the English words for other countries come originally from the French, since both use the same names, adjusted for phonolgy and linguistic drift.

Germany no doubt comes from the Latin Germania (pronounced with a hard 'G'.

Japan is probably an indirect corruption of Nihon, through Nippon. Say, what's the Dutch word for Japan? English's word may have come from them, since they were among the first to trade with the Japanese. It might also come from the Chinese word.