What's special about your language ?

[宇崎ちゃん]

My mother's language is Romanian. The special thing about is the fact that you write the words as you hear them. For instance, "tu" (which means "you") is pronounced too. I don't know if I've explained it right.

Every language is written like you pronounce it from the native speakers' perspective.
For example, English is written exactly like you hear them according to English speakers, but Germans disagree. And vice versa.

[Fegg]

Oh my.... I WISH  we spoke dutch!!!  But we can't!!!  My dutch is hardly level A1, so we fall into the same trap.  Plus the main problem is that he is too lazy to correct me when needed, so we end up speaking English. But I know we should speak dutch, we always say we will, but we end up speaking English again.   I had no idea German had an odd word order as well!  What a nightmare!   I loathe dutch sentences with more than 2 verbs D:   What are you using to improve your German right now?  Maybe we can exchange some tips, since both languages are so similar  

 

Basically I allow myself to acquire it as naturally as I’m able to. Yes, I try to understand all grammar, that is basic because we need to find rules and patterns, but if Dutch is similar to German you know that for us, these languages imply also to think very different while talking, and that, I’ m afraid will take years. Understanding a text sometimes feels like doing a puzzle, sounds familiar?:) …ok, this verb belongs to this sentence…mmm and 20 words later, ops, wait a moment, it is actually saying the opposite since there is a negation…but wait, is she who likes him or he who likes her, and after 3 pronouns altogether one after the other where you don’t know who is who and for whom and because of what, oh oh, wait, there is a lost particle here, two letters that don’t mean anything…let’s see in the dictionary…mmm nothing, what is thatttttt??? and just before you are about to give up….oh!  wait, that actually belongs to the verb 35 words before that changes completely the meaning of the whole piece!! This is what it looks sometimes German to me, an indecipherable code with morphologic rules that seem to have been thought just to make us go mad. But all jokes aside, somehow I got to like this language more and more, it feels like kind of an architectural piece of art, I can imagine that someone who masters it, can express himself with such an accuracy and variety.

 

I´m going 3 hours per day to German language lectures, play local radio one hour most of the days, even if I don´t get much, as a background helps my year. Also, force myself to deal with doctors and elemental burocracy (next step, dealing it on the phone:)) Make visual / coloured notes with gender of nouns. Talk often with someone that doesn´t know English and has the patience to adjust his speech to you, you learn so much from those key people. I also help here and there friends that have a lower level of German than I do, helps a lot too. But, just like you, shame on us that we do not practice with our partners...I mean language:))  

[Fegg]

Hmmm didn´t show everything, I was wondering how do you deal with it yourself? I think in the Netherlands they speak more English than in here, that´s not good for learning:(

[aira]

There are some special things in my mother tongue, which is Filipino. For one, there are certain particles that are "abbreviated" so as not to confuse with some words in terms of spelling.

For example, the word "mga." "Mga" is a particle that denotes plurality. It is placed before a noun if we want to express the plurality of nouns. The word is pronounced as "manga." It is different from the Filipino spelling of the English "mango," as the Filipino term is "mangga." It's as if we pronounce most of our words syllable by syllable. It's not also to be confused with the Japanese manga, you know, the comics.

Another is "ng." It is pronounced as "nang." It is a bit similar to "of" in terms of usage. The reason why "ng" is spelled as such is because there is also another word "nang," which is used in adverbs.

Another is the syllable "ba." "Ba" is used as a syllable in words, or as a standalone word when asking questions. The reason why I include it here is because there are foreigners who are amused in the "ba," such as the anecdote below:

There were three people waiting for the elevator. One was a foreigner, the other two are Filipinos. The setting is in the Philippines. One of the Pinoys asked if the elevator will go down by asking his friend, "Bababa ba?" And the other replied with, "Bababa." The foreigner was amused because it seems that we can understand one another by using just one syllable.

Here's the thing in said anecdote. The term "baba" (spoken fast, with an accent at the last vowel) means "to get down." There are rules in future tenses, but to make the long story short, the future tense of the "baba" is "bababa." Then the last "ba" is a word denoting a question. That also makes our language quirky.

[宇崎ちゃん]

Hmmm didn´t show everything, I was wondering how do you deal with it yourself? I think in the Netherlands they speak more English than in here, that´s not good for learning:(

It's true that Dutch people automatically switch to English once they notice you don't speak Dutch well.
The best thing you can do is just keep speaking Dutch, even after they switch to English.
This way you force them to speak Dutch to you (unless they overrule you of course).

[111kg]

Every language is written like you pronounce it from the native speakers' perspective.
For example, English is written exactly like you hear them according to English speakers, but Germans disagree. And vice versa.

I don't agree with you. For instance, take the English words "knife" or "know". Most of the English speakers will spell them correctly, even though they aren't pronounced "k-nife" or "k-now".

[Chris_A]

 

Cool, I had no idea you were Romanian   I have heard they also make a soup with the stomach of the cow in Italy, someone told me, but I'm not so sure   Because that person says so many things that are often highly inaccurate, lol.  But seriously, that soup sounds delicious!  What kind of vegetables are used?   I might give it a try one day  

You basically use the standard vegetable fare for soups, like celery, carrots and parsley root. Then you add the cow stomach meat, bones for cooking, and let the whole thing cook for at least 2 hours. After that, you add an egg and sour cream mixture to it, and season it well with salt and pepper, along with crushed garlic. Then you add something to make it sour, to taste. That`s about it.

 

Wow, I'm reading with great interest about Romanian and Italian being closely related to Latin. I love the Italian  language and think it's one of the most beautiful languages out there!

If Hungarian is closely linked to Finnish, then I'm getting a clear picture of exactly how difficult it must be. I had a Finnish boyfriend who tried to teach me Finnish once, and I was at a total loss. Quote simply put, it was a lost cause hehe. Having said that though, in my opinion, all Scandinavian languages are very complicated and I doubt I'd ever be able to learn them. It's all in the pronunciation, and that's where my first hurdle would be  

I like Italian as well, and I really want to learn that language, along with Spanish, because they are so closely related to Romanian. I might give Finnish a shot as well, out of curiosity, just to see if it would be easier for a Hungarian native speaker to learn that language.

[Trellum]

You basically use the standard vegetable fare for soups, like celery, carrots and parsley root. Then you add the cow stomach meat, bones for cooking, and let the whole thing cook for at least 2 hours. After that, you add an egg and sour cream mixture to it, and season it well with salt and pepper, along with crushed garlic. Then you add something to make it sour, to taste. That`s about it.

Wow... two hours to get that cow stomach tender?  I am guessing you guys use an express pot, because once I tried to use a normal pot and that cow stomach took hours to get tender!   Ever since i use the express pot, you lose some flavour to it, but it's ok, because with the other pot it takes an eternity. Thanks for sharing   I'm sure that soup is delicious! 

[Trellum]

Hmmm didn´t show everything, I was wondering how do you deal with it yourself? I think in the Netherlands they speak more English than in here, that´s not good for learning:(

Well, it's hard   Most dutch people in the Netherlands speak English, and as soon as they notice you are not a native dutch speaker they switch to English asap most of the time D: 

 

 

Basically I allow myself to acquire it as naturally as I’m able to. Yes, I try to understand all grammar, that is basic because we need to find rules and patterns, but if Dutch is similar to German you know that for us, these languages imply also to think very different while talking, and that, I’ m afraid will take years. Understanding a text sometimes feels like doing a puzzle, sounds familiar?:) …ok, this verb belongs to this sentence…mmm and 20 words later, ops, wait a moment, it is actually saying the opposite since there is a negation…but wait, is she who likes him or he who likes her, and after 3 pronouns altogether one after the other where you don’t know who is who and for whom and because of what, oh oh, wait, there is a lost particle here, two letters that don’t mean anything…let’s see in the dictionary…mmm nothing, what is thatttttt??? and just before you are about to give up….oh!  wait, that actually belongs to the verb 35 words before that changes completely the meaning of the whole piece!! This is what it looks sometimes German to me, an indecipherable code with morphologic rules that seem to have been thought just to make us go mad. But all jokes aside, somehow I got to like this language more and more, it feels like kind of an architectural piece of art, I can imagine that someone who masters it, can express himself with such an accuracy and variety.

 

I´m going 3 hours per day to German language lectures, play local radio one hour most of the days, even if I don´t get much, as a background helps my year. Also, force myself to deal with doctors and elemental burocracy (next step, dealing it on the phone:)) Make visual / coloured notes with gender of nouns. Talk often with someone that doesn´t know English and has the patience to adjust his speech to you, you learn so much from those key people. I also help here and there friends that have a lower level of German than I do, helps a lot too. But, just like you, shame on us that we do not practice with our partners...I mean language:))  

You seem to be doing better than me, but yes, let me tell you I have had those same problems with Dutch.  You know what is the worst about dutch?  It's all about context.  Most words have several meaning depending on the context, which can be super confusing, since in spanish is not really like that (most of the time a word has one meaning, sometimes even two and rarely 3, right?) But in dutch... well, I've seen words that have 10 different meanings depending on the contexts and words used, place in the sentence and so on.  When I first say this phrase: ''Wil je wat eten?''. What about that ''wat''?   I was so confused, my fiance doesn't seem to have a strong English so you can imagine...   I panicked when I saw this:  ''Ik heb je een tijd niet gezien''. So different from English o_O    I'm ok with those phrases... but phrases with more verbs and how some words invert word order even more are a nightmare still o_O  There are sentences that make no sense to me at all yet: ''Hou daar rekening mee''  That is supposed to mean something like: don't forget that. 

Have you checked this site: http://www.germanpod101.com/    I checked the dutch version and let me tell you I think they offer a great study plan. I plan to play for the membership once I am done with my exam.   By the way.... what language do you use when let's say... take note on things like vocab?  I personally use English because it seems easier for me to do so (because I use it daily anyway and Spanish can be a bit tricky when trying to find the right translation).    God help us D: 

[Trellum]

Dutch is like German, but simplified I guess.
Polish has some of the best tongue twisters in all of Europe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlOoSsfU6cM

Awesome, I'm curious.. how come polish and dutch are both your mother tongues?   Did you learn dutch as a child?  I've met a lot dutch speaking poles in the Netherlands, hard working people  Very!  It must be amazing to know those two languages so well!  They are so different from each other   Kudos to you!

[宇崎ちゃん]

 

Awesome, I'm curious.. how come polish and dutch are both your mother tongues?   Did you learn dutch as a child?  I've met a lot dutch speaking poles in the Netherlands, hard working people  Very!  It must be amazing to know those two languages so well!  They are so different from each other   Kudos to you!

It's because I'm born and raised in the Netherlands, but both my parents are Polish immigrants. We always spoke/speak Polish at home, but I had to speak Dutch outside of it (at school, at work, in shops, with friends, etc.). So I ended up having 2 native languages.

[xTinx]

What's special about my language is that it has a neutral accent. Most languages come with an accent but my native tongue surprisingly does not. There are more accentuated versions of it but you only encounter them in rural areas, where people talk as if they're singing or reciting a poem. Here in the city, people just speak it plainly, in a no-nonsense way. I am from Central Philippines and though the national language is Filipino (in other words Tagalog), my native tongue is Cebuano. Unbeknown to many, it is a language on its own.

[宇崎ちゃん]

When I first say this phrase: ''Wil je wat eten?''. What about that ''wat''?   I was so confused, my fiance doesn't seem to have a strong English so you can imagine...   I panicked when I saw this:  ''Ik heb je een tijd niet gezien''. So different from English o_O    I'm ok with those phrases... but phrases with more verbs and how some words invert word order even more are a nightmare still o_O  There are sentences that make no sense to me at all yet: ''Hou daar rekening mee''  That is supposed to mean something like: don't forget that. 

Sorry, I was on my phone when I last replied.
I didn't see this one.

Clearing it a bit up:
1. "Wat" means "what", but it's also used for "some" or "something".
Neem wat geld mee. → Take some money with you.
Wil je wat eten? = Wil je iets eten? → Do you want something to eat?
Note that I used different colours to mark a word-by-word translation.

2. Ik heb je een tijd niet gezien. → I did not see you for a while.
Note that the Dutch use many different verbs for what Anglophones would use "to do" or "to be".
Like "Ik zit op school" → "I am at school", which literally means "I sit on the school".

3. Houd daar rekening mee. → Keep that in mind.
This one is not word-by-word translatable though.
"Don't forget that" would be "Niet vergeten" or "Vergeet dat niet".

[thenextGeek]

I'm Filipino and we use Tagalog as our national language.

What's amazing about being Filipino in terms of languages is that we have lots of different dialects despite already having a national language. When you are living in the province farm from the mainland that is Luzon, it is more than likely that you speak in a different dialect than the ones living in Manila (the capital of the Philippines). This is the reason why a lot of Filipinos speak English very well because it sometimes become the common denominator when you are communicating with people from different provinces. 

Me being born in the province, then transferring to a city in Luzon a few years after I was born allowed me to learn Tagalog, while still learning how to speak my local dialect which is Illongo. 

[foolsgold]

Filipino here! Tagalog, our national language, is gender neutral. Not only does it make learning so much easier (not having to memorize a word's gender like German or Spanish), it's effectively promoting equality too. 

[linguaholic]

Sorry, I was on my phone when I last replied.I didn't see this one.

Clearing it a bit up:
1. "Wat" means "what", but it's also used for "some" or "something".
Neem wat geld mee. → Take some money with you.
Wil je wat eten? = Wil je iets eten? → Do you want something to eat?
Note that I used different colours to mark a word-by-word translation.

2. Ik heb je een tijd niet gezien. → I did not see you for a while.
Note that the Dutch use many different verbs for what Anglophones would use "to do" or "to be".
Like "Ik zit op school" → "I am at school", which literally means "I sit on the school".

3. Houd daar rekening mee. → Keep that in mind.
This one is not word-by-word translatable though.
"Don't forget that" would be "Niet vergeten" or "Vergeet dat niet".

Wow, didn't even know that colors look so beautiful in the new forum software. Awesome! 

[*Beatrish*]

Hello! I'm Beatrice and I'm from Italy, so my native tongue is Italian. I don't know exactly what is special or amazing in this language, maybe it has a great musicality (like Spanish in my opinion). Words are spoken as they are written, but sometimes there are some couples of words that create strange sounds like "gli" "ghi" "gn", etc..

The amazing thing is the "Florentine dialect", from which arise all the basics of this language (The famous "Dante Alighieri" who wrote "La Divina Commedia" you know?).

I'm actually studying at the University of Modern Languages in Pisa (Toscana), and I face up with the linguistics studies of all the languages chosen and even with the Italian one. My native tongue is rich of words borrowed from other languages, like Latin, Greek, Frech, English, German, Arabic etc.. and we use this word even in daily dialogues.

It has not an easy grammar, it is often really difficult even for the natives in Italy. We have a lot of verb tenses and cunjunctive in disappearing, just because of the poor or the wrong use.

However, I think that the great story from which it borned, makes it a language really rich in meanings!

Now I'm dealing with the study of the birth of German and the Germans, and I find it very interesting!

[lushlala]

 

 like Italian as well, and I really want to learn that language, along with Spanish, because they are so closely related to Romanian. I might give Finnish a shot as well, out of curiosity, just to see if it would be easier for a Hungarian native speaker to learn that language. 

Italian is a great language, and one that if I can learn I think most people stand a good chance of learning. I actually found Italian easier to learn compared to French, although it'll obviously differ from person to person. Wow, you have quite a few languages to get through yet! But maybe Hungarian being so hard, stands you in very good stead. All the best achieving all your language learning dreams 

Edited October 22, 2015 by lushlala

[Trellum]

Sorry, I was on my phone when I last replied.I didn't see this one.

Clearing it a bit up:
1. "Wat" means "what", but it's also used for "some" or "something".
Neem wat geld mee. → Take some money with you.
Wil je wat eten? = Wil je iets eten? → Do you want something to eat?
Note that I used different colours to mark a word-by-word translation.

2. Ik heb je een tijd niet gezien. → I did not see you for a while.
Note that the Dutch use many different verbs for what Anglophones would use "to do" or "to be".
Like "Ik zit op school" → "I am at school", which literally means "I sit on the school".

3. Houd daar rekening mee. → Keep that in mind.
This one is not word-by-word translatable though.
"Don't forget that" would be "Niet vergeten" or "Vergeet dat niet".

That was really useful, too bad you weren't around when I was still confused about the use of wat in that kind of sentences   I'm no longer confused , but it took me a while to get used to the fact wat can be used in that way too.  I just wanted to share what my biggest problems were with the language at first  Thanks a lot for using different colors, I think a lot people will find this useful. I no longer have trouble with sentences like those (I'm starting to get used to it, but the first months it was such a huge shock.

 As for number 3,  I didn't remember what the exact meaning was, but thanks for clarifying.  This would make a great reference to anyone who is just starting learning dutch from 0, specially those who have just started with the Inburgering cursus and have no idea!  Oh and yes, I am starting to read more about those verbs!  Like worden, zitten, staan, etc.  So many rules!  But I will look into that later     I plan to work on grammar right after I'm done with my inburgering exam.  Thanks for the excellent reply, that is what I call a truly helpful post.

Edited October 22, 2015 by Trellum

[linguaholic]

Hello! I'm Beatrice and I'm from Italy, so my native tongue is Italian. I don't know exactly what is special or amazing in this language, maybe it has a great musicality (like Spanish in my opinion). Words are spoken as they are written, but sometimes there are some couples of words that create strange sounds like "gli" "ghi" "gn", etc..

The amazing thing is the "Florentine dialect", from which arise all the basics of this language (The famous "Dante Alighieri" who wrote "La Divina Commedia" you know?).

I'm actually studying at the University of Modern Languages in Pisa (Toscana), and I face up with the linguistics studies of all the languages chosen and even with the Italian one. My native tongue is rich of words borrowed from other languages, like Latin, Greek, Frech, English, German, Arabic etc.. and we use this word even in daily dialogues.

It has not an easy grammar, it is often really difficult even for the natives in Italy. We have a lot of verb tenses and cunjunctive in disappearing, just because of the poor or the wrong use.

However, I think that the great story from which it borned, makes it a language really rich in meanings!

Now I'm dealing with the study of the birth of German and the Germans, and I find it very interesting!

Thank you for that interesting introduction. I didn't know that the "Florentine dialect is" is like the key dialect of the Italian language!

[mooray]

What I love about Swahili is that you can mix it with another language, say English, and still it makes sense and easier to understand if you are new to the language. For instance, ' acha nicome' is considered sheng (Swahili mixed with English). Translation means; 'wait for me, I am coming'. On the other hand, you can say 'Mimi niko fiti kabisa'.(Translation; I am fit!). However, sheng is somewhat different from Swahili but they are connected.

[sillylucy]

I think that my language is special because it is one of the hardest langues to master and I have mastered it. It makes me feel intelligent and I know that I can communicate with a lot of people for knowing English. I also like that I can help people learn it because so many people are always trying to learn it here in the states.

[*Beatrish*]

Thank you for that interesting introduction. I didn't know that the "Florentine dialect is" is like the key dialect of the Italian language!

Yes! Dante Alighieri, who was born in Florence, created the Italian language as we know today with the famous "Divina Commedia" around 1200. There were some changements, but the basics are the same, even if it is really difficult to understand because it is written in a proper dialect. I came from Toscana and the pricipal city of Toscana in Firenze (Florence). In sud or in nord Italy, language dialects change a lot and sometimes are changed even some grammatical structures. If a person comes to Italy to learn Italian should go mainly in the center, otherwise it might learn wrong grammar rules.

What I love about Swahili is that you can mix it with another language, say English, and still it makes sense and easier to understand if you are new to the language. For instance, ' acha nicome' is considered sheng (Swahili mixed with English). Translation means; 'wait for me, I am coming'. On the other hand, you can say 'Mimi niko fiti kabisa'.(Translation; I am fit!). However, sheng is somewhat different from Swahili but they are connected.

Wow! This language is really nice! I would like to learn some African dialects one day, I think that they are really interesting and rich of particular and original idioms!

[kurdapia]

My mother tongue is Spanish    I don't think my language is that special though,  the only thing that I can think of as being remotely special is the inverted question and exclamation marks: ¿¡   I guess our letter ''Ñ'' is also kinda cute and unique. A kid the other day asked me why I draw a mustache on the ''N'' letter, lol.  Plus Spanish is spoken in many countries, it's one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. I guess that counts  

We also have that letter N with a special character on top of it. I think that was unique. I would like to believe that we got it from the Spanish language my country being a colony of Spain for 333 years. Another unique thing about Filipino language is we have the letters Ng together. I am not sure if other languages use it at the beginning of a word because we normally see it at the end like in the words bring, sing, slang etc. 

[Trellum]

We also have that letter N with a special character on top of it. I think that was unique. I would like to believe that we got it from the Spanish language my country being a colony of Spain for 333 years. Another unique thing about Filipino language is we have the letters Ng together. I am not sure if other languages use it at the beginning of a word because we normally see it at the end like in the words bring, sing, slang etc. 

 

We call it the ''Ñ'' letter, which is also pronounced as ''eñe'', I have noticed most English speakers trying to learn Spanish have trouble with the pronunciation of this letter. That and rolling our ''Rrrr''.   And yes, the Ñ is Spaniard  Apparently a lot languages have borrowed it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ñ 

Edited October 23, 2015 by Trellum