|
 |
Switching from Norwegian to Swedish | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6901 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 17 of 20 25 August 2010 at 11:05pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Huge discount, yes, but I heavily doubt that a learner of any of the three languages somehow "automatically" will get the passive skills that native speakers achieve over a long time (through travelling, TV/radio, "language intuition" etc.), e.g. to know what to look/listen for, to be able to fill in the gaps, false friends and all that.
This is not to discourage anyone from learning any of the three, but don't expect that (for instance) Norwegian itself/alone will give you superiour skills. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tracker465 Senior Member United States Joined 5344 days ago 355 posts - 496 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 18 of 20 04 September 2010 at 8:13am | IP Logged | ||
I’ve been meaning to reply to this one for quite some time, but am only now getting around to it. I have to disagree with jeff’s notions, and feel that some learners are able to achieve a reasonable amount of passive understanding of the other Scandinavian languages, without much effort (maybe not automatically, but without much effort either). It is true that a native will naturally have more passive knowledge of the other Scandinavian tongues through exposure via TV/radio, travelling, and tourists. Despite this advantage, I find that native speakers sometimes tend to be the first to feign ignorance of another tongue, due to political or personal reasons. For example, I have heard of some Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian speakers who claim that they do not understand one of the other languages, though I feel that this lack of understanding is more psychological than anything else. Similarly, I have so often heard from native speakers that Dutch and German are so different from each other and not mutually intelligible in any way, but as a non-native speaker of both of these tongues, I have definitely been able to waddle through the similarities and achieve some sort of understanding of one, without learning the other. With that said, I believe that for a non-native speaker learning a Scandinavian language, a few things will make one be able to understand the other Scandinavian tongues without much effort. Patterns: This is the largest thing, and a good language learner already uses this strategy. When I learn languages, I think in patterns, whether it involves grammar or phonology. I mainly study the Germanic languages, and as different as they are (compared to the differences between the Romance or Slavic languages, for instance), I try to think in my head that the languages are all still very similar, yet just spoken in a slightly different way. With an open way of thinking such as this, I find it easier to pick up the patterns of correspondence, that would of course lead to passive skills. If I was sitting in a room with monolinguals, one that spoke Danish and the other Korean, I would start my communications with the Danish person…eventually we would overcome this “different way” or “thick accent” of speaking, and things would become intelligible. Also, I’ve heard that there are actual books written in Denmark, Norway and Sweden (for native speakers) that list some of the main differences between these tongues. If a native can do this to help get a passive knowledge of the others, I would see no reason as to why it would stump a learner. Those are just my thoughts. Of course a native speaker has it easier, as he or she does not have to worry about (a) understanding Scandinavian language 1’s vocabulary to a large extent and then (b) converting it, through mild changes of pronunciation, word construction/formation, false friends, etc to Scandinavian language 2. With that said though, if an intermediate or advanced Norwegian learner meets a Swede, if he or she spends a bit of time to listen to the accent and listen for the differences, and if he or she knows a decent amount of Norwegian vocabulary, then I think that the learner would get the passive skills. Also, by learning a language from scratch, as an adult, one becomes very familiar with the grammar, something with which many natives struggle. This would be advantageous I think, for the learner. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cypherpunks Newbie Sweden Joined 5212 days ago 14 posts - 16 votes | Message 19 of 20 08 September 2010 at 6:38am | IP Logged | ||
|
As a Swedish speaker, reading the article "Page F30: Why Norwegian is the easiest
language for English speakers to learn", I have to say that just about everything in there applies to Swedish as well. Maybe I'd add that Swedish is more standardized for good and worse (easier to learn, but gives less familiarity with different dialects). Seeing how the languages are just about the same in difficulty, I'd say it might be better to look for other factors to decide which to study.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| davidwelsh Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5521 days ago 141 posts - 307 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, Norwegian, Esperanto, Swedish, Danish, French Studies: Polish, Sanskrit, Tibetan, Pali, Mandarin | Message 20 of 20 06 November 2010 at 10:36am | IP Logged | ||
|
When I had been studying Norwegian for a couple of years, with most exposure to the Oslo dialect, I found spoken Swedish significantly easier to understand than a lot of Norwegian dialects. I still find it easier to understand Swedes than someone with a thick Trøndelag dialect...
1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
