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Dutch & German - Just How Similar? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Romanist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5283 days ago 261 posts - 366 votes  Studies: Italian | Message 25 of 37 19 June 2010 at 1:52pm | IP Logged | |||||
Old Norse and Modern Icelandic are almost the same, right? On that basis, Old Norse would have to rate as ultra hardcore in terms of grammatical complexity, I'd say! (Modern German grammar is only medium hardcore...) Edited by Romanist on 19 June 2010 at 1:54pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Liface Triglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Lif Joined 5859 days ago 150 posts - 237 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Dutch, French | Message 26 of 37 21 June 2010 at 5:11am | IP Logged | |||||
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As an example of how similar they are, listen to this clip of FW De Klerk speaking Afrikaans:
So, here's what he says (I think, my Afrikaans is not great) Na aanleiding van de omstreerdenheid wat ontwikkelt, en met de achtneming van de wensen van de RTR und de academie... had ons de besluit, om (wel) de karakter van... What he says, roughly translated to German: Nach Anleitung von der Umstrittenheit, was entwickelt, und mit der Achtnehmung von den Wünschen von der RTR und der Akademie.... hatte uns der Beschluss um den Charakter von... Very similar! Note that a native German would probably say some things differently, but I deliberately chose similar words in the translation. Edited by Liface on 21 June 2010 at 5:11am 6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Vos Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5567 days ago 766 posts - 1020 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Polish | Message 27 of 37 24 June 2010 at 1:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
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When I first read and learnt it quite a few months back now, I found it quite odd and surprising (first experience
with another language) that in Dutch there wasn't a distinct present tense continuous form of the verb, that is, read'ing', hik'ing' etc. And instead Dutch had certain ways of expressing this, if it was absolutely necessary. Such as 'Aan het lezen' - reading. 'Staan te praten' talking etc. Does German have a present continuous form? Or do they use a construction like in Dutch? It's also made me wonder, does German have any verb forms which neither Dutch nor English has? Which expresses something succinctly which is harder, or perhaps better said, takes more effort to express in other Germanic languages? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5454 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 28 of 37 24 June 2010 at 4:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
No. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| gedamara Diglot Newbie Albania Joined 5342 days ago 22 posts - 22 votes Speaks: German, Albanian* Studies: French, English | Message 29 of 37 24 June 2010 at 5:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I understand dutch but I don't like it at all, it just sounds funny , I laugh everytime I hear someone speaking dutch XD
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| michi Nonaglot Newbie Austria Joined 5302 days ago 33 posts - 57 votes Speaks: Dutch*, German, French, English, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese Studies: Turkish, Arabic (Written), Serbo-Croatian, Indonesian, Japanese | Message 30 of 37 24 June 2010 at 6:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
The Dutch language does have a present continuous form, which is contructed by adding a "d" to the infinitive form: lezen - lezend (to read - reading) lopen - lopend (to walk - walking. In German it is constructed exactly the same way: lesen - lesend; laufen - laufend. However these forms are used only independenty and not in connection with a subject. Lachend kwam hij naar binnen (Laughing he came in) In connection with a subject you use the form "aan het + infinitive" Jan is aan het lezen. (Jan is reading) Edited by michi on 24 June 2010 at 6:31pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5321 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 31 of 37 24 June 2010 at 8:35pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The same constructions also exist in German but I wouldn't call them present continuous.
For example: a) Am ganzen Körper zitternd, betrat er den Raum. [=He entered the room and his whole body was trembling.] This not a present continuous form, because "zitternd" is used as present participle. b) Ich bin gerade am lesen. [=I'm reading right now.] This construction is still considered substandard German and is used only in some parts of Germany. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Liface Triglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Lif Joined 5859 days ago 150 posts - 237 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Dutch, French | Message 32 of 37 26 June 2010 at 6:46pm | IP Logged | |||||
Although I've recently read it's getting more and more popular among young people. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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