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Germanic Pride. | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| Lindsay19 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5825 days ago 183 posts - 214 votes  Speaks: English*, GermanC1 Studies: Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic | Message 17 of 90 08 April 2010 at 4:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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I feel alot like unityandoutside feels. I do have Germanic roots, and have an irrational attraction tovvards Germanic languages. Not to mention that the societies in vvhich those languages are spoken are relatively similar to the one I grevv up in, so I haven't had too much of a problem finding my place and fitting in. And it's fascinating for me seeing hovv they all developed together, and vvhat connections they still have today. It's something I can't explain very vvell, unfortunately.
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| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5589 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 18 of 90 08 April 2010 at 5:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think this "Germanic Appeal" that you're talking about isn't felt by everyone.
I personally am drawn to Spanish, so much that I wish it was my native language. I think this is drawn on my personal preference rather than "roots." I know several kids my age that LOVE Japanese and Chinese and 99.999% percent don't even know that German is related to English. Personally, I happen to love almost any language that crosses my face :D 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tracker465 Senior Member United States Joined 5356 days ago 355 posts - 496 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 19 of 90 08 April 2010 at 7:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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As a few others have felt, I also feel drawn to the Germanic languages due to my roots. My ancestors came from Germany (and some supposedly from the Netherlands as well), though German was dead and gone as my family’s tongue long before I was born. My great grandmother did have a Pennsylvania Dutch accent, or so I am told, though I am unsure if she actually spoke the German dialect or not. I have always considered German as a tongue of olden days, a tongue that took people back to the beginning. Of course this is plain silly, but I always formed this impression since the older generations of Pennsylvanians, from the area I live, typically learned German and Latin in school, and prior to the World Wars, some form of German was commonly spoken in everyday situations. Someone who wants to be connected to my European ancestry (sometimes I wish I was born European), German was a way of doing this.
I really wish that English did retain more words of Germanic origin, and I am tickled when I read a text in Middle English or see a word from an Old English text, which I understand, due to the Germanic root. On a side note, I was very bothered when I went to Germany, and saw such words as “Super” and “getoastet” slipping into the German language from an English influence. I have also heard that the English word “ticket” has caused much of the younger German population to use the word “Karte” as a catch-all word, as opposed to the numerous German words designating various kinds of tickets. A real shame if you ask me. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5842 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 20 of 90 08 April 2010 at 9:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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I always thought English is a lot more similar to French than to German or the Scandinavian languages. It feels like the Germanic label is a bit misleading.
When I started studying French in school, at age 12, I had already had 3 years of English. I remember thinking at the time that French was quite similar to English and many words were very similar. I still think English has more in common with French.. Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that English is IN BETWEEN the Germanic and Romance languages? Does anyone else have this view? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| The Real CZ Senior Member United States Joined 5653 days ago 1069 posts - 1495 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 21 of 90 08 April 2010 at 9:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't feel any roots of my German heritage (my dad's side) since I would be 6th generation or so. I'm simply American from that point of view, since at least 5 generations have passed since the ancestors on my dad's side of the family came to the U.S.
My cousin did take German in high school because of our German heritage. (On a somewhat related note, I am learning Korean because I am a 2nd generation Korean because of my mom. That's direct, not 100+ years in between.) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| apatch3 Diglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6189 days ago 80 posts - 99 votes Speaks: Pashto, English* Studies: Japanese, FrenchA2 | Message 22 of 90 08 April 2010 at 9:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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@cordelia: I agree completely, English started off as a very Germanic language but after mingling with french for such a long time (courtesy of the Norman conquest) it assimilated a great deal of vocabulary. Over the years It has lost the illogical gender system that German retains to this day, I still suspect that grammatically English is still closer to German, having said that, I'm no linguist. I'd describe it as simplified German spruced up by french (retaining all the practicality of precise sentence structure) I beleive English's journey to becoming the worlds lingua franca has less to do with the british empire and todays US dominated world than most people credit it with, In order to be spoken so widely a language needs to be simple practical and be able to convey notions in a precise manner. I speak fluent Japanese but I tell you even if the Japanese were to rule the world a thousand years from now as beautiful as it is Nihongo would never attain such a position, for a number of reasons A) its excruciating writing system (all of my fellow kanji crammers know what im talking about) and B) its imprecise nature (a lot of understanding takes place solely through contextual means). All this doesn't stop me being enamored by Japanese ^_^ according to me every language has its own beauty.
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| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5842 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 23 of 90 08 April 2010 at 9:54pm | IP Logged | ||
Good summary. That's how I view it too. And I personally wouldn't say the grammar was closer to German than to French. It has a little bit of both, I think. Maybe in ancient times it was more Germanic, but now it's more Romance. That's how it seems to me... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| apatch3 Diglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6189 days ago 80 posts - 99 votes Speaks: Pashto, English* Studies: Japanese, FrenchA2 | Message 24 of 90 08 April 2010 at 9:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've been taking an intensive french course for the past few months and to me the grammar doesn't really resemble English. I remember taking a year of German in high school as far as sentence structure goes German and English seemed closer .. although maybe I'm just speaking out of nostalgia fueled myopia.
And I just realized I need an avatar >_< Edited by apatch3 on 08 April 2010 at 9:57pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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