Most satisfying language? (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

Most satisfying language?
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Language Learning Forum : General discussion

22 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3

phouk
Diglot
Newbie
Germany
Joined 6038 days ago
28 posts - 48 votes
Speaks: German*, English
Studies: Russian

Message 17 of 22

29 March 2010 at 8:58pm | IP Logged

LanguageSponge wrote:

... The dad said, though, and I remember it very clearly, that if
he had spoken "real Bavarian" to me, then I'd not have understood a lot. I'm not
entirely sure what he meant by that; perhaps an accent, or maybe an entirely new
repertoire of vocabulary? Hmm, in any case, fascinating! If anyone has any
clarification on that, I'd love to hear your thoughts on exactly what he meant!

A totally different pronounciation, an entirely new repertoire of vocabulary, AND a
different grammar. If someone is speaking with a very heavy Bavarian dialect, somebody
from the north of Germany will understand almost nothing of what they say.

Here is a site on learning Bavarian:

http://www.bayrisch-lernen.de/

Take this sentence from the starting page:

"Griass aich, laidl, gfraid me, dass hergfundn habts."

Griass aich -> Gruess Euch -> (Ich) gruesse Euch -> Hallo
laidl -> Leutle -> (freundlicher Diminuitiv von) Leute
graid me -> (ge)freut mich -> es freut mich
dass hergfundn habts -> dass (Ihr) hergefunden habt.

-> "Hallo Leute, es freut mich, dass Ihr hergefunden habt."

Quite different, isn't it? :)

LanguageSponge wrote:

My former German teacher is from Augsberg in Bavaria, which I
believe is not too far from Munich or so, but my German geography isn't all that great;
however, since becoming what I consider fluent in German for my purposes, I have had no
trouble understanding anything he says, and we haven't spoken English to each other for
about six years. Maybe he is just avoiding the dialectal words?

She is almost certainly trying to speak "correct" high German to you, and avoid any
traces of the Bavarian dialect (grammar, pronounciation and vocabulary) - just as the
dad of the family you met. In fact, most speakers of Bavarian can switch their dialect
on or off, or choose something in between, depending on situation and audience.
1 person has voted this message useful

Marc Frisch
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6665 days ago
1001 posts - 1169 votes

Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian
Studies: Persian, Tamil

Message 18 of 22

29 March 2010 at 9:00pm | IP Logged

maaku wrote:

Bavarian borders on being an entirely different language, like Swiss German or Low German. I say "borders" as a linguist would call it a different language, while a politician would not (as minority language classification carries with it certain responsibilities of the state that are not necessary in this case).

I wouldn't hesitate to call it a different language. I'm a native German speaker it's completely unintelligible for me. So are many German dialects (Swabian, Low German, Saxonian). The Mosel-Franconian my mom used with my grandma is also unintelligible for speakers of High German.
1 person has voted this message useful

Marc Frisch
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6665 days ago
1001 posts - 1169 votes

Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian
Studies: Persian, Tamil

Message 19 of 22

29 March 2010 at 9:02pm | IP Logged

phouk wrote:

She is almost certainly trying to speak "correct" high German to you, and avoid any traces of the Bavarian dialect (grammar, pronounciation and vocabulary) - just as the dad of the family you met. In fact, most speakers of Bavarian can switch their dialect on or off, or choose something in between, depending on situation and audience.

That's an important point: It's very unlikely (for an outsider) to encounter any "pure" Bavarian when travelling to Bavaria.
1 person has voted this message useful

Miznia
Diglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 5351 days ago
37 posts - 42 votes
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Cantonese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese

Message 20 of 22

01 April 2010 at 5:54pm | IP Logged

Cantonese is the sixth second language I've studied and it's the first one I really love. I didn't realize I had it in me. I did like French, but mostly I studied languages without an expectation that I'd see value in any specific one.
1 person has voted this message useful

John Smith
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 6042 days ago
396 posts - 542 votes

Speaks: English*, Czech*, Spanish
Studies: German

Message 21 of 22

02 April 2010 at 5:13pm | IP Logged

Greek. Finding out that the direct translation of hippopotamus is riverhorse made my day. Hippo = horse, potamus = river.

Many English words come from Greek. We use them everyday without really understanding what they mean. For example, monogamy is derived from the Greek monos (one) and gamos (marriage, union).

Edited by John Smith on 02 April 2010 at 5:16pm
1 person has voted this message useful

WingSuet
Triglot
Senior Member
Sweden
Joined 5351 days ago
169 posts - 211 votes

Speaks: Swedish*, English, German
Studies: Cantonese

Message 22 of 22

03 April 2010 at 12:20am | IP Logged

I have two experiences:

I was chatting to a Cantonese speaking girl I just met and she asked me to say a sentence in Cantonese to see how much I've learned so far. I say one sentence to her and she bursts out: "Wow! That's the best Cantonese I've heard from a foreigner, and I've tried teaching many people Cantonese". This even though I had only practised the language on my own by then.

A few months ago I decided to finally take a course in Cantonese. I found a 1B course just about to start and I joined it even though I hadn't taken the previous course and only studied on my own. At the first lesson I notice that I still speak better than most people in the group.

1 person has voted this message useful

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