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Dutch vs Scandinavian languages

 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages Post Reply
17 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3  Next >>
orion
Senior Member
United States
Joined 7020 days ago

622 posts - 678 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Russian

 
 Message 1 of 17
02 December 2005 at 12:36am | IP Logged 
Several people on the forum have learned Dutch, or a Scandinavian language, after having learned German. Are there any Dutch speakers that have learned a Scandinavian language (or vice versa) without first having had experience with German? I am curious what your experiences were like. Can a Dutch speaker look at Swedish text and understand most of it? How about the converse?
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Bart
Triglot
Senior Member
Belgium
Joined 7159 days ago

155 posts - 159 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, French, English
Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese, Swedish

 
 Message 2 of 17
02 December 2005 at 2:42am | IP Logged 
I have flirted a little bit with Swedish, as a native Dutch speaker, and was suprised to find out that it is a lot more difficult to understand than German.

So to answer at least one of your questions: no, a Dutch speaker can't look at any Swedish text and understand most of it without having studied the language.

Edited by Bart on 02 December 2005 at 2:42am

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maxb
Diglot
Senior Member
Sweden
Joined 7182 days ago

536 posts - 589 votes 
7 sounds
Speaks: Swedish*, English
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 3 of 17
02 December 2005 at 3:45am | IP Logged 
As a Swedish speaker I can't look at a Dutch article either and understand most of it. I can understand a sentence here and there though. Even though a lot of words are shared between swedish and German, grammar is a bit different, which can most likely make comprehension more difficult.
Swedish has different word order, no case system and definite form is created by adding an ending instead of using the definite article.

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orion
Senior Member
United States
Joined 7020 days ago

622 posts - 678 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Russian

 
 Message 4 of 17
02 December 2005 at 2:05pm | IP Logged 
Bart and maxb, thanks for your insight. I am a native English speaker and have had some experience with German (not fluent by any stretch of the word). I can look at Dutch newspapers, and listen to spoken Dutch with a general understanding of whats going on. This does not seem to be the case with Swedish.
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ferdi
Tetraglot
Groupie
Netherlands
Joined 7074 days ago

41 posts - 41 votes
Speaks: Turkish, Dutch*, English, German

 
 Message 5 of 17
02 December 2005 at 4:13pm | IP Logged 
Which language do you think is easier , Dutch or Swedish ?

And how long do you think it takes for a Dutch person to learn Swedish?
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orion
Senior Member
United States
Joined 7020 days ago

622 posts - 678 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Russian

 
 Message 6 of 17
03 December 2005 at 12:21am | IP Logged 
ferdi wrote:
Which language do you think is easier , Dutch or Swedish ?


For who? For me Dutch is easier, maybe because its more similar to German. I dug out some old Norwegian tapes I had around here. It doesn't seem that it would be THAT hard for an English speaker to learn.

I think I read somewhere that English is more similar to Dutch than to any other modern language. If this is true, maybe an English speaker and a Dutch speaker would need about the same amount of time to reach a similar level of skill in a Scandinavian language.

OK, which would be easier for a Scandinavian speaker, English or Dutch? This is assuming they had not studied German first.

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orion
Senior Member
United States
Joined 7020 days ago

622 posts - 678 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Russian

 
 Message 7 of 17
03 December 2005 at 12:26am | IP Logged 
Oh, by the way, why are there no Swedish or Dutch profiles? How about it maxb, ferdi, and Bart? :)

Maxb, can you understand Icelandic?
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ferdi
Tetraglot
Groupie
Netherlands
Joined 7074 days ago

41 posts - 41 votes
Speaks: Turkish, Dutch*, English, German

 
 Message 8 of 17
03 December 2005 at 3:54am | IP Logged 
I think English would be easier because they get it like Dutch people since they were little , and there is more possibility to speak English with all the material available then Dutch , however when i see Scandinavian soccer players come to The Netherlands they always speak perfect Dutch in less then a year, so i guess English is easier but Dutch is not far behind .

p.s. as you can see in the Collaborative writing there are a Swedish and a Dutch profile it just isn't lounched yet with the other profiles on the site i don't know why.



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