Languages related to English (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

Languages related to English
Tags: Celtic languages \| Germanic Languages \| Romance Languages \| Linguistic relationships \| English
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Language Learning Forum : General discussion

31 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4 Next >>

leosmith
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6331 days ago
2365 posts - 3804 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Tagalog

Message 17 of 31

25 June 2008 at 12:34am | IP Logged

Perhaps they use the wrong criteria to decide what family a language goes into.
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Captain Haddock
Diglot
Senior Member
Japan
kanjicabinet.tumblr.
Joined 6549 days ago
2282 posts - 2814 votes

Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek

Message 18 of 31

25 June 2008 at 1:35am | IP Logged

The linguistic definition of a language family and language relatedness is quite precise, and English is most definitely a Germanic language.
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Captain Haddock
Diglot
Senior Member
Japan
kanjicabinet.tumblr.
Joined 6549 days ago
2282 posts - 2814 votes

Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek

Message 21 of 31

25 June 2008 at 7:17am | IP Logged

I imagine if you made those same comparisons in Frisian, they'd be even closer.

English: What is your name?
Frisian: Wat is jo namme?

English: What is this in English?
Frisian: Wat is dit yn it Ingelsk?
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jody
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6019 days ago
242 posts - 252 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Russian, Bulgarian

Message 22 of 31

25 June 2008 at 7:26am | IP Logged

Senmurw wrote:

Now I will give some examples of other similarities (Dutch/english):

I had = ik had
I was = ik was

we slapen in de nacht
we sleep in the night

In mijn school is er een chor waar we zingen
in my school there is a choir where we sing

dat is niet goed
that is not good

het weer is warm deze week
the weather is warm this week

ze kookt vis voor haar lunch
she cook fish for her lunch

Is this really Dutch? From these examples I think I could learn Dutch in about 10 minutes!!! Seriously, I'm sure all sentences in Dutch are not so close to English, but it really does tell how similar the roots of both languages are. I had always thought Spanish was the easiest language for an English speaker. Perhaps not.
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Gilgamesh
Tetraglot
Senior Member
England
Joined 6023 days ago
452 posts - 468 votes

14 sounds
Speaks: Dutch, English, German, French
Studies: Polish

Message 23 of 31

25 June 2008 at 7:28am | IP Logged

Well, maybe it's because English is a Germanic language, nudge nudge...

Yeah, that is Dutch... with the exception that it's spelled "koor", not "chor" (choir). And a few other minor points... Well yeah.
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