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Popular misconceptions about languages?

 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages Post Reply
100 messages over 13 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 7 ... 12 13 Next >>
Snesgamer
Groupie
Afghanistan
Joined 6405 days ago

81 posts - 90 votes 
Studies: English*, German, Spanish, Norwegian, Scottish Gaelic

 
 Message 49 of 100
29 December 2009 at 3:40am | IP Logged 
I've known many people to confuse Dutch and German (most likely due to German being called "Deutsch" in its own language).
1 person has voted this message useful



Alvinho
Triglot
Senior Member
Brazil
Joined 6028 days ago

828 posts - 832 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish

 
 Message 50 of 100
30 December 2009 at 5:40pm | IP Logged 
The worst misconception is still to think that any language is useful if you end up earning lots of money.
1 person has voted this message useful



Sennin
Senior Member
Bulgaria
Joined 5828 days ago

1457 posts - 1759 votes 
5 sounds

 
 Message 51 of 100
30 December 2009 at 6:37pm | IP Logged 
Snesgamer wrote:
I've known many people to confuse Dutch and German (most likely due to German being called "Deutsch" in its own language).

... or Dutch and Danish :D.
1 person has voted this message useful



adrian
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5280 days ago

8 posts - 11 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: French, Polish, German

 
 Message 52 of 100
30 December 2009 at 9:35pm | IP Logged 
3 ones I have heard:

"Galician is a Celtic language"
"English comes from Latin"
"There is no similarity between Polish and Russian"
2 persons have voted this message useful



elvisrules
Tetraglot
Senior Member
BelgiumRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5263 days ago

286 posts - 390 votes 
Speaks: French, English*, Dutch, Flemish
Studies: Lowland Scots, Japanese, German

 
 Message 53 of 100
30 December 2009 at 10:45pm | IP Logged 
adrian wrote:
3 ones I have heard:

"Galician is a Celtic language"

I've heard this one too...

adrian wrote:
"English comes from Latin"

I've also been told that English is a Romance language... ~_~
1 person has voted this message useful



John Smith
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 5836 days ago

396 posts - 542 votes 
Speaks: English*, Czech*, Spanish
Studies: German

 
 Message 54 of 100
05 February 2010 at 6:09pm | IP Logged 
Native English speakers often think that English is the world's hardest language. Actually, just realised this is a widely held belief by many people around the world. Most native speakers tend to think their language is extremely difficult.
I was once told by my Spanish teacher that Spanish is a very hard language because it has many words for love whereas English only has one.

Also, I got aksed whether Italian and Greek are the same language once. lol.

Edited by John Smith on 05 February 2010 at 6:12pm

1 person has voted this message useful



tractor
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5247 days ago

1349 posts - 2292 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan
Studies: French, German, Latin

 
 Message 55 of 100
05 February 2010 at 8:18pm | IP Logged 
Basque is related to X.

X could be any language that is not closely related to Spanish: Finnish, Welsh, Korean, Janpanese...
1 person has voted this message useful



Sennin
Senior Member
Bulgaria
Joined 5828 days ago

1457 posts - 1759 votes 
5 sounds

 
 Message 56 of 100
05 February 2010 at 8:21pm | IP Logged 
John Smith wrote:
Native English speakers often think that English is the world's hardest language. Actually, just realised this is a widely held belief by many people around the world. Most native speakers tend to think their language is extremely difficult.

Actually, in my experience many native speakers think that English is a very easy language; But I suppose some think the opposite too. In reality it is nether too hard nor too difficult - pretty average for an Indo-European language. Verbs are simple (like in Nordic languages) but the language makes up for it with the difficult pronunciation, many dialects (especially BE), irregular spelling, phrasal verbs and other niceties.

John Smith wrote:
I was once told by my Spanish teacher that Spanish is a very hard language because it has many words for love whereas English only has one.

IMO, a joke perhaps.


Edited by Sennin on 05 February 2010 at 8:24pm



1 person has voted this message useful



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