LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.05.09 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 09.JUN.2005 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West) Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Mark Dreyer <mrdreyer at lantic.net>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.05.08 (02) [D/E]

Hello Steve

Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica"

> Is it, in fact, true that Dutch and Afrikaans speakers no longer share
> much mutual intelligibility regarding
> their respective spoken languages? I once read an article about an
> Afrikaans-speaking South African swimming team that
> went to the Netherlands for a swim meet. The article explained that the
> South Africans and the Dutch swimming team
> against which they were competing ended up using English as their lingua
> franca due to the difficulty in understanding each
> other's spoken language. I find the whole thing quite interesting! Any
> comments would be much appreciated.

There are of course linguistically agile people, like Our Ron & Criostoir (&
most Nederlanders), & others that are less so. I will only say that I
managed fine in Afrikaans, & occasionally a spot of German. It seemed in my
peregrinations through Europe, in England & Israel & here in South Africa
that we follow Nederlanders slightly better than they follow Afrikaners.
However from both sides there is an occasional request to repeat something
in a different way. That works. For what it's worth, I am impressed with the
difference between written ABN & spoken ABN; one could compare it to the
difference between Thackeray & Gelding, perhaps more so. They seem to me to
be within an ace of different dialects. The lexicon of both, however, is
equally represented in both written & spoken Afrikaans. That helps

In any event for the less linguistically agile there is the advantage for
both our people that we are bilingual in English, & for some it may simply
be the easiest, or more likely simply the most courteous option.

I noticed something distressing to me, over there, but that was 15 years
ago. When Nederlanders of the older generation & different dialects, like
Rotterdam & Amsterdam, get together, they go over into ABN, but the young
generation are just as likely to go over into English. Perhaps this is what
happened here? The Nederlander is nothing if not courteous.

Groete,
Mark

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language varieties

Mark (above):

> here in South Africa
> that we follow Nederlanders slightly better than they follow Afrikaners.

I found that a bit surprising at first thought.  I should think that
Afrikaners, because of their lifelong exposure to Afrikaans and English,
would find all those "superfluous" suffixes and morphological distinctions
in Dutch confusing, and that the "scaled-down" structure of Afrikaans ought
to be easier for Netherlanders to understand.  I wonder if the reason is
that Afrikaners are more exposed to Dutch than Netherlanders are to
Afrikaans.

"Linguistically agile," huh?  That's a new one.  Isn't it often "linguistic
contortionist" in my case, as in "getting in twist"?

Take care, Mark!

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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