LL-L "Language varieties" 2006.01.17 (06) [E]

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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 (Zeeuws)
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17 January 2006 * Volume 06
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From: Henno Brandsma <hennobrandsma at hetnet.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2006.01.17 (01) [E]

> From: Karl Schulte <kschulte01 at alamosapcs.com>
> Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2006.01.16 (02) [E]
>
> Hello all,
> I notice that Afrikans is in the header, and that there are Dutch
> speakers here. Can anyone comment on how mutually intelligible the two
> are today?

I cannot speak for our Southern friends, but 95% of Afrikaans is
immediately
understandable to Dutch speakers. There are some forms in use there
that we
associate with (western) dialects (like seun instead of zoon), some
orthography
conventions (ij in Dutch --> y in Afrikaans, z- in Dutch --> s- in
Afr., plus a more
phonetic spelling of foreign words), and some purisms and archaisms
that sometimes
have to be learnt. A frequent word like "baie" ('very' or 'much')
have to be learnt
but is quite well-known.
Differences in grammar are not that hard to overcome.

In pronounciation (the above applies to written varieties) the
differences are quite
a bit larger and I personally have to get used to it for a while. And
I have no experience
with non-standard varieties that are, I gathered, even harder to grasp.

> Also, is any attempt being made in German/Dutch schools to
> teach/preserve real Frisian in schools?

In the Dutch territory Frisian is compulsory for children aged 6 - 15
(about), but
very often not very much effort is put into it. It really depends on
the school and the teacher
but the framework is there. One can do a final exam (like A-levels)
for Frisian.
As a language it is allowed in the class room (for teaching), but
again, it depends
very much on school and teacher initiative.

There are some schools that teach Frisian (it's a very different
variety from the Dutch one,
and there are several mutually hard to understand varieties!), I
believe in the Mooring area,
and on Föhr/Amrum. Maybe other places too, our North-Frisian friends
are a better source
for that than I am.....

> I hate to see any language lost.

Don't we all, on this list?

> Also, is there a website (I did a search w/o luck) with Friesisch
> lessons, or pdf of old, out of copyright textbooks (like the wonderful
> examples of Greek and Latin texts from early 20th century downloadable
> free on classics sites)?

There are some pdf's in (Westerlauwer/Dutch ) Frisian here,
translations from Middle Dutch, Latin, German (Nietzche) etc.:

http://www.elfelf.nl/

(there is a Frisian idiom list from Dutch to Frisian, which might
interest more readers here:

http://www.elfelf.nl/Idioom.htm

Best Regards,

Henno Brandsma 

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