SPAM:: LL-L 'Resources' 2006.09.22 (04) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 22 September 2006 * Volume 01
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From: 'Ben J. Bloomgren' [Ben.Bloomgren at asu.edu]
Subject: LL-L 'Resources' 2006.09.22 (02) [E/LS/German]

However, I'm pleased to know that the NDR is finally joining those of us who
have dared to "look across the backyard fence," dared to present our
language
globally. Most other organizations in Northern Germany continue to pretend
that
our language stops at the German border, and they continue to believe that
it
must be confined to "local" and "regional" and that using it in
international
contacts and in translation of literature from other languages would be to
far to
exotic for the average North German to stomach. Well, we'll see ...

Reinhard, does it have live programming in Plat that is 24 hours a day like
a BBC or a Deutsche Welle? If so, could you find the link for those of us
who do not speak Joyman?
Ben

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From: Henry Pijffers [henry at saxnot.com]
Subject: LL-L 'Resources' 2006.09.22 (02) [E/LS/German]

Ron schreev:
>
> The NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk, North German Broadcasting Corp.) has
> strengthened its Internet presence. The site still has some teething problems
> but seems promising.
>
> The new address: www.ndr.de/platt/
>
Nice site, only too bad it's only in German. My German is "good
enough", but I'm not fluent, so I'm having trouble making entries in
their dictionary for example (what's the plural of sheep in German?
Schaffe?). I think it's a missed chance that the site isn't
available in (Low) Saxon and English (in that particular order).

> Among other things you can open an account and can also make your geographical
> location known. However, it is not easy to navigate to the relevant pages due to
> less than obvious links.
>
A whopping number of 5 people has registered currently. C'mon
people, let's tell 'em who and where we are!

> So far, their list of links to relevant sites elsewhere is pitiful, lacks most of
> the most important ones, including ours.
>
Did you tell them to add it? I'll bug them about it too.

> I'm pleased to know that the NDR is finally joining those of us who
> have dared to "look across the backyard fence," dared to present our language
> globally.
>
Yeah, they understand that speakers went abroad, but where do they
mention that Platt is also spoken in the north east of the
Netherlands? Nowhere.

good gaon,
Henry

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From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Resources

Ben:

> Reinhard, does it have live programming in Plat that is 24 hours a day like
> a BBC or a Deutsche Welle? If so, could you find the link for those of us
> who do not speak Joyman?

Definitely nothing 24 hours live, though there are recorded programs accessible
24/7, such as the news from Radio Bremen
(http://www.radiobremen.de/bremeneins/platt/news/).  There may be others, but
unfortunately I don't have the time to search for them right now.

Henry:

> Nice site, only too bad it's only in German. 

My sentiment precisely, though I'm not the least bit surprised.

> (what's the plural of sheep in German? Schaffe?)

Schafe (sg. schaap, pl. schaap in LS)

> A whopping number of 5 people has registered currently. C'mon
> people, let's tell 'em who and where we are!

You said it, brother.

> Did you tell them to add it? I'll bug them about it too.

Not yet, have been too busy.  Besides, I'm always fearful of them and others
being sick of me and me being seen as the only heretic-deserter-rebel-rouser.  We
need a gang, not an individual.

> Yeah, they understand that speakers went abroad, but where do they
> mention that Platt is also spoken in the north east of the
> Netherlands? Nowhere.

Ex- bloody act-ly! That's been quite the struggle. In the meantime people have
been talking themselves into believing they're dealing with two languages on
account of Dutch vs. German influences. Convenient, ain't it? Though the
orthography question is a hairy one and one of the main reasons for their
exclusivity attitude. You see, otherwise they'd actually have to sit down with
their neighbors and come up with a new compromise solution, and that sort of
flies in the face of the old belief that "Platt" is a subset of German. (Old
Charly the Frank [or Carlitos Francisco] did his job very thoroughly. Don't you
think?

Well, if they are two languages and we are consistent, we'll have to divide the
following (example) sets for the same reasons:

Azeri (Azerbaijan vs Georgia vs Iran)
Basque (Spain vs France)
Catalan (Spain vs France)
Croatian (Croatia vs Serbia vs Austria vs Italy)
Hungarian (Hungary vs Romania vs Croatia)
Karelian (Finland vs Russia)
Kurdish (Turkey vs Iraq vs Syria vs Iran vs Russia)
Mongolian (Mongolia vs China vs Russia)
Ruthenian/Rusyn (Poland vs Slovakia vs Ukraine)
Swedish (Sweden vs Finland)
Tajik (Tajikistan vs Uzbekistan)
Tibetan (China vs India vs Switzerland)
Uyghur (China vs Kazakhstan vs Uzbekistan vs Pakistan)
Uzbek (Uzbekistan vs Tajikistan vs China vs Afghanistan)
etc., and I won't even start in the matter of Yiddish ...
And German dialects of Italy would constitute a separate language also, of
course, as would those of Denmark and Poland, given all them foreign influences.

The excuse tends to be that the above-mentioned have standard varieties and
standard orthographies, and "Platt" doesn't, hence fragmentation. So you might
ask *why* there aren't such in the case of this language and why there are no
efforts to that effect. The typical response to that is "it's far too
fragmented." And so the circle spins and spins around in a _danse macabre_.

Don't even get me started! But I'm afraid you have ...

Kumpelmenten,
Reinhard/Ron

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