[Lowlands-l] Google Translate

[Lowlands Languages & Cultures]

I seem to remember that I read in a newspaper article that the old idea of 
Low German und English being the closest languages has been abandoned. The 
question was, what about the grammatical dissimilarities, particularly word 
order? And it turned out that English has been much more shaped and is much 
closer connected to North Germanic, i.e. Norwegian.
Mathias



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--- Original-Nachricht ---
Von: Lowlands Languages & Cultures
Betreff: Re: [Lowlands-l] Google Translate
Datum: 21.07.2017, 5:24 Uhr
An: 'Lowlands Languages & Cultures'



I’ve been recently wondering about the ‘Frisian is the closest language to 
English’ idea.  Since a variety of Saxon forms part of the foundation of 
English (if I recall right, West Saxon became the standard variety of Old 
English), it seems to me that Low German would be the closest language to 
English. 

 

I think the idea of Frisian as English’s closest relative comes from 
certain family tree representations of the Germanic family, where English 
is placed on an “Anglo-Frisian” branch.  I think this kind of 
representation is being replaced in favor of North Sea Germanic – ie., 
English, Frisian, and Saxon.

 

Steven

 

From: LOWLANDS-L [mailto:lowlands-l-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org] On 
Behalf Of Lowlands Languages & Cultures
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2017 12:52 PM
To: Lowlands Languages & Cultures <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Subject: Re: [Lowlands-l] Google Translate

 

Yes. Definitely lively, that's why we should make Google add it.

I really don't see the point of making West Frisian a seperate language 
though, 

as it doesn't contain that much of a unique vocabulary, and strongly 
resembles Dutch.  

 

בתאריך 20 ביולי 2017 8:24 אחה״צ,‏ "Lowlands Languages & Cultures" <
lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org
<mailto:lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org> > כתב:

 On 20/07/2017 11:18 AM, Eitan wrote:

     Hi all,

      

       I've requested Facebook they should add low german into their
     language poll since they recently had added West Frisian which isn't
     much an obvious choice.

      

     That being the case, to my surprise Google Translate added West
     Frisian as well.

      

     I don't consider West frisian the closest language to English language
     because of certain reasons. Here's what I wrote:

      

     Low german (of plaudietsch language) is spoken by 450,000 people
     around the world, which is about on par with Frisian on the total. It
     has a rich body of literature, including the bible, and many unique
     expressions and vowel sounds.  

     Compared to what is spoken in west friesland, it's a fully-fledged and
     dynamic language. And while it is true that Frisian is recognised
     minority language in the Netherlands, Plautdietsch is recognised in
     belize and has a minority status there.

      

     Do you agree?

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf55TFRG-2w
 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf55TFRG-2w>
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lV4S4VLhV0
 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lV4S4VLhV0>
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdaLj8jkJfI
 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdaLj8jkJfI>

 Sure doesn't look dead to me.

 Ed Alexander

  

  


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