[Lowlands-l] Google Translate

Sat Jul 22 05:57:00 UTC 2017

haha.  That one is pretty common (mouthful of potatoes).  But if you are old enough to remember stenography, you'll appreciate the funniest description I've heard of it, in Kofoed's "Way to Danish" (text from the 60's), where a character says it sounds like "coughing in shorthand."Having said that, I want to be clear that I am not criticizing Danish.  It is a bit weird sounding, but it is a beautiful language.  You'll be hard-pressed to find more beautiful language than, say, reading H.C. Andersen in Danish.   Danish is really a fantastic language, one of my favorites.stan

On Saturday, July 22, 2017, 10:20:15 AM GMT+7, Lowlands Languages & Cultures <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org> wrote:

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It helps, too, that written Norwegian (Bokmål) is based on written Danish.  I’ve heard Danish described as sounding like it’s spoken with a mouthful of hot potatoes.  Having studied it a bit, I can agree that I do indeed feel like I’m speaking with a mouthful of hot potatoes.

From: LOWLANDS-L [mailto:lowlands-l-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org] On Behalf Of Lowlands Languages & Cultures
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2017 6:45 PM
To: Lowlands Languages & Cultures <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Subject: Re: [Lowlands-l] Google Translate

Yes, that seems to be pretty true.   I think Norwegians have a leg up on understanding the other two.  Danish is just so different phonologically that it makes it tough to understand them.  I studied a couple of years of Danish in grad school (decades ago), and never studied Norwegian, but I actually can understand spoken Norwegian better than spoken Danish!

On Saturday, July 22, 2017, 8:24:05 AM GMT+7, Lowlands Languages & Cultures <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org> wrote:

And from what I’ve heard, both Norwegians and Swedes have a bit more trouble with Danish.  I don’t know where I read the saying, but it’s something like “Norwegian is Danish spoken in Swedish.”

Steven

From: LOWLANDS-L [mailto:lowlands-l-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org] On Behalf Of Lowlands Languages & Cultures
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2017 11:49 PM
To: Lowlands Languages & Cultures <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Subject: Re: [Lowlands-l] Google Translate

The question of "closest£ when it comes to languages is very dependent on definition.  A philological tree re[resents how different languages developed; it doesn't reflect intelligibility. The classic case is the Scandinavian languages. Norwegian classifies as a West Norse language, on a branch with Faroese and Icelandic. Swedish is East Norse, a distinct branch.  The reality is that most Norwegians would struggle to understand more than a handful of words of Icelandic, but can converse with a Swede comfortably.

Paul

From: Lowlands Languages & Cultures <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
To: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org 
Sent: Friday, 21 July 2017, 6:50
Subject: Re: [Lowlands-l] Google Translate

I don't like the idea of creating a kind of rivalry between minority languages so this thread makes me feel uncomfortable. West Frisian is (as the North Frisian languages and Saterfrisian) a language of its own, even if it might show results of the contact to Dutch. I might say the same about Dutch as I wasn't able to learn it because my Low Saxon was stronger and taking control. I can read Dutch without big problems - so Dutch isn't more than a Low Saxon dialect, right? Okay, that was a pun. I hope you get my point.
Why cannot we applaude Google Translate and Facebook for their decision and work on for getting the same for Low Saxon and other minority languages?

As for the relations between the languages around the North Sea: Through the centuries they had many contacts because of migration, trade and politics. Of course that had an impact on the languages. English is even the best example how a language develops because of history. Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Normans - they all came to conquer what we know today as England. They all brought their own languages as sign of their mastery.

Greetings from Kiel,

Anja

<-----Ursprungligt Meddelande----->

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From: Lowlands Languages & Cultures [lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org]
Sent: 20/7/2017 9:50:18 PM
To: 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> 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=9lV4S4VLhV0
https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=EdaLj8jkJfI

Sure doesn't look dead to me.

Ed Alexander

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