Johanna wrote:I would prefer that we respell every single loan, it’s simply ridiculous that you have to know German, French, Ancient Greek, English etc. to be able to write Swedish (or Norwegian) correctly…
Well, English is based on the exact opposite logic and it’s just perfect – indeed, we don’t have to know every other language to write it, we just need to know English as it is, but then – we find it so much easier to learn other languages. And very annoying if they misspell the words from the way we’re used to seeing them
One more thing – people tend to learn more and more languages, so it’ll be easier if each of them keeps the original spelling of loanwords after all.
Astrum wrote: I thought it was obvious that Norwegian spelling in general would feel more "natural" to native speakers of Norwegian, just like Danish spelling in general feels more "natural" to native speakers of Danish.
Well, so far so good. But, isn’t Danish writing what both languages looked like not so long ago, and Norwegian a remake of it? And in this case, am I the only one to whom Danish seems like the norm, and Norwegian like something that strays from it and therefore seems kind of incorrect… well, that’s from a foreigner’s perspective. I’m pretty sure that if I go to Norway and learn some Norwegian I will love the way it sounds and I would like a lot to speak it, but I’m not quite sure I’ll get along with the writing.
I don’t mean to offend anybody, I’m just trying to make sense of it and see what Norwegians will say. Some while ago I started a similar topic in the Afrikaans forum complaining about the unnecessary changes in its orthography that only took it away from Dutch. I got the same kind of reaction - nobody agreed with me
Norwegian language policy is more conservative than Danish in that Danish (like Norwegian) allows for imported words – but Danish often alters the spelling less in the process.
Well, I would call “conservative” the approach that keeps the original, in this case the spelling in the original language.
the only "hard rule" in Danish is that compound words are linked together, e.g. "swimming pool" becomes "swimmingpool"
I hadn't noticed this until now. Thanks
However, I would prefer to have a Danish word instead. My dictionnary suggests svømebassin – I'd use this one, at least the first part is Danish. Donno if it sounds old-fashioned?
Icelandic, on the other hand, doesn't allow for many imported words at all.
Like French, I guess? That’s the best policy, in my opinion. Try as hard as you can not to use foreign words, but if you do – then keep the original spelling. The Germans also keep the original pronunciation – so it’s always obvious that the word or expression is from a different language. It’s really cool.
As for your question about words containing "æ", there are many such words. Some examples that start with the letter "æ" are: "Ætt", "ære" (and all combinations of "ære-", such as "æresdoktor", "æresløs", "ærekrenke", "ærefrykt", "æreskjende" [...]), "æsj", "æse", and "ærgjerrig".
How is
æ pronounced – is it the same as
e or not really? Is there are a phonetic reason it has been removed from so many places?
Johanna wrote:
I would prefer that we respell every single loan, it’s simply ridiculous that you have to know German, French, Ancient Greek, English etc. to be able to write Swedish (or Norwegian) correctly…
That's a great point! Norwegian language policy (and politics) is obviously not reliant on what would be easier for English, German, French – and even Danish speakers to learn.
You guys are not making the right point – it’s not about making it easier for foreigners, it’s about keeping the original of everything, writing genuine and pure language the way it has been made and the way it’s supposed to be, instead of refashioning it every time a change in phonology has been noticed.