UniLang

Oh well, if you really want to learn a language, how hard it is doesn't matter.

Draven wrote:

ILuvEire wrote:Frisian would be pretty easy for an English speaker, no?

Not in terms of phonology. And its grammar resembles Dutch's more.

So does that make it closer to English or German? I'm not very good at learning two similar languages, otherwise I'd be learning Dutch right now!

In terms of linguistics, English, since it belongs to the Anglo-Frisian branch, which consists of English and Frisian.

And Dutch and German are different enough from each other that you could learn both at once.

Frisian is the closest language to English (well, after Scots if one considers that to be a separate language) then come the various (though chiefly Western) Low Saxon dialects. The first major language closest to English is Dutch; though this mainly concerns grammar, structure and phonology; German, I've found, is much closer to English when considering core vocabulary.

Frisian might sound Nordic to some, but it is a purely West Germanic variety. When most mention Frisian it's in relation to English; 'it is the closest language to English.' Generally, common knowledge end there. Ironically however, the closest language to English is itself closer to Dutch. It has been mentioned, but Frisian grammar is indeed very akin to Dutch; as is its vocabulary. The Hollandic dialects of Dutch, once formed a continuum with Western Frisian; and that continuum functioned at least till well into the 14th century.

The only viable form at this time is West-Frisian, spoken in the Netherlands. It is the most studied form and a thriving language, consisting about 280,000 native speakers. Northern Frisian, near the Danish/German border is better off. But it has only about 8,000 true native speakers. East Frisian, located exclusively in Germany is largely extinct, and only has about 1000 native speakers. To all but the most experienced speakers, the Frisian languages are generally not mutually intelligible to its speakers.

I'm still here for help, but people seem to be interested in talking about the language rather than learning it. A separate forum would make things easier (better access, less scatteredness of links and stuff like that), but I'm not sure if we already meet the criteria. There are enough people who want to learn Frisian or are already learning it though, but I mostly help them somewhere else (MSN), because this thread is quite invisible...

Ik bin noch hieltyd hjirre foar help, mar it sjocht dernei út dat minsken leaver oer de taal prate as it leare. In eigen forum soe de brot wol wat bemaklikje (better tagong, links soene minder útinoar wêze en sa fuort hinne), mar ik wit net at wy al oan 'e easken foldwaan. Der binne lykwols genôch minsken dy't it Frysk leare wolle of it al dwaan, mar dy help ik benammen earne oars (MSN), om't dizze tried bewyske ûnsichtber is...

Well, we can at least try, can't we? If we appeal to the admins and proycon, maybe they will let us get one.

And hey, both you and proycon are Dutch, so maybe we'll have a higher chance of getting a forum if he likes you, and/or if he likes Frisian.

I'm joining in then. Lol!

We have learners and teachers, I don't see why we can't have a forum! (After this I'm done. Cuz, I'm already studying Sanskrit thorough here lol).

Wow, I just listened to Omrop Fryslan and got the feeling again I had when first encountering Dutch: "I should be able to understand this, it sounds so familiar, but something is "wrong" with it so I can't get my head around it."

It sounds interesting, but I don't think I should throw in another language so close to Dutch at the moment...

EDIT: Listened some more and found I can understand a lot more of it than I understood of Dutch before I started learning it. Of course, radio vocabulary (on the sports and music show that is on right now) is quite limited, but I can get the gist of most of what they're saying.

Ok then, I don't see why we shouldn't try to get a forum.

Off-Topic: I dreamt last night that UniLang got a new layout. How odd...

linguaholic wrote:Wow, I just listened to Omrop Fryslan and got the feeling again I had when first encountering Dutch: "I should be able to understand this, it sounds so familiar, but something is "wrong" with it so I can't get my head around it."

It sounds interesting, but I don't think I should throw in another language so close to Dutch at the moment...

EDIT: Listened some more and found I can understand a lot more of it than I understood of Dutch before I started learning it. Of course, radio vocabulary (on the sports and music show that is on right now) is quite limited, but I can get the gist of most of what they're saying.

That's how I feel. It's like it's a dialect of Scots or something.

I was just wondering, how do you guys pronounce Frisian? I pronounce it /frɪʒɪn/.

I'm listening to the Frisian radio on the site Dminor posted on the 1st page (the 1st link), and it sounds awesome.

I pronounce it [fɹiːsjːɑn] [fɹɪʒiːɑn] or [fɹɪdʒɪn]. I just pick one. Pretty much randomly.

So how do you pronounce "asian". For me it's /eʒɪn/.

[ɛɪ:ʒɪn] or [ɛɪ:ʒən]

What's the difference between <ɛɪ:> and <eː>? o.0

sjheiss wrote:What's the difference between <ɛɪ:> and <eː>? o.0

May I go to the store. [mɛɪː aɪː goʊ tuː ðə stʌɹ]
Meh, sure, why not? [meː ʃəɹ waɪː nɔːt]

More examples:
Gay [gɛɪː], Again [əgeːn]
Bay [bɛɪː], Bed [be:d]

Etc.

I pronounce "again" as either /agɪn/ or /agɛn/, and "bed" /bɛd/.

According to this, the sound in "bay" is <eɪ>. I'm so confused. D:

And according to this, <e> is pronouced like the sound in "bay". They need to make up their minds.

It's mostly due to dialects. Those are the sounds that I use, in what I though was GA.

Ontopic guys! We have a separate forum.

Bliuw derby, jonkjes! Wy hawwe in eigen forum.

YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!


Hurray, we got out forum!