The German Language

[Rhondazvous]

is=ist

Then German should not be hard to learn. I used Google Translate to read some of the stuff on that website. My reply to you might make you smile. or might make you groan.

I've been told that linguist think of English as a bastard language. But I thought that was just American English, because of all the people who came here from Europe.

[abaris]

I've been told that linguist think of English as a bastard language. But I thought that was just American English, because of all the people who came here from Europe.

Do you know how many linguistic elements featured into creating that language? Different German dialects, some of which are still hard to understand, even with German as a first language. French, because of William. Before that, Latin, which has also influenced German and French. And of course Spanish, Italian and Portugese. The languages on the Iberic Peninsula also have Arabic elements, which is hardly surprising, given that the Maurs ruled over large parts for several centuries.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

is=ist

Then German should not be hard to learn. I  used Google Translate to read some of the stuff on that website. My reply to you might make you smile. or might make you groan.

I've been told that linguist think of English as a bastard language. But I thought that was just American English, because of all the people who came here from Europe.

I strongly recommend reading Twain's 'The Awful German Language' before trying to learn to speak German.

I think a better term than 'bastard' to describe English might be 'amalgam.'

Boru

[Rhondazvous]

but I see few, if any, similarities between English and German words.

How did that come to be so?

Information is literally the same word.

Bed - Bett

House - Haus

Murder - Mord

sleep - schlafen

go - gehen

learn - lernen

And many, many more. I found it pretty easy to learn English with German as my first language. It was much harder with French and I've already forgotten most of it over the years.

Also, maybe without you knowing it, you're using German words in America that have been kind of naturalized: Rucksack or Kindergarden (Kindergarten).

...plus the things taken directly from greek and latin by the learned, plus the stuff Shakespeare just made up because he felt like it

Medieval German is actually much more similar to medieval english than any contemporary comparison. Till the first vovel shift, which happend somewhere between 700 and the year 1000. Probably a very gradual process.

You write so eloquently. I never would have guessed English is your second language. My understanding is that the largest European ethnic group in America is German (caveat for varification). With so many similar words, we are easily in the same language family.

I also took a class in Medieval literature in my masters program and I recall the professor told us that old English is closer to modern English than Medieval English is. Does that hold true with German also?

[Minimalist]

scheisse = shit

[Regina]

I find it fascinating that although English is in the German language family, it's lexicon seems to share a lot of terms with Spanish, which is in the Latin language family.

important
importante

information
informaccion

etc.
but I see few, if any, similarities between English and German words.

How did that come to be so?

Probably during the Norman period in The Middle Ages. The Normans spoke a form of French, which comes from Latin, and I guess the words came from there. Spanish also comes from Latin, so the similarities.

Also from religion. Traditionally (before Protestantism took hold) The Bible and Masses would only be recited in Latin, so it's probable the Latin words entered everyday English lexicon from there. Latin has a great deal in cultural influence in Europe, it's been seen as a language of high-learning since The Roman times, so you find Latin-based words in many European languages.

I don't think it's necessarily true to say "English comes from German", it's more like English and German share a common ancestral language. The Anglo-Saxons, who arrived in England in the early Middle Ages, would have spoke the same language that the ancestors of modern Germans then spoke, but the languages have both since independently transformed. The same with Dutch, that's in the same language family as well.

ETA - There are some similarities with German, but it's more in sentence structure and the way we'd pronounce certain words. Sometimes "similarity" means it's simply more like German than it is Latin (which you see with numbers)

[Rhondazvous]

is=ist

Then German should not be hard to learn. I  used Google Translate to read some of the stuff on that website. My reply to you might make you smile. or might make you groan.

I've been told that linguist think of English as a bastard language. But I thought that was just American English, because of all the people who came here from Europe.

I strongly recommend reading Twain's 'The Awful German Language' before trying to learn to speak German.

I think a better term than 'bastard' to describe English might be 'amalgam.'

Boru

Is that Mark Twain?

Amalgam. Okay, I speak an amalgam language. Feel better already. Thanks.

[Rhondazvous]

scheisse = shit

My education here would not be complete without that bit of information. much grass. Muchas gracias.

[Minimalist]

Wanna know what Fick means?

[Rhondazvous]

Probably during the Norman period in The Middle Ages. The Normans spoke a form of French, which comes from Latin, and I guess the words came from there. Spanish also comes from Latin, so the similarities.

Also from religion. Traditionally (before Protestantism took hold) The Bible and Masses would only be recited in Latin, so it's probable the Latin words entered everyday English lexicon from there. Latin has a great deal in cultural influence in Europe, it's been seen as a language of high-learning since The Roman times, so you find Latin-based words in many European languages.

I don't think it's necessarily true to say "English comes from German", it's more like English and German share a common ancestral language. The Anglo-Saxons, who arrived in England in the early Middle Ages, would have spoke the same language that the ancestors of modern Germans then spoke, but the languages have both since independently transformed. The same with Dutch, that's in the same language family as well.

ETA - There are some similarities with German, but it's more in sentence structure and the way we'd pronounce certain words. Sometimes "similarity" means it's simply more like German than it is Latin (which you see with numbers)

Yes, I noticed how the Google translator renders the word "German" as "Deutsch"