April 11

[mudshark]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]If you meant pronouncable in Dutch, then yes (although I did have to think about it.)[/colorost_uid0]

[Nic Corelli]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]It`s very easily pronouncable in Croatian too... almost like "hello" in English... bwahahah! [/colorost_uid0]

[Katy Jane]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]I am totaly, compleatly and utterly confused now :S :lol:[/colorost_uid0]

[catalina_marina]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]There's an ij in "bok"? [/colorost_uid0]

[PointyHairedJedi]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]I think my brain may have just imploded.[/colorost_uid0]

[Nic Corelli]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]See, in English you have to say [Aye Jay Dee Gee Aey Eff]. While in Croatian you just say [iyd gaf]. That`s it.

That`s probably the only case where English is more complicated than this convoluted nightmare of a language.[/colorost_uid0]

[catalina_marina]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]Oh yeah? What about www? Do you have Way Way Way? We do.

English is a very nice language, but sometimes they make it more difficult than it has to be. :eyeroll:[/colorost_uid0]

[Michiel]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]On the other hand, I've noticed that I often know an English word (and its meaning), but not the Dutch translation.

Also, we don't have verbal contractions. [/colorost_uid0]

[catalina_marina]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]It's not just you. But I've learned to accept it. And so have my friends. In fact, most of my friends have the same problem. [/colorost_uid0]

[Sa'ar Chasm]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]I find it ironic that Celtic and indigenous North American peoples are fighting to preserve their languages, and the Dutch are willingly abandoning theirs.[/colorost_uid0]

[mudshark]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]The difference being, of course, that Dutch is in no danger of becoming a lost language any time soon. For numerous North American tribes, the danger is very real, and in some cases has already happened.

For the Celtic languages, it lies somewhere in the middle: Cornish is functionally a dead language and Manx never had that many speakers to begin with, but the rest have been making comebacks for the last few decades.[/colorost_uid0]

[Zeke]

[quoteost_uid0="Nic Corelli"][color=#000000ost_uid0]See, in English you have to say [Aye Jay Dee Gee Aey Eff]. While in Croatian you just say [iyd gaf]. That`s it. [/colorost_uid0][/quoteost_uid0]
[color=#000000ost_uid0]It varies, actually. Kira always spells it out, for example, but I just say "ih-jud gaf."[/colorost_uid0]

[taya17]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]Actually, I find both "Ijd gaf" and "Nahtmmm" quite pronounceable.

"Ijd gaf" sounds more Dutch than Croatian, though. ::slaps forehead:: Argh. That nearly came out as "hrvatian". I blame the lateness of the hour.

This forum needs a vampire smiley. :[[/colorost_uid0]

[Sa'ar Chasm]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0]It varies, actually. Kira always spells it out, for example, but I just say "ih-jud gaf." [/quoteost_uid0]

Actually, you said "Ijid" (rhymes with frigid).[/colorost_uid0]

[Derek]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]I say IJD GAF as "Aye Jay Dee gaff" and NAHTMMM as "moth man" (his avatar is presumably a butterfly but that lacks the alliteration).

[quoteost_uid0]This forum needs a vampire smiley. :[[/quoteost_uid0]
Not too mention also a vampire puppet smiley.[/colorost_uid0]

[NAHTMMM]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0="Derek"]I say ... NAHTMMM as "moth man"[/quoteost_uid0]
*giggles* [/colorost_uid0]

[catalina_marina]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0]I find it ironic that Celtic and indigenous North American peoples are fighting to preserve their languages, and the Dutch are willingly abandoning theirs.[/quoteost_uid0]
Dutch is not a great language. Actually, there are a lot of people who want to preserve Dutch. They're called literarians. At least, I think they're called that... They do literature, ok?

[quoteost_uid0]The difference being, of course, that Dutch is in no danger of becoming a lost language any time soon.[/quoteost_uid0]
For many different reasons. We don't live among native English speakers. Then there is the fact that not only Dutch people speak Dutch.

[quoteost_uid0]"Ijd gaf" sounds more Dutch than Croatian, though.[/quoteost_uid0]
If you want it to sound Dutch, capitalize the J. :eyeroll:[/colorost_uid0]

[Zeke]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]We had a vampire puppet smiley, but its nose came off.[/colorost_uid0]

[PointyHairedJedi]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]Re Cletic languages - have you ever tried learning Gaelic (as in ga-lic, [iost_uid0]not[/iost_uid0] gay-lic)?

Yeah, just you go ahead and make a comment. I dares ya.

Anyway, back to the topic, it's fiendishly difficult, and required learning in schools in at least the Outer Hebrides ( possibly elsewhere in the Highlands too, I don't know) AS WELL AS the likes of French (which I was rubbish at too, but that's neither here nor there). Possibly it would have been easier if I'd been brought up there, but being dumped straight into the second year of secondary Gaelic meant I had no chance. I still vaguely remember how to say hello, but that's about it. Oh yeah, and "bh" sounds like a "v". But really, nothing else.

Yeah, well, it's one-thirty in the morning, and I just know this is going to make no sense tomorrow, but hey, what do I care?[/colorost_uid0]

[Gatac]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]Well, I've met my share of Germans who tried to stem back the flood of English words, but for the most part they were crackpots. Not that I'm suggesting a causal link, but most reasonable people don't have anything against it.

I don't want us to end up like France, that's all. No offense to French people, but your government has notions of cultural purity that quite frankly scare me. In my book, everyone who thinks he has to make up a new word for "walkman" just plain doesn't get what's going on in the world. (Besides, "balladeur" is a pretty stupid replacement.)

Also, as already said, sometimes you just can't say it in your native language. I can't count how often I've strained to explain something in German that's perfectly clear in my head - in English.

Gatac[/colorost_uid0]