highlyeccentric: Sheer Geekiness, unfortunately - I just think this stuff is really cool (phd comics) (Sheer Geekiness)
highlyeccentric ([personal profile] highlyeccentric) wrote2009-01-30 03:06 pm

For Great Learnings!

I just sent off my enrolment for 'Beginning German 1' through the ANU continuing ed. people. Twenty hours, 6-8pm on a Wednesday from some time in March. Some people take dancing lessons or go to the gym or join dog-walking clubs... I collect languages. And hey, this one isn't dead yet!

[identity profile] kishnevi.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
Mach Spass!

Vielliecht ist das der letzer Ding zu sagen dir man braucht.

(Ouch! My German is as rusty as a piece of armour that's been lying in a moat for the last twelve years. I hope I got that right.)

[identity profile] iremos.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 04:55 am (UTC)(link)
I got: "Maybe is that the last thing to say someone needs."

Anyway, wunderbar!!! :D

Deutsch ist die Welt's schoenste Sprache.

[identity profile] niamh-sage.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 07:33 am (UTC)(link)
Nee, zeker niet! Nederlands is de mooiste taal in de heeeeeeele wereld. Het smaakt als een chocolaatje in je mond. Duits is maar een dialect van Nederlands :P

[identity profile] ulfruna.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 08:08 am (UTC)(link)
Ich habe eine hund. Er ist schwartz. :D


(Good lord, I probably even got that wrong!)

[identity profile] highlyeccentric.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 10:39 am (UTC)(link)
BUT I UNDERSTOOD IT. So your aim has been achieved.

[identity profile] highlyeccentric.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 10:44 am (UTC)(link)
*eyes you* Is that SRS Dutch? Because that's completely comprehensible, and I suspect you of making up Faux Dutch.

[identity profile] niamh-sage.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 11:03 am (UTC)(link)
That is indeed SRS Dutch. While you weren't looking, I've become fluent in it :P

Dutch has a lot of similarities to English, which makes quite a lot of it easy to understand (except their sentence construction which is quite different and easy to bugger up :P ).
ext_42328: Language is my playground (Default)

[identity profile] ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 11:09 am (UTC)(link)
Maybe I should learn Dutch!

*tilts head* Has Dutch got bits of bastard French in it? Please explain the difference between 'wereld' and 'mond'? :D

[identity profile] niamh-sage.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 11:12 am (UTC)(link)
It does have bits of French in it, but 'mond' isn't one of them - in Dutch, 'mond' means mouth. 'Wereld' = world which I think you've already guessed.

Here, this ought to be of interest to you, you linguist you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Dutch
ext_42328: Language is my playground (Default)

[identity profile] ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 11:16 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, right, I was reading mond as world, 'cos my brain was just matching things up to the nearest word I knew, irrespective of language.

Huh, Frankish, you say? Interesting. I wonder if I could read Frankish, then? *has delusions of grandeur*

[identity profile] niamh-sage.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 11:18 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah I had the same trouble when I was first learning Dutch because French was still my only second language, so every time I reached for a Dutch word I got a French one instead, or if I saw a word that looked French then I tried to translate it as French.

I'm quite sure you could read Frankish if you put your mind to it!
ext_42328: Language is my playground (Default)

[identity profile] ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 11:20 am (UTC)(link)
I'm wondering if, if I learn German, I will be able to read Middle High German? That would be FUN. I could read cross-dressing medieval german erotic poetry in the original!

[identity profile] niamh-sage.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 11:29 am (UTC)(link)
I don't see why not! My Mum is learning German for her theological studies (because lots of the important texts are in German as their original language). I don't know if she's going to join you reading cross-dressing medieval german erotic poetry though :P

[identity profile] highlyeccentric.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 11:30 am (UTC)(link)
Cross-dressing medieval erotic poetry is the BEST. *beams happily*

[identity profile] niamh-sage.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 11:37 am (UTC)(link)
Well I'm glad you've found your highly (ha ha) specialised niche ;)

[identity profile] phrasemuffin.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 11:47 am (UTC)(link)
Hey, that's pretty awesome. My parents took a course in Italian at the beginning of last year. And then didn't end up going to Italy. But they had heaps of fun I think. I hope you do, too! :D

[identity profile] highlyeccentric.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 11:53 am (UTC)(link)
I plan to!

[identity profile] ulfruna.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 08:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Hee hee.

I think I'll go back to wobbling my way through Czech. At least there I can sometimes actually understand what's being said to me, even if I have huge issues formulating the sentences myself.

(Anonymous) 2009-02-05 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
Dag (not Salut) A,

Hoe maakt u het?

As a half-Frank from Belgie (NOT Belgique), I must warn you that if you confuse Dutch and French I shall have to be mean to you. Not that I care, you see, but it's the principle of the thing. It would basically be letting Jenny's Pervert D win. I'm sure you understand that I can't let that happen. Anyone who laughs so much must be stopped.
Love, april (not Avril)