At 10/12/18 02:58 AM, Haggard wrote:
Just the other day I read that norwegian is kind of "the middle language" in scandinavia, as in that most scandinavians can understand at least parts of written norwegian (I think swedes can understand up to 80% of what is written in norwegian, or so the site claimed).
Most definitely! I believe Norwegians understand Swedish the same, most of the ones I've spoken to understand me better than I understand them, but Danish is a bit more different, and Finnish is something else entirely, almost more like Japanese. Iceland I'm not sure about.
I am trying to learn norwegian right now. So far I only use the app Duolingo, no courses with a teacher or anything like that. But it's funny how very similar norwegian grammar is to german grammar, most of the time the word order is 1:1 how it would be in german. For example "Her er jeg" -> "Hier (Her) bin (er) ich (jeg)". In english this is different: "Here (Her) I (jeg) am (er)".
Or some words are used exactly as they are in german. "Står" for example can be used to say "Det står i avisen", it's just like that in german: "Das (Det) steht (står) in (i) der Zeitung (avisen)".
Interesting to know! Haven't thought about the structure, though I do understand certain phrases in German otherwise. Bits and pieces. Many words seem similar, and knowing two somewhat different other Germanic languages it's almost like words can either be understood via one or the other, even if the meaning's not exact, for example 'Ich bin' - 'I've been', or Angst, or with Swedish Morgen/Morgon, Spiel/Spel, etc. Similar words With Swedish, and understandable phrases with English, maybe... though considering the word order it shouldn't be that way after all...
What's killing me right now is the genders. Of course I am used to the concept of grammatical genders, as german has three genders as well (and it's not possible to use the male gender for female words either, as it is in norwegian). But it's quite difficult to learn DIFFERENT genders for things. In norwegian: en båt, et tog. In German: Das Boot, der Zug. It's just the other way round...
Is that... gender-based? Not: one boat, one train? Or turned around: båten or tåget (Swedish, but I suppose it's very smiliar), which would be the boat, and the train. In German das is the, and ein one, right? Seems very similar in this particular example... oh, yeah, it's either -et or -en, and when after the word it's sometimes singular and sometimes plural, without any explainable pattern there-to... hmm... yeah that's bound to be difficult to learn if you didn't grow up with it. Never thought about this before. English has some similar anomalies though. Seems you just learn by listening/speaking.
But at least I slowly get the hang of the definites and plurals. Avis - Newspaper. Avisen/Avisa - The Newspaper. Aviser - Newspapers. Avisene - The newspapers. Even though sometimes you get the feeling they are trying to make fun of you: Tallerkenen. Really?? :P
Maybe you should've gone for Swedish instead. XD
Damn, reading what I've written back then... I really should stop typing out posts on my phone. It has this annoying bug with the word suggestion list. I think I'll try to explain it this way:
Olymlics? Is that even a word?
suggestion 1 | suggestion 2 | suggestion 3
So, I get three word suggestions. I want suggestion 1, so I tap it. But sometimes the phone registers the tap at suggestion 2, or maybe it's a bug in the keyboard app I use, I don't know. So, instead of writing "suggestion 1" it writes "suggestion 2". And sometimes I don't catch the error and I end up writing stupid shit. Sometimes even the exact opposite of what I really wanted to say ("do" instead of "don't", for example).
Understandably frustrating! One of the reasons I have suggestions turned off is, though not this reason in particular, just their general unpredictability. Probably does make me a slower typer though; prone to prefer stationary devices over mobile. So much easier with a regular keyboard. Though Gmail have apparently started with a similar thing even for stationary. Still getting used to it, wondering if it's easier or not that way... they register common words and phrases, and add them in advance as you type (in light gray text, overtyping them as you go), and you can hit the TAB key to enter that predefined phrase and keep going, or just ignore it and continue writing. Problem is I usually finish typing the word faster than it'd take me to hit TAB and keep going, and it feels like an interruption in the thought process as you write. For longer phrases it might be useful, but then there's a new dilemma: you're presented with a phrase you commonly use. Do you want to use that phrase again, since it's so common? Were you about to write that phrase, or do you feel like you were simply because it's so common for you? Do you plan your writing further than a few words in advance, and prepare for such phrases or are these suggestions now playing on your subconscious, and what you're used to writing rather than what you could've written without a predetermined choice? Complications. XD
They did travel before pension as well. But with three kids it's not always that easy. Plus, you rarely get like 3 months off to travel through Australia, lol.
Ah, family, understandable then. Yeah three months is beyond even my summer vacationing capabilities now. :) Remembering them good old times with university studies and longer hiatuses between each course.. should've done way more traveling then.
If only it wasn't so far away. :O
But with a plane: doesn't take more than a day! :D
And even in very remote areas you still have amazing phone reception and 4G+ mobile internet connection! :D
That being Finland or Norway? In Sweden unfortunately not true. :) Up North we sometimes can't call anywhere at all. Coverage fluctuates. But I don't mind, less coverage: more freedom! No arrays of wireless rays reaching you all times of the day!
