Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
German and Dutch are pretty similar. As a German speaker I also find Danish and Swedish (Norwegian not so much) to be kind of understandable. Not every word but when reading their newspapers I usually get the essence without having learned either language.
Luxembourghish is also easy to understand for German speakers, but apparently it is more of a German dialect and was declared its own language for political and not linguistic reasons.
Danish and Norwegian are very similar to each other, and same alphabet.
Swedish and Norwegian are very similar to each other.
Swedish and Danish are somewhat similar to each other.
Red Apple: Sure, if you say so. That doesn't mean that it is easy for me to understand as a German speaker though. It is way easier to understand Danish and Swedish, for me. Swedes or Danes might think differently.
You're right! I always thought that the Yiddish language was all but extinct, but according to Wikipedia, it's still spoken by 1.76 million people. Very close to German though, some would even say it's a German dialect.
Last edited by Avondrood; 08-07-2011 at 07:44 AM..
Asturian or Bable is a Spanish dialect, NOT a language.
Yes, Spanish.
Problem here that we have irresponsible politicians that create ficticious languages to create little kingdoms....Pathetic, really.
Huh. I guess I was thinking that might work as there's an Asturian Wikipedia even.
Well I guess that one poster is right then and Portuguese is the closest living relative of Spanish. Well Portuguese and, presumably, Galician. And maybe Mirandese. Or are Mirandese and Galician just Portuguese dialects?
Red Apple: Sure, if you say so. That doesn't mean that it is easy for me to understand as a German speaker though. It is way easier to understand Danish and Swedish, for me. Swedes or Danes might think differently.
With a background in Norwegian, I find Swedish much simpler to the ear than Danish which I often mistake for another Germanic language at first.
In writing, Danish and Norwegian are practically the same language but for a few spelling differences while I can spot Swedish on the page immediately.
As the saying goes, "Norwegian is Danish spoken in Swedish."
What languages are extremely similar to each other? Not only related or some words, but very similar that people in both language understand each other for the most part.
I know some:
Swedish - Norwegian
Norwegian - Danish
Swedish - Danish (but not as close as to Norway)
What other languages?
Actually, I am Swedish and I cannot understand when a Danish person speaks to me. I do however understand Norwegian real well.
Well I guess that one poster is right then and Portuguese is the closest living relative of Spanish. Well Portuguese and, presumably, Galician. And maybe Mirandese. Or are Mirandese and Galician just Portuguese dialects?
-----
You can find a Klingon Enciclopedia if you look hard enough.
Galician is a very old language, older than Portuguese.
Well, for me as an outsider the following languages sound very similar:
Norwegian & Swedish
Italian & Romanian
Estonian & Finnish
Slavic languages
No offense intended for the native speakers of those languages
Edit: I forgot, I also hear some similarity between Finnish, Estonian and Japanese... am I the only one?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I always thought that the Yiddish language was all but extinct, but according to Wikipedia, it's still spoken by 1.76 million people. Very close to German though, some would even say it's a German dialect.
