Germanic Languages: Top 3 Must-Learn After English
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- Опубликовано: 13 июн 2024
- 00:01 Introduction
02:09 West Germanic Languages
02:28 German
09:35 Dutch
11:24 West Frisian
12:08 Afrikaans
15:03 Yiddish
17:20 Scots
18:44 Which West Germanic Languages First?
20:18 North Germanic Languages
21:13 Norwegian
23:11 Swedish
24:22 Danish
25:29 Icelandic
26:53 Feroese
28:00 Which Northern Germanic Language First
28:19 Conclusion
Embark on a linguistic voyage with Polyglot Dreams as we delve into the enchanting world of Germanic languages, unlocking secrets to fast-track your mastery. Dive into the depths of this influential language family, from the global lingua franca of English to the captivating nuances of German, Norwegian, Dutch, and Afrikaans. Explore the rich histories, cultural significance, and diverse dialects that paint a vivid picture of Europe's heart and beyond. Whether you're a language enthusiast eager to expand your horizons or a polyglot in the making, this video is your gateway to understanding and learning Germanic languages more efficiently, communicating with a broader audience, and appreciating the intricate tapestry of linguistic heritage that connects us all.
Discover the Germanic language family's vast expanse, from the melodious contours of Swiss German to the streamlined grammar of Afrikaans, the historical depth of Yiddish, and the unique charm of Bavarian and Westphalian dialects. Our journey doesn't stop with the widely recognized languages; we also venture into the realms of Scots, Icelandic, and Faroese, offering insights into the less explored corners of the Germanic linguistic landscape. Join Polyglot Dreams on this educational adventure, enhancing your language skills, cultural understanding, and connection to the global community through the fascinating study of Germanic languages.
🌟 About Tim Keeley:
Tim Keeley, a seasoned professor and language enthusiast, brings four decades of experience living in Japan and mastering multiple Asian languages. His insights provide a roadmap for language learners eager to unlock the synergy among Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese.
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It always amazes me how much effort you put on these. It's a privilege be able to watch a class like that for free. Thanks so much!
Thank you for appreciating them.
Again, a brilliant presentation and valuable education. Thank you for sharing.
As a German, I've been thinking about learning Dutch for sure
I think you'll find it's not just knowing German but also English that will help you
I just started and it's a super cool language
@@RJ-ku2mh how did you started it?
In my personal experience, Dutch is by far the easiest foreign language to learn as a German native speaker. Even easier than English.
Theres an interesting germanic language in Polish which is spoken in one town by only 20 people. It's called Wymysorys language or język Wilamowski in Polish. It's a really interesting language blend of Polish and German but unfortunately it may be extinct in near future because there are only 20 native speakers and most of them are elderly.
That is fascinating... sad that it will die off...
Das muessen wir unbedingt verhindern, oder? Die Sprache sollte festgehalten werden, solange die Benutzer noch leben!@@polyglotdreams
Discovered your channel recently with the same video about the Slavic languages and watched some about Asian, learning German currently and your got it exactly on time, awesome video!
Great... perfect timing! Thanks
Great video! I’m lucky to have been born in the Netherlands and to have been exposed to English, German and the Flemish dialects from a young age. I aso studied Scandinavian languages and have bunch of colleagues from SA, so I think it is safe to say that I speak and/or understand all Germanic languages.
Fantastic... thanks for sharing
Where did you study the Scandinavian languages and which did you study?
I am Flemish and studied English, German, Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic (which is really quite different in spite of what Norwegians might say). So I have thought about having this skill. However, Faroese, Yiddish, Scots or Swiss German sometimes still leave me clueless what people are talking about in some situations. Germanic languages sure are a varied bunch!
@@hydrocharis1Oh interesting! Where did you study them?
@@kamrat_ett1722 Well, I haven't studied it in university, maybe personal passion is a better description. I did spend an exchange semester in Norway though and I had a good friend in Iceland. German I learned through lots of input and another input partner, Danish through television mostly.
Hi Tim, about three years ago I first stumbled upon your lecture of 'the making of a hyperpolyglot'. I wanted to let you know what an inspiration you have been to me ever since, as I decided to spice things up a little like you did; see more of the world, and study different languages. After working hard on Spanish in my spare hours during my student life, I travelled South America last year, an amazing and very rewarding experience. Currently I speak Dutch, English, German and Spanish, and I am already working on my fifth language and not planning on quitting any time soon, aspiring to become a polyglot this year. Thank you kindly for sharing your knowledge and experiences with the world, I wish you all the best.
Wow... thanks so much for sharing your experience.
That's why I'm learning german, cheers from southern Guanajuato Mexico 👍
Gracias...saludos desde Japón.
Estoy aprendiendo el español aludes desde arabia saudita
Du lernst Deutsch und schreibst auf Englisch... Das ergibt keinen Sinn
I'm from Vietnam. Thanks for sharing your precious knowledge. Your video is really helpful. I can hear every word that you deliver. Love your pronunciation. Thank you.
Happy to hear that! Thank you!
I’m sure the problem is worse in the Netherlands but no matter where I go, people often want to practice their English with me instead of speaking their native language. This drove me nuts in Japan because I was studying Japanese so diligently.
Yes... I know what you mean... it is hard to pretend you don't speak English.
Dutch people hate their own language
Yup. I heard countless Quebekers complaining about the English refusing to learn French. And yet when I spoke French, they replied in English. Go figure.
In the Netherlands people don't want to practice their English, they just want to get on with whatever communication there has to be, not help people practice their Dutch while not having given it much try by themselves yet.
In The Netherlands the younger generation will rather speak English to people because they can hear you aren't a native speaker and because it's harder for the people to not speak in dialect and to not confuse the other person but the older genrations would rather speak Dutch because they just don't want to speak English. (or they can't) I'm a native dutch speaker and live in The Netherlands
Proper Plattdeutsch is pretty moribund and is pretty niche maybe but I think it's extremely fascinating due to its ties with other Germanic languages. It's truly the missing puzzle piece that ties everything together. It very closely resembles Dutch, German and Frisian, but is also close to what English developped from, and the 'middle low Saxon' dialects also very thoroughly influenced the Scandinavian languages, which makes them so different from Icelandic and Faroese.
I hope it can survive
I'm Dutch, born in Frysia, so i was always exposed to a lot of Frysian. Grew up with the weststellingswerfs dialect however, which is different. Learned German in school and continued afterwards. Started learning Swedish when i was around 17 and speak it almost fluently. Also dabbled in Norwegian en Danish quite a lot. Icelandic and Faroese always fascinated me, but the resources were limited, but got to pick up quite a bit. I watched a lot of Swiss german and Austrian German material so i got quite familiar with these dialects and i'm able to recognize them quickly. So, i guess i'm quite a well-rounded Germanic speaker. 😄 Studied a lot of other languages as well, which also might help being able to figure out languages quite quickly. I have been struggling with Russian for like 6 years now.. 🫠 Romance languages were doable, but Slavic languages are a bitch when they're not native to you. So far the hardest languages for me to learn (that i gave a go) are Russian, Hungarian, Finnish, Scottish Gaelic and ofc Chinese. I know other languages could be on that list, but i haven't tried those yet. 😇
It seems that you do great at the Germanic languages. Slavic languages are a real challenge, but keep working at it. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Hi Tim!
Firstly: i love your vids!
Second: To add on the vocabulary that Yiddish contributed: there's also the word "Glitch" that's often used on computer science to describe an malfunction on a system/machine.
Yes! That's a good one.
Thank you so much for your valuable contribution. I am so happy that you mentionned the three standard varieties of the pluricentric language German. These Standardvarietäten, the deutschländisches Hochdeutsch, österreichisches Hochdeutsch and schweizerisches Hochdeutsch are NOT dialects, but standardized varieties, standardized by processes of norm building written down in the Duden dictionary, the Österreichisches Wörterbuch (= dictionary) and the Wörterbuch der deutschen Gegenwartssprache (= contemporary language). Dialects are the locally different "paroles" ( s. Saussure) within these varieties. Sociolects should not be forgotten either, e.g. the difference between a Viennese upper or middle class speaker of Austrian Hochdeutsch compared to a speaker of Wienerisch dialect with a different lexicon, prosody and phonology. In the eastern parts of Austria the intonation is even more melodious than in Switzerland.
Thank you so much for that interesting contribution.
Thank you so much for providing very informative and educational videos. I have learned so much about languages watching your videos.
You're very welcome! I really appreciate your support.
Thanks for your Wisdom. Regards from Switzerland. 😊
Thank you for the appreciation
Cool video! I've subscribed, greetings from Germany.
Thanks so much
very interesting and i’am so glad so watch this amazing video
Thanks so much
The hard g pronounciation in Dutch is a relatively recent "innovation" by the economic elite in Amsterdam to elevate them selves above the rural peasants . It did spread widely through the Netherlands but not to the southern provinces below the big rivers . Flanders also kept the soft g pronounciation until now . Something comparable happened in late classic Greek as spoken in Athens : it's a socio-economical phenomenon
I find your comment about the socio-economic influences on the pronunciation of the Dutch 'g' sound fascinating. It's true that language and dialect variations can reflect social stratifications and regional identities. While the hard 'g' pronunciation does mark a regional difference within the Dutch-speaking world, pinpointing its adoption solely to socio-economic aspirations would likely require more nuanced historical evidence. Language evolution is complex and often involves multiple factors, including but not limited to socio-economic ones. Your comparison with ancient Greek highlights how language can serve as a marker of social identity across different cultures and epochs, which is a compelling aspect of sociolinguistics.
@@polyglotdreams I recently learnt about this from a YT video in which a guy from Noord Brabant (a southern province in the Netherlands where they still speak with a soft g) interviews a Dutch university professor (from the north who spoke with a hard g) on the history of the pronounciation of the g in Dutch and its regional variation . The professor had to admit that the original pronounciation was a soft g and that research had brought to light that the hard pronounciation came about in Amsterdam among the elite during their golden age . The big rivers that cut the Netherlands in half stopped the spread to the southern provinces and Flanders
Great video, master
Thanks 🙏
Tim, thanks a lot for the video! I have been waiting for it after I've watched your similar video on slavic languages.
At the moment I'm studying German and a little bit (just for fun and curiosity) Yiddish and Dutch, so your advice on the corresponding youtube channels is really useful.
Thanks... Slight miss... I am Tim.
@@polyglotdreams Tim, oooh, I'm so sorry. Thanks for the correction! But at least I now know your name :-)
I'll watch the entire video but I just wanted to comment on your intro. I can agree that learning languages that are similar or maybe even learning languages in general gets easier when you're already familiar with more than one language.
So I am German and obviously learned English in school. Then later on I got French in school. After leaving school behind, there is a 10 year gap for me with learning languages. But I started my language learning journey with refreshing my French in a course and then I took a bit of Italian. Later I got the chance to learn Spanish and I took it. Wasn't hard at all because I already had known some Italian and of course a solid amount of French.
At the moment I'm attending a new Brasilian Portuguese course and man, this isn't hard at all. Yes, of course some learning will have to be done but after 2 classes and a bit of relaxed vocab reading, I can read and understand basic sentences with ease. Because I already have a solid base in Spanish and so many words are either the same, very similar or I can add them in no time because to me it doesn't really matter if I say "(yo) hablo unpoco de español" or "eu falo um puoco de espanhol". I just replace a few words and change the pronunciation of a few others et voilà. 😊
Exactly! Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Ganz gutt. Dir hutt net lëtzebuergesch vergiess!
Merci villmols.
Danke
Never heard about those origins of Afrikaans.. fascinating
Thanks
German, Dutch and Norwegian are definetely in my plans. Learned a bit of the first and dabbled in the second so far.
Great... go for it
Interesting, currently learning standard German
Danke... Ich wünsche dir viel Spaß beim Deutschlernen..
Very informative. Yiddish btw had also a large influence on the Amsterdam dialect. And also in pronounciation of the New York dialect. In Dutch we still use many Yiddish word without realizing it. Since I'm Dutch I can better understand Afrikaans reading it then listening to it. I subscribe.
Thanks... I didn't know you had Yiddish words in Dutch...
@@polyglotdreams Amsterdam (mokum in Yiddish) had a big Jewish , sephardi and ashkenazi, population from the 17th century till WOII. From the 100.000 Jews in the Netherlands 80.000 were massacred by the nazis.
Mazzel, mesjogge and gabber are some Dutch words of Yiddish origin.
Thanks for an interesting video,Tim.
I would like to add that speakers of Northern English dialects and Scots will find it easier to learn Norwegian as far as vocabulary is concerned. There are plenty of common words between Norwegian and English and plenty more between Norwegian and the Northern English dialects and Scots.
Very interesting, thanks!
I’m commenting before watching 😂 but I’ll edit my comment if needed. German was my first 2nd language I took it in high school and needed 4 years to pass 2 years of classes I was so bad. Then I went to Germany and got hooked on studying it. Talk about a 180. My method at the time and I think it’s pretty solid was to just start reading a book I had read and enjoyed growing up into the German translation. Actually read several of them. And flip through a grammar book and read a grammar point that looks interesting as needed. This got me able to have a simple convention with a patient German person (my cousin) all in German after 3 months. It continued getting better as I kept reading and listening etc. It is painful at first but German has a lot in common with English and you will be surprised how your brain is able to adapt to it.
Thanks for sharing. That seems like a very effective method. I hope you enjoy the video afterward.
I lived between Bremen and Bremerhaven in the early 1990s. Been too long since I spoke it. I forgot a lot. I’d like to relearn it. I loved being in Germany.
Please do!
The common complaint of the Dutch automatically switching to English, while somewhat true, is not really an huge barrier. It is more pronounced for people in an expat bubble (at e.g. large english speaking companies like ASML), that might meet less native Dutchies than people outside of those bubbles. Amsterdam, and then specially the city centre is one giant bubble.
Yes, for sure, the city center.
Jim Reeves sang some Afrikaans songs when he was alive, the most beautiful one being "Ek Verlang Na Jou".
Thanks I didn't know that
@@polyglotdreams Try to listen to that Afrikaans song. You hear it in RUclips. Just type "Jim Reeves Ek Verlang Na Jou". It is my papa's song. He loved songs of Jim Reeves.
I’m a native English speaker learning German 🇩🇪 and Dutch 🇳🇱. I read in all languages.
Interesting that the word “nosh” is used to mean food or to eat in cockney London too.
Really, I never knew that.
The swiss melody difference sounds interesting. There may be a dialectical percentage difference from german also. I may research this.
Yes, I like it.
Ich lerne jetzt die schön Deutsch spräche. ich mag diese Video. Besonders die Anfang vom die video mit die sehr schöne Bilder. Viele GruBe aus Québec.
Danke... Ich wünsche dir viel Spaß beim Deutschlernen.
Hallo. Erlaube mir dich zu korrigieren. 😊
Im Deutschen werden Nomen groß geschrieben. Also heißt es richtig: "die schön-e deutsch-e Sprache". Die Sprache ist weiblich. Also werden die weiblichen Varianten von "schön" und "deutsch" verwendet.
Das Wort "Video" hat einen sächlichen Artikel. Und sächliche Nomen verlangen "dieses". Also "dieses Video". Vergleiche es mit "diese Frau" (weiblich) und "dieser Mann" (männlich).
"Der Anfang" und "von dem Video" bzw. man kann auch sagen "vom Video" oder "von diesem Video". Und weiter: "mit (diesen) sehr schönen Bildern".
Irgendwie fühle ich gerade voll mit dir. Ich lerne selber Sprachen, man kann wirklich so viele Fehler machen. Wenn ich daran denke, wie kompliziert Deutsch ist, bin ich froh, dass es meine Muttersprache ist. 😂
Salutations à Québec! 🎉
Danke Grace für die Korrektur.
Meine Mutter spräche ist Französisch und meine English und Spanisch sind Gut. Vielleicht wir könne üben zusammen? Ich benutze Tandem, aber, habe ich keine Tandem Partner. Aber, ich habe jeden Samstag einen Unterricht mit einen privat Lehrer für Deutsch lernen.
Si tu es intéressée, svp me laisser savoir ;)@@SavedByGrace_CitizenEmperor
Hallo Grace. Vielen Dank für deine Korrektur. Meine Mutter Sprache ist Französisch und spreche auch Spanisch und Englisch. Vielleicht wir können üben Zusammen mit die Internet? @@SavedByGrace_CitizenEmperor
@@fredericjanelle Salut Frederic! Avec plaisir! 👋🏻 J'aime ta proposition! Ma langue maternelle est allemand. J'ai appris le français pour quelques ans. Aussi, je sais un peu d'espagnol, je parle l'anglais bien y j'ai commencé apprendre le portugais de Brésil le mois passé (et le russe^^). 🤗
Je parle l'allemand et l'anglais bien mais je ne parle pas mes autres langues très bien pour differentes raisons. Me manque l'exercise. Heureusement, j'ai une certain connaissance du français et de l'espagnol!
I'll continue in English because thinking and writing (and looking up) French at the moment is a bit exhausting and I'm not feeling too well at the moment. Yeah, I'm like your idea of learning and talking languages together online. But I've never done it, so what way would be the best way to communicate online? You could drop me a mail address somewhere on my youtube channel or below one of my videos there and then we can figure out the best and most comfortable way to get in contact. I hope we can work around the time difference between Canada and Europe but I at least got afternoons off from time to time, so that should work out. Hope to talk to you soon. Matt 🤗
Swiss German has many different accents. Depending on the region the pronounciation and the words used are really different from one another. That's why if you ask a Swiss person they will tell you that Swiss German is a language and not a dialect.
Thank you for that very informative video.
Love from Switzerland
Priska
Thanks so much for your input, Priska.
German is my soulmate... 🥰 ...
Great 👍
I do feel like if you learn Dutch, you have an easier time learning Afrikaans afterwards, than the other way around. As a Dutch speaker, it is quite easy to understand and read Afrikaans, however Dutch uses some more complex or modern words. If you learn Afrikaans first, it might be more difficult to comprehend these words.
Dutch people often compare Afrikaans to be a modernised and simplified version of 17th century Dutch 😅
Yes. It retains older vocabulary.
Oh well, I'm currently working on German, Dutch and Norwegian on Duolingo as my Germanic languages lol. I was struggling whether I should learn Norwegian or Swedish first, but it seems that Norwegian has simpler pronunciation, a longer course, and one of my friends is learning Norwegian as well, so I chose it (altho it technically has three genders, but the feminine is not a must to be used, so the grammar difficulty shd be similar to swedish ig). One day I'll work on Swedish and Danish as well.
I think that is a good strategy.
I have been puzzled by the question of what would be the next logical language to learn after acquiring fluency in Norwegian? Should Swedish or Danish be chosen or should the diverse Norwegian dialects be explored?
I would say Swedish given the importance of the language in the region.
Can you do a video about resources for pitch accents and tones for Asian languages? I know there’s a few but I wanted to see if you know any specific websites or apps, thing like that. That you can recommend, thanks!
Thanks for the suggestion... I will look into it. A good place to start is my dear friend's channel ruclips.net/video/HPwgjAoy1js/видео.htmlsi=jGWxjBFjrZdZHcAg
German: 'Was ist das?'
Dutch & West Frisian: 'Wat is dat?'
Emglish: 'What is that?'
Yes very close
I’ve been learning Swedish for a few years now, and started with Faroese two years ago
Great all the best to you in your studies
Today I listened to about 3 or 4 hours of german podcasts. Am I wrong in thinking the way they talk, their inflection and rhythm is very similar to english? Often times I can tell it's the end of the podcast but they change in the tone of their voice, even if I wasn't paying attention to what they were saying. When I finally understand what they are talking about it has the same vibes as english to me.
It really depends on the style of English and German.
@@polyglotdreams mainly hoch deutsch. Maybe Im just getting used to german, but conversationally I find it similar to a lot of casual conversational english
Hello Tim ! Great video as usual ! What is your favorite Germanic language ?
Thanks... Afrikaans
You studied in Poland in the 1980s? Also any plans for videos going in depth on German Grammar?
1979-1981.... yes, later I want to take a closer look...
I have been studying German for the last 3 months, is the biggest language in Europe, and a ton of content to study, also the language of many philosophers and scientists among history. I am trying to study among other two languages, but I am keeping German as the main one to learn at the moment, just because I feel it will be the most useful for me.
Danke... Ich wünsche dir viel Spaß beim Deutschlernen.
I have read that the nicest Hochdeutsch is spoken in Hannover (perhaps into Kassel as well). Is this true?
I think that depends on what style you like.
Yes, it’s true.
🌈🌈🌈Dutch is my 3rd out of 4 foreign languages I am currently learning. It has a number of English words in Dutch.🌈🌈🌈
Yes... for sure.
Scandinavia is only Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Talking about the map of Scandinavia you were displaying extra countries
Scandinavia most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also refer to the Scandinavian Peninsula (which excludes Denmark but includes a part of northern Finland). In English usage, Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for Nordic countries.
If one wanted to take the easy route and just learn Afrikaans, could they use it to get by in the Netherlands?
For the most part, yes... and they usually find it quite interesting.
Afrikaans is almost never used anymore even in south Africa its becoming an English speaking country. zulu and the other bantu languages are not doing well too. it seems like in africa the more you go south the more people just speak English. in the Netherlands they at least still use their language .
Danish sounds like someone trying to have a relaxed conversation but at the same time struggling with a fishbone in their throat.
Most people say potato caught in the throat
Interesting video! There are lots of Germans speaking no dialect at all. I'm one of them.🙂
Thanks... I think that is partly due to the influence of mass communication these days.
You are missing the southdutch dialect /language limburgs ,wich differs as such as its a tone language like chinese or efik
It was not an exhaustive exploration of German dialects
Make a similar video for romance languages
Coming soon!
@@polyglotdreams merci beaucoup monsieur. :)
@@BeneluxMapperr J'aime les langues latines
@@user-nq6hy2tm2z moi aussi
I ended up learning Norwegian due to my career leading me to spend half a decade there. While it's true what you say about being a bridge between the Scandinavian languages (you end up understanding to a large extent spoken Swedish and written Danish without any effort), unless there are personal reasons for doing so (a significant other, career), I'd probably recommend learning Swedish instead. 5 million speakers of Norwegian who all speak English means that there's a shortage of native Norwegian media to consume, if you are bound to learning at home. For instance, there's not a single podcast in Norwegian that I find interesting to listen to, TV programming is very standardized, public debate is rather shallow and placid. Sweden has more people, more content, more of a imperial tradition (which is subtly mirrored in the broader interests of the more cosmopolitan Swedish public), movie industry is excellent (Danish one perhaps even better) for such a small nation. Yes, it'd true that Norwegian is a bit like Slovak (a bridge between several languages), but despite that you still recommended to learn Polish, not Slovak in your Slavic language video. Besides, if you learn Swedish first, you'll still be able to understand everyday spoken Norwegian, and learning to understand the written form and Danish is not a really difficult task for a Swedish speaker, if that's your goal.
Also, if your language learning process includes moving to another country, it's worth keeping in mind that probably neither of the three Scandinavian countries would be particularly welcoming to immigrants. The cultures have quite rigid proper behavior standards (Janteloven etc.), joining existing social circles is not easy, being different than average or an outsider (which by definition includes immigrants) is perceived negatively, the culture does not facilitate easy casual human interaction and finding new friends. There's a reason for Scandinavia consistently ranking at the bottom of expat-friendliness rankings.
Just based on this factor, learning a language of a more outsider-friendly country like Afrikaans might be significantly easier.
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences.
As a German I feel like the German language has the least in common with the other Germanic languages. Probably because of the German sound shift.
Yes, that is most likely the reason for that.
Jewish being a spin off from German - I could hear "the German" (sounds) in the fellow from Washington speaking.
Edited to add, I'm native English but speak Spanish & French but will likely do Italian next if any more though I'd love to learn the most basic of German & Dutch (to A1 level)
Go for it.
Der Manuel von "Easy German" ist Halbpole.
Oh really...
Which Nordic lang id learn 1st?
Id go between Swedish & Icelandic...
But Norwegian has a special place in my heart, nonetheless... tho if id have to choose, which? Bokmol s more widely spoken, n Nynorsk is more spoken nowadays or what?
Then you can learn them all
So for the Scandinavian languages I'd say it's important to pick one, as it's easy to get confused by the subtle differences between them. Swedish is the biggest one (more or less Danish and Norwegian with all of its varieties combined) and is quite centralized. I think it makes sense to start there, in a rational way. Swedes are also quite willing to help someone learn their language and accommodating to foreigners, which helps, unlike Norwegians which I'd say are much more nationalistic and turned onto themselves, uninterestedand sometimes hostile to the outside world. If you learn Norwegian however and you're not moving to one specific place, it's wisest to start with bokmål. Nynorsk isn't spoken at all and even not super prevalent in written form while bokmål is pretty much what you'll hear in Oslo and on the news. After a while the colorful variety of Norwegian dialects will come to you naturally and you'll also get to enjoy the elegance of nynorsk to your taste. Danish has quite a unique but imo beautiful way of pronouncing things. If you are in love with its endearing mellow sound and you like the very open and honest Danish culture (with rich history and importantly, excellent tv series), it's definitely a good choice as well.
Concerning Icelandic: think twice before you start. It's spoken on an inhospitable and remote rock in the Atlantic where they are sick of the overtourism and the language is insanely hard and different from all those other Germanic lamguages (barring Faroese). The grammar is tough and unpredictable, there are lots of synonyms and archaisms everywhere and very few loanwords. However, this exotic quality can maybe make you want to learn it even more. If you are a thoroughly romantic soul like me you can have a go at this extremely fascinating language. It truly is a language that keeps on suprising you and is connected to a suprisingly vibrant and innovative cultural landscape which baffles you again and again as it's so incredibly tiny. So: think twice, but if you feel that burning romantic passion, go for it.
@@hydrocharis1i learned Icelandic pronunciation through the children’s TV show LazyTown which was originally made in Iceland. It’s not to difficult of a language in that regard but i’m sure grammar wise it’ll be a challenge
If icelandic is closest to old norse and has that complex grammar (3 genders, 4 cases) then German is the 2nd closest to old norse. Old english also had several cases (4 I think) and 2 (or 3?) genders.
German used to have 5 cases a long time ago...
Yeah, English has evolved to a great extent.
You could've called Scandinavian languages as the DINS language, just like BCMS language in your Slavic video
Thanks... interesting observation.
What kind of language is amish?
GERMAN a dialect called Pennsylvania Dutch... yes it is s misnomer
Can't wait for you to do Japanese!
Thanks... I have done two so far involving Japanese... did you watch them?
I saw your Chinese /Japanese comparison video and some of the others that mention Japanese, but I have not seen a fastest way to master japanese video or deep dive video on Japanese, unless I missed it. I really enjoy your content professor! @@polyglotdreams
Norwegian and Swedish are such beautiful sing-song languages. Norwegian, Bokmål, is a bit easier than Swedish in terms of grammar.
Yes
I recommend Gothic. It is the closest to Proto-Germanic.
If you prefer that to a language activity used...
English is so difrent from the other germanic langueges
It's because it has absorbed a lot of French. But the basics are essentially of germanic origin.
@@kevinb2208 yeah i know thanks, that’s little bit bad
@@kevinb2208 i have 1 question could the rest of the germanic langueges speakers understand each other?
@@user-nq6hy2tm2z Germans can understand Dutch, or at least many bits of it, especially in written form or if they speak slowly. I imagine it's the other way around as well, in fact several Dutch celebrities speak at least some broken German. Swedish, Norwegian and Danish are apparently very similar to each other and they are probably also able to understand each other to at least a certain degree. But for a German it's mostly unintelligible. It's only when I started to learn some Swedish, I noticed some similarities. But you only really notice them when you think about it a bit more and now in what way these words are related to the German equivalents
Yes, it has a lot of influence from French Latin and Greek.
I think Swedish is slightly more useful than Norwegian or perhaps Scanian Swedish specifically. Calling Norwegian a midway-point ignores the fact that Swedish speaking Finns have almost no understanding of Norwegian and Danish.
While only around 200,000-300,000 Finns speak it natively, probably over a million if not more can hold conversations or even speak it fluently as a second language, especially in the large cities with many Swedish speakers like the capital and large parts around the coast
Why wouldn't they understand a lot of Norwegian?
@@polyglotdreams it’s something I’ve read somewhere but I imagine that the dialect is first of all much more different than any Swedish dialect, even so, the fact it’s the same language on paper (literally) might be the reason we can understand it at all. Change the language (to Norwegian or Danish) and even the language itself is different.
I’m not sure of the exact details though… I can imagine Danes and Finns having a hard time with each other though
7:12 this has nothing to do with the dialect peple speak in NRW Cologne etc
Please elaborate.
I personally suggest Spanish or French. The languages mentioned have a much harder grammer structure and difficult pronunciation for english speakers.
This video focuses on the Germanic languages
Greenlandic Norse and Gothic sounded the coolest, but sadly both are extinct.
Yes... it is extremely unfortunate when we lose languages and cultures.
3:20 ehm, Sudetenland? 😬
And?
South Tyrol was left out from the German group.
Among others... but I plan to make a video focusing on German accents and varieties... dialects.
@@polyglotdreams I was just reacting to the first map that showed German speaking areas, and the Souh Tyrol was not included. In Italy there are other Germanic areas in the Aosta Valley (Walser), the Veneto (Cimbri), and Trentino (Mocheni). In Upper Silesia, some German speakers are also left. In Slovenia, we have some speakers left in the Gottschee Valley.
Actually some variations of Gothic is spoken by some people in Gotland today. So the Eastern Germanic branch is not dead yet. Most people in Gotland speak Swedish with a Gotland-accent, but some also speak actual Gutamål. As a native Swedish speaker who understand the other Scandinavian languages , I would say that this is the hardest Scandinavian language for me , after Elfdalian.
That's truly fascinating information! I wasn't aware that variations of Gothic, or more specifically, Gutamål, are still spoken by some people in Gotland today. The survival of such a language, representing the Eastern Germanic branch, certainly adds a remarkable layer to the linguistic landscape of the region. It's interesting to hear that as a native Swedish speaker and someone who understands other Scandinavian languages, you find Gutamål to be the hardest Scandinavian language for you, even more so than Elfdalian. This highlights the unique and potentially complex nature of Gutamål within the Scandinavian language family. Your insight provides a valuable perspective on the diversity and richness of languages in Scandinavia. Thank you for sharing this interesting piece of information!
Well, you know, Gothics invaded the south of Europe, they divided in two branches, the Ostrogoth who conquered the Italian peninsula and the Visigoths who conquered the Iberian peninsula and established a Visigothic kingdom. When I was in school I had to learn a long list of Gothic kings. There are still some words from Gothic in the Spanish language. And all surnames ending in "ez" (Martinez - of Martin / Fernandez - of Ferdinand / Rodriguez - Of Roderic... etc) and still many Spaniards get one or two per cent of Scandinavian genes in genetic analysis.
It is not a variety of Gothic. Gothic was East Germanic. Guthnic is North Germanic. It derives from Old Guthnic, a variety of Old Norse.
Gothic died out in the 18th century. The last speakers lived on Crimea. During its high days, some 2000 years ago, it was mainly spoken in Eastern Europe, in regions were Slavic languages are spoken today.
@@polyglotdreams this is not true by the way. Gutamål is North Germanic.
@@joseamategarcia9276 There's a mention of Sigismund III Vasa's legation to Madrid during his reign in Poland: he used some Swedes as his emissaries and the Spanish king presented him with some ancient Gothic scripts (Visigothic I'd guess?), undoubtedly pandering to Sigismund's interest in Sweden (I think he had already been dethroned in Sweden but did anything he could to regain the crown for the rest of his life, all of which mirrored in his styling: "Dei gratia rex Poloniæ (...) necnon Suecorum, Gothorum Vandalorumque hæreditarius rex").
Now tellingly, it was reported those cultured and savvy Swedes couldn't make sense of those scripts, they simply didn't understand the language (understand it enough?).
Unfortunately, I can't recall the author or the name of the Polish book where it was reported, neither the Spanish king Philip in question.
I wish the German would simplify their grammar as did the rest of the Germanic languages speakers.
It would make it easier for sure.
I already know English and Spanish and some French. Learning Italian. Im going into Japanese and Korean and Chinese since I think 4 European languages are enough 😅
All the best to in your studies
@@polyglotdreams Thank you 😁
Why is there no masculine, feminine, and neuter in English, like its fellow Germanic languages?
I vote for learning Icelandic first and only.
It seems like you love Icelandic
Wow, a lot of info. You even know about Icelandic. So now you understand better than anyone that English is not a Germanic language: it’s a French-Germanic creole.
Yes of course it has a lot of influence from French and Latin and Greek but specially French
P R O M O S M 😚
What?
3:19 did you actually include Sudentenland in this map? As a Czech myself I've got to inform you that we drove Germans away by force from there after WW2, nobody speaks German there as L1.
Yes, it is more of a historical perspective
@@polyglotdreams And that's okay and maybe it's just me but I didn't notice you mentioning that which makes it kinda misleading and could make someone lead to believe that in Czech Republic we speak German, which is false, we don't, not as L1.
Fastest way: Be born in those countries and live there for a few years LMAO
That seems like a slow way.
@@polyglotdreams Not if you're a kid!!! LMAO
Ok how does a dialeçt become a language? Let's say Bavarian ...
Make it the Kingdom of Bavaria
from political reasons usually.
Why you put a map of Germany occupation of Poland pre WWII? 😐☠️
Which one?
Miałeś na myśli chyba pierwszą wojnę światową
Historyczny zasięg jest warty pokazania
Nie można okupować państwa które w żaden sposób nie istnieje
@@kagan694 Są obie wojny. Ale teraz Polska istnieje i na tych terenach nikt nie mówi ani Low German ani Middle German ani High German więc wideo podaje nieprawdę.
@@polyglotdreams 3:23- pre I World War map.
3:43- pre II World War map.
These maps show Polish lands under German occupation as "German speaking".
So:
1) It's terribly inaccurate according to the world we live in now: not more than 3% of people may be speaking German there
2) Even back then, the former German (Polish but occupied) territories that are shown on the first map were Polish majority speaking
@@askarufus7939 Przynajmniej sprawdź sobie proszę co znaczy okupacja bo nie można nazwać tak stanu rzeczy ani przed pierwszą wojną światową ani w okresie międzywojennym
Maybe I've got a low tolerance for delay, but I stopped listening because you took so long to rattle off the various Germanic languages, without saying how to learn them quickly.
It was more than just rattling them off...
1825-1830 Afrikaans was first written in Arabic script in South Africa. The first Germanic language written in non-Latin or Roman script.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_Afrikaans#:~:text=It%20began%20in%20the%201830s,written%20in%20the%20Arabic%20script.
Interesting!
Afrikaans is een dialect van Nederlands, ik hoefde maar één (1!) woord te leren, "baaie" om het te kunnen lezen. Verstaan is dan wel weer vrij moeilijk.
Listen to Nathaniel
Eg e nordmann. Ver så snill og please don’t learn Norwegian if you doing live here it is no use😂😝😭
It's a beautiful language, and I spoke it all the time in Norway