What are the next lost lanuages?

[Mirc]

Nah, that's the English spelling. I find it funny too, so don't blame me

I had no idea about that until today! I've always spelled it Habsburg... heh, Mozilla doesn't recognize it, but it does recognize "Hapsburg"!

 

[holy king]

wiki spells it right. because wiki is always right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Habsburg

 

[El Koeno]

How much time would it take to replace a country? I mean the OP says Dutch will go extinct in the next 150 years, while al kids today learn it as their first language, and even many educated have at least some trouble putting together sentences in other languages. I can't even see Frisian going extinct.

Of course, to Americans it must seem very difficult to know two languages, but for many people around the world it's everyday life.

 

[Winner]

I had no idea about that until today! I've always spelled it Habsburg... heh, Mozilla doesn't recognize it, but it does recognize "Hapsburg"!

I used to as well, until I learned that "b" was probably too hard for the English to pronounce, so they had it changed to "p". Well, it's their language...

 

[Winner]

Of course, to Americans it must seem very difficult to know two languages, but for many people around the world it's everyday life.

You mean that people outside America don't all speak English? That's crazy!

I bet many Americans believe that all people speak English, they just have all these funny accents...

 

[holy king]

I used to as well, until I learned that "b" was probably too hard for the English to pronounce, so they had it changed to "p". Well, it's their language...

it's pronounced very close to an english "p" anyway.

 

[Cato the Elder]

Nah, that's the English spelling. I find it funny too, so don't blame me

Anyway, nice job trying to shove German nationalism down our throats, as a result the number of people speaking German went from 30% to about 0.3% today

Just proves how counter-productive nationalism is.

When I was in the Czech Republic last spring, German was the second best-known foreign language after English, so I think you've exaggerated a bit too much, my friend.

And besides, no need to be cranky, you already insult them tongue-in-cheek by calling their language "Barbarian".

 

[Winner]

When I was in the Czech Republic last spring, German was the second best-known foreign language after English, so I think you've exaggerated a bit too much, my friend.

Nah, you just missed that I was talking about the native German-speaking population.

And besides, no need to be cranky,

I was being sarcastic, not cranky. Nationalism is evil in most forms.

you already insult them tongue-in-cheek by calling their language "Barbarian".

What?

 

[holy king]

Nah, you just missed that I was talking about the native German-speaking population.

well, a lot of this also has to do with the benes decrees.
which you can of course call a result of german nationalism too...

 

[Winner]

well, a lot of this also has to do with the benes decrees.
which you can of course call a result of german nationalism too...

Exactly. When the Germans first came, they were welcomed as people willing to cultivate the border areas, bringing crafts, knowledge etc. with them. Then it gradually changed to Germans believing they were better than the Slavs, which of course made the Slavs hate them, which in turn led the Germans to suppress them and try to assimilate them, which eventually led the Slavs to kick them out. And now, they all live in peace (more or less) in a trans-national semi-federation. That's the story of the last 700 years in short.

Sorry that I find it tragicomedical

 

[holy king]

hah, you should hear my grandmother talk about serbs.
(serbia being the place where my family was chased out after ww2)

 

[Winner]

hah, you should hear my grandmother talk about serbs.
(serbia being the place where my family was chased out after ww2)

Don't know about that, but my grandmother's war stories were fun. If I didn't know anything about WW2, I'd say it was a farce

(the other grandmother's stories about being sent to work to Germany were also fun - mostly revolved around Czech girls having forbidden relations with German soldiers on leave - I guess our family was just lucky... )

 

[Mowque]

indeed Winner. My families stories abotu WW2 (from Poland) are about as dark as they come. Curious, So you like English or do you think it is too 'crisp and business' like?

 

[TheLastOne36]

edit: I just saw your last post. I'm not sure where you're getting your information from, but Russian was mandatory in communist-era Poland.

Hmm, i trust your knowledge better then my dad's because the last time i spoke to him about the subject was probably when i was young, my memory could be a little off. Was it mandatory in High School's to? or could it be dropped off like french could in Canada?

 

[warpus]

Hmm, i trust your knowledge better then my dad's because the last time i spoke to him about the subject was probably when i was young, my memory could be a little off. Was it mandatory in High School's to? or could it be dropped off like french could in Canada?

I'm not sure. I just know that it was mandatory starting in grade 4.. I also know that my parents hated learning the language, but knew it pretty well.. so it must have been taught at least until grade 8.

 

[TheLastOne36]

How much time would it take to replace a country? I mean the OP says Dutch will go extinct in the next 150 years, while al kids today learn it as their first language, and even many educated have at least some trouble putting together sentences in other languages. I can't even see Frisian going extinct.

Of course, to Americans it must seem very difficult to know two languages, but for many people around the world it's everyday life.

speaking of which, i remember i had a childhood friend from the netherlands, and by the time he was 7 he spoke dutch, english, polish, german fluently and was learning french. Is this normal in the Netherlands or was he a special case?

 

[Winner]

indeed Winner. My families stories abotu WW2 (from Poland) are about as dark as they come.

Poland got the worst of it, after Jews, so I understand.

Curious, So you like English or do you think it is too 'crisp and business' like?

English is fun, I actually like it (I am faaaaar from being proficient in it, so I am still learning new things) but I wouldn't like having to speak English all the time.

 

[Mirc]

speaking of which, i remember i had a childhood friend from the netherlands, and by the time he was 7 he spoke dutch, english, polish, german fluently and was learning french. Is this normal in the Netherlands or was he a special case?

That reminds me of a guy I know who is native in Romanian, speaks English, French and German absolutely perfectly (has an accent in English, but not in the other 2, as far as native speakers have all told me), and very very good Spanish and Russian, good Greek and like all well-travelled Romanians decent Italian (especially since he speaks Spanish so good, with the native Romanian it was a piece of cake).

The impressing thing about him is exactly the opposite of what is impressive about the kid you mentioned - by the age of 48, he could only speak Romanian and German. Now he is 54-55. It's amazing what power of knowledge assimilation he still has at this age. Some people are just amazingly gifted at certain things.

 

[Mowque]

English is fun, I actually like it (I am faaaaar from being proficient in it, so I am still learning new things) but I wouldn't like having to speak English all the time.

I think you care about it more, hence why my posts are FULL of errors that i don't go back and fix. Why wouldn't you like to speak it all the time? (I'm monolingual so i can't compare to anything else)

 

[Mirc]

I think you care about it more, hence why my posts are FULL of errors that i don't go back and fix. Why wouldn't you like to speak it all the time? (I'm monolingual so i can't compare to anything else)

I can think of several reasons.
1) There are things you just cannot express that well in two languages. Thus, if you were forced to speak one language all the time, a piece of your feelings would be untransmissible, you would "die a little" on the inside.
2) One's native language will always come more natural (unless the person hasn't lived very very long in a foreign country, which is not Winner's case), and easier to express. It's good to be able to relax every once in a while and not care about the way you speak.
3) You would lose the ability to communicate with those around you, since far from everyone around Winner or me speaks English. You would also lose the ability to read the literature of your country, everything that's been written as time went by.

It's quite a lot to miss...