Rep Points, the Universe and Everything, Now with MAGNETS

[Hatusu]

HAT$!! CONGRAT$!!!

Oooohhh...that rhymes. Proof that waking up at 4:00 am is a bad idea.

[Ronja]

I studied Homeric Greek and a bit of Latin. I couldn't read or write in them now but I could pick it back up.

What was invaluable was learning the grammar. Once you understand the older I-E grammar systems, newer I-E languages become a snap. Strange but true. You can also learn I-E root words and linguistic shifts and words become easier to understand. It's complicated but enjoyable when suddenly things 'make sense.'

Thanks Droops, I never thought of it, but of course it makes sense. It's not an easy thing to find a latin language course around here thou. Yeah there are books but I prefer talking to someone. Speaking and hearing the language you want to learn is always the best way of learning, imo.

[Ronja]

Oh btw Congrats Hats (I liked the rhyme heh) to whatever new job u got!

[Hatusu]

Heh, I learned Portuguese and then couldn't learn Spanish. It was SO similar that I never studied, and then never really could speak Spanish. I can understand parts of it, but whenever I try speaking it Portuguese comes tumbling out.

We had the same problem learning Swahili! Surprisingly, there's a lot of Portuguese in it. Those of us who had some Spanish picked up the pronunciation easily, but we developed a bad habit of throwing in a Spanish word whenever we couldn't think of the Swahili word. It really messed up my Spanish, too.

[Hatusu]

Oh bte Congrats Hats to whatever new job u got!

'
Director of Public Resource Development. Thanks. I like Seshat's rhyme, too.

[Ronja]

Director of Public Resource Development. Thanks.

Oh a director! *bows before the lord* That's fantastic! Congrats again

[Feli]

This is not good for the sport it has been damaged badly by this scandal.

And it'll get even worse if all the lawsuits from US fans come in!

[Ronja]

This is neither here nor there.... but when do i get that 2'd green blob thingy? I'm guessing a hundred points?

[Droops]

We had the same problem learning Swahili! Surprisingly, there's a lot of Portuguese in it. Those of us who had some Spanish picked up the pronunciation easily, but we developed a bad habit of throwing in a Spanish word whenever we couldn't think of the Swahili word. It really messed up my Spanish, too.

Really? Swahili isn't an I-E language. That surprises me! Maybe the modern language has been influenced by Portuguese, I don't know. Where exactly is Swahili spoken now?

[Droops]

Yeah Italian and spanish are very much alike. It's a good thing that many languages remind of each other. Like swedish, danish and norwegian are pretty much the same, well all scandinavians can understand each other and communicate anyway

Why do we have different languages? *sigh* In the old days close to everyone spoke Latin and that was working fine. We should all speak Latin!

Or to make it easier for everyone know... english or spanish

If you look at an I-E language map, you'll see that one of the families is Germanic. That family can be split into three sub-families: West Germanic, North Germanic, and East Germanic. East Germanic goes to Gothic and Germany Yiddish IIRC. West Germanic includes the modern languages of German, Dutch, Frisian, and English. North Germanic includes Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faeroese. So it makes sense that the North Germanic speakers would have an easier time understanding one another. And it makes further sense that those of us who speak a Germanic language at all would find it easier to understand each other first than, say, a Slavic language.

Another I-E family is Italic. All of the Italic languages died except for one: Latin. From that comes the modern languages of Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, and Rhaeto-Romanic languages spoken in parts of Switzerland.

English is about 60% Germanic, 40% Italic (from Latin), with a smattering of Celtic words (another I-E family) and some others, so English speakers can do either family with some ease.

I agree with you though, it's best to sit with a teacher than just reading a book.

[Sela]

I really admire people who speak several languages. I learn them, then forget them. However, if there was a KiSwahili or Kikuyu thread, I might get some practice. Maybe I should take some German lessons.

You can speak KiSwahili & Kikuyu?! Wow! I am extremely impressed. How did you learn those and why?

Good Morning, by the way.

[Ronja]

If you look at an I-E language map, you'll see that one of the families is Germanic. That family can be split into three sub-families: West Germanic, North Germanic, and East Germanic. East Germanic goes to Gothic and Germany Yiddish IIRC. West Germanic includes the modern languages of German, Dutch, Frisian, and English. North Germanic includes Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faeroese. So it makes sense that the North Germanic speakers would have an easier time understanding one another. And it makes further sense that those of us who speak a Germanic language at all would find it easier to understand each other first than, say, a Slavic language.

Another I-E family is Italic. All of the Italic languages died except for one: Latin. From that comes the modern languages of Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, and Rhaeto-Romanic languages spoken in parts of Switzerland.

English is about 60% Germanic, 40% Italic (from Latin), with a smattering of Celtic words (another I-E family) and some others, so English speakers can do either family with some ease.

I agree with you though, it's best to sit with a teacher than just reading a book.

That reminds me...

Where does Finnish come from? And how did it end up here, among Scandinavians? I mean it's worse then chinese to me lol, I do not understand one bit.... completely impossible.

It doesn't sound like any other language I can think of either... so where did Finnish originate from?

[blingaway]

You can speak KiSwahili & Kikuyu?!

Indeed if I'd known Hatusu had the Swahili, my girls and I would have tried out some of our vocabulary on her at Mardi Gras! We got the beautifully illustrated book Jambo Means Hello when my littlest was a baby and we've been casually picking up new words ever since. It's such a neat sounding language.

[Sela]

Indeed if I'd known Hatusu had the Swahili, my girls and I would have tried out some of our vocabulary on her at Mardi Gras! We got the beautifully illustrated book Jambo Means Hello when my littlest was a baby and we've been casually picking up new words ever since. It's such a neat sounding language.

Morning Bling!

I know that book! I've sent it off to at least 3 sets of assorted nieces and nephews and a grandson. Childrens books are great. Every so often I cruise their section in the bookstores to pick up a bunch for all of the kids in our extended family. At five or six dollars for a book, you get a good lot for not so much.

[Droops]

That reminds me...

Where does Finnish come from? And how did it end up here, among Scandinavians? I mean it's worse then chinese to me lol, I do not understand one bit.... completely impossible.

It doesn't sound like any other language I can think of either... so where did Finnish originate from?

It's from a completely different language sub-family called Finno-Ugric, which is in the Uralic family. Finnish and Estonian are in that family, and Hungarian is also in that family.

Here's a quick link or two with some background on that language family.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2282/finno.html

http://www.suri.ee/