Ukraine's European Revolution?

[Valmy]

a lot of similarities between Germanic languages.

LOL oh come now.  Maybe between say Danish and Dutch but for English?

[Malthus]

Can I be: Jew-Muscovite? 

[Queequeg]

Exactly.  "Ukrainian" is based largely on the language of the lands formerly occupied by the Austro-Hungarians and Poles.  Alternatively, Kiev has been ruled by Moscow from the time of Tsar Aleksei.  It's not some kind of hideous, awful plot by the Jew-Muscovites that people in Kiev spoke Russian almost exclusively until independence.

Wut? 

Ukrainian Nationalists are anti-Semites.

The point here is that Ukrainian is closer to Polish than Russian,

Not really. 

I'd bet an Englishman and a Frenchman could communicate as well as an Englishman as a German.  Still, the closer genetic relationship is German-English.

The languages are not mutually intelligible just on the basis of knowing another language.  If Ukrainians and Russians can communicate, it's because they are bilingual.

I think you misunderstood my point on Swiss German-German. 

When a Swabian and a Hanoverian talk they talk in High German.  When a Savoyard and a Sicilian speak they speak in Italian, a dialect primarily derived from Etruscan.  I don't think there's any compelling reason there's a difference in the relationship between the Swabians, Bavarians, Rhinelanders , Brandenbergers, Saxons and their "Germanness" is different from the relationship between Rusyns, Galicians, Cossacks, Siberians, Muscovites, Belorussians and their "Russianness." The linguistic differences in German are more extreme.  I think it would be best for everyone in the region if they settled on some kind of shared identity like Scandinavians or Germans across Germany and Austria.  As it is, Ukrainian Nationalism poisons things and makes it so that Ukrainian schoolkids can't read fucking Gogol.   

[derspiess]

Maybe.  But English has very little grammatically in common with other Germanic languages and our vocabulary is all shot to hell. 

The more I've learned German (and been exposed to other Germanic languages), the more I've discovered we do have in common with them.

[Valmy]

As it is, Ukrainian Nationalism poisons things and makes it so that Ukrainian schoolkids can't read fucking Gogol.   

Nor should they.  Gogol sucks.  Dead Souls killed mine a little.

[derspiess]

Why can't most English people speak French? After all, France is only just across the Channel, and French has had a great deal of influence on the development of English as a language. Also, lots of English people learn French as a second language.

Brits seem to understand a bit of French, whether or not they formally speak it.  Sort of similar to how Americans know a little Spanish (we certainly pronounce it better than most Brits do) due to sharing a border with Mexico.

[Malthus]

Ukrainian Nationalists are anti-Semites.

If my wife is an anti-Semite, she has chosen a very strange way of expressing it. 

[derspiess]

Nor should they.  Gogol sucks.  Dead Souls killed mine a little.

My best friend let his wife name their dog Gogol

[derspiess]

If my wife is an anti-Semite, she has chosen a very strange way of expressing it. 

Well, my wife hates rednecks

[Valmy]

Maybe.  But English has very little grammatically in common with other Germanic languages and our vocabulary is all shot to hell. 

The more I've learned German (and been exposed to other Germanic languages), the more I've discovered we do have in common with them.

Not enough to make German or Swedish easy to learn.  Give me Spanish any day.

[Malthus]

  I think it would be best for everyone in the region if they settled on some kind of shared identity like Scandinavians or Germans across Germany and Austria.     

If only the Russians and Ukranians would treat matters of ethnicity more like the Germans did! 

[Barrister]

Exactly.  "Ukrainian" is based largely on the language of the lands formerly occupied by the Austro-Hungarians and Poles.  Alternatively, Kiev has been ruled by Moscow from the time of Tsar Aleksei.  It's not some kind of hideous, awful plot by the Jew-Muscovites that people in Kiev spoke Russian almost exclusively until independence.

Wut? 

Ukrainian Nationalists are anti-Semites.

The point here is that Ukrainian is closer to Polish than Russian,

Not really. 

I'd bet an Englishman and a Frenchman could communicate as well as an Englishman as a German.  Still, the closer genetic relationship is German-English.

The languages are not mutually intelligible just on the basis of knowing another language.  If Ukrainians and Russians can communicate, it's because they are bilingual.

I think you misunderstood my point on Swiss German-German. 

When a Swabian and a Hanoverian talk they talk in High German.  When a Savoyard and a Sicilian speak they speak in Italian, a dialect primarily derived from Etruscan.  I don't think there's any compelling reason there's a difference in the relationship between the Swabians, Bavarians, Rhinelanders , Brandenbergers, Saxons and their "Germanness" is different from the relationship between Rusyns, Galicians, Cossacks, Siberians, Muscovites, Belorussians and their "Russianness." The linguistic differences in German are more extreme.  I think it would be best for everyone in the region if they settled on some kind of shared identity like Scandinavians or Germans across Germany and Austria.  As it is, Ukrainian Nationalism poisons things and makes it so that Ukrainian schoolkids can't read fucking Gogol.   

PSellus, who never met a minority group he didn't lust over, hates Ukrainians.  Figures.

And Ukrainian schoolkids should be reading Shevchenko. :contract:L

[DGuller]

Ukrainian Nationalists are anti-Semites.

If my wife is an anti-Semite, she has chosen a very strange way of expressing it. 

He's got a bit of a point there in general.  Ukrainian Nationalists, at least the ones from Western Ukraine, score high on the anti-Semitism scale even by the lofty standards of Eastern Europe.

[alfred russel]

Ukrainian Nationalists are anti-Semites.

If my wife is an anti-Semite, she has chosen a very strange way of expressing it. 

He's got a bit of a point there in general.  Ukrainian Nationalists, at least the ones from Western Ukraine, score high on the anti-Semitism scale even by the lofty standards of Eastern Europe.

Maybe Malthus' wife is self loathing.

[Jacob]

Maybe.  But English has very little grammatically in common with other Germanic languages and our vocabulary is all shot to hell.

?

English sentence structures are basically identical to Scandinavian ones. English vocabulary is basically 50% Danish, and much of the French influence has been absorbed in Danish too. The main obstacle is pronounciation, not grammar nor vocabulary.