The Off Topic Topic

[celedhring]

Wonder why German ends up being harder to learn than all Romance and the other modern Germanic languages.

I dabbled in German, and even though it was harder than English, I would've thought an English speaker would find it easier that the romances. Verb conjugations are much easier, for a start. Again, I only learnt it at a very basic level.

EDIT: The cases, maybe? Languages with declension always give me PTSD from my Latin classes.

FWIW, I found it to be very structured... very German 

[The Larch]

Love that the Basque and Celtic languages are "unclassified" 

It's from a training manual for US diplomats, so it's not that weird. 

I mean, I can concede basque, but I'm sure there's enough British people that have learnt Welsh/Irish as non-maternal languages to have them categorized.

But it's not an academic study, it's a guide for future diplomats.

[The Larch]

Wonder why German ends up being harder to learn than all Romance and the other modern Germanic languages.

I dabbled in German, and even though it was harder than English, I would've thought an English speaker would find it easier that the romances. Verb conjugations are much easier, for a start. Again, I only learnt it at a very basic level.

EDIT: The cases, maybe?

FWIW, I found it to be very structured... very German 

I am learning German at the moment, have been doing so for since the pandemic, and I'd say it's significantly more difficult than English.

[celedhring]

Wonder why German ends up being harder to learn than all Romance and the other modern Germanic languages.

I dabbled in German, and even though it was harder than English, I would've thought an English speaker would find it easier that the romances. Verb conjugations are much easier, for a start. Again, I only learnt it at a very basic level.

EDIT: The cases, maybe?

FWIW, I found it to be very structured... very German 

I am learning German at the moment, have been doing so for since the pandemic, and I'd say it's significantly more difficult than English.

Yeah, I said so. I'm saying that I'd have thought English people would find it easier than learning a romance language. But that table says otherwise.

[Duque de Bragança]

Wonder why German ends up being harder to learn than all Romance and the other modern Germanic languages.

I dabbled in German, and even though it was harder than English, I would've thought an English speaker would find it easier that the romances. Verb conjugations are much easier, for a start. Again, I only learnt it at a very basic level.

EDIT: The cases, maybe? Languages with declension always give me PTSD from my Latin classes.

FWIW, I found it to be very structured... very German 

PTSD from Latin classes? 

German declensions and cases? Only one declension group, and no gender differences for plural. It's really much easier than Latin or Ancient Greek in that aspect. 

I thought Germans "cheated", having it so easy. 

[Syt]

Kosovo's Prime Minster now vs. in the 90s.

[Tonitrus]

Another sell out to the Man.

[Josquius]

Nothing really specific about French and its alleged emphasis on pronunciation.

Stress barely exists, if at all, which incidentally is the biggest problem for Francophones learning a stressed foreign language.

French pronunciation is far harder and less forgiving than most other languages out there. You need to look to really out there stuff like Chinese to beat it.

A lack of stress makes it harder. Makes it so often sound mumbled together. Stress is a hint on where you have different words.

I've never seen this idea seriously addressed, but I reckon the question of which language is hardest depends on you and your learning style (and what other languages you know of course but that's well known).
For me for instance French with its emphasis on pronunciation as the key point is a nightmare. Japanese on the other hand with its scripts and emphasis on written pattern recognition gels well.

There are several charts around on language learning difficulty for native English speakers, and French is routinely placed amongst the easiest ones. You have an obsession about it.

I've seen these us foreign office things before. They're only really valid for their specific purpose. They don't gel with my language experiences at all

[Syt]

French pronunciation is far harder and less forgiving than most other languages out there. You need to look to really out there stuff like Chinese to beat it.

I hated French dictation.
"en"
"on"
"ons"
"an"
"ans"

[Duque de Bragança]

French pronunciation is far harder and less forgiving than most other languages out there. You need to look to really out there stuff like Chinese to beat it.

I hated French dictation.
"en"
"on"
"ons"
"an"
"ans"

an et on aren't pronounced the same. 
en is... variable 

Without liaisons, it can be difficult, yes. Too many, à la Zupiter, is troublesome too. 

[grumbler]

We don't sem to have an NCAA basketball thread this season, so I'll throw this one in this thread:

Purdue's Braden Smith was asked about his turnover with 30 seconds left and Purdue down by three.  What stood out in the  following press conference was teammate Zach Edey taking over the mike to point out how many mistakes he himself made in the game and call it a team loss, not a loss due to Smith's mistake.

Purdue's a hard team to dislike.  They get it.

[viper37]

Wonder why German ends up being harder to learn than all Romance and the other modern Germanic languages.

Fewer words, but they're all attached together.

[Josquius]

You ever noticed how 88 is a big nazi numerology thing but it's also a big Chinese lucky number.
Spotted watching football a billboard for something 88, a gambling site. Not the first time I've seen this.
Interesting cross over.

[mongers]

You ever noticed how 88 is a big nazi numerology thing but it's also a big Chinese lucky number.
Spotted watching football a billboard for something 88, a gambling site. Not the first time I've seen this.
Interesting cross over.

Also two fat ladies,  so.

[The Larch]

Kosovo's Prime Minster now vs. in the 90s.

Orban was also a student leader back in the day, see how he turned out.