Re: Newest natlang?
| From: | Dirk Elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Monday, September 29, 2008, 17:22 |
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On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 6:11 AM, Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets <
christophe.grandsire@...> wrote:
> Selon Dirk Elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>:
>
> > Funny story. I was an exchange student in the Netherlands during the
> school
> > year 1989-1990, and Nelson Mandela was released from prison during this
> > time. It was major world news, so of course the Dutch media outlets sent
> > representatives there to report on the story. As I recall, the Dutch and
> > Afrikaaners would address each other in their respective languages
> without
> > any need for interpreters. However, the Dutch media had (have?) a policy
> > that foreign languages must be subtitled on television programming, so
> the
> > whole exchange was "translated" for the audience back home.
> >
>
> Not only foreign languages. If someone speaks in a Dutch dialect deemed (by
> whatever rule of thumb) too different from standard, they will be subtitled
> as
> well.
This makes sense. But I had less trouble understanding Afrikaans than I did
my flat mates from Zeeland and Limburg!
> This has led to a time when I asked to my husband what weird dialect of
> Dutch
> that particular woman was speaking on TV, just to get a reply that she was
> speaking Swedish!
>
> Oh, and yes, the policy is alive and well, as it should be. Subtitling is
> less
> intrusive and more practical (and cheaper) than voice-overs.
I agree. I really don't care for dubbed movies and prefer to see the
original language version.
>
>
> As a foreigner speaking Dutch conversationally, I personally find Afrikaans
> relatively difficult to understand, on the level of unfamiliar Dutch
> dialects
> like Drents and Gronings, but not as difficult as Fries, which is a
> different
> language altogether. Written Afrikaans, on the other hand, is quite easy to
> read.
My experience was different, but I agree about Frisian. It may be the
language of my father's people, but I have a hard time with it.
Good to hear from you again.
Dirk
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