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Re: Newest natlang?

From:Dirk Elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>
Date:Monday, September 29, 2008, 17:22
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
> > -- > Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets. > > http://christophoronomicon.blogspot.com > http://www.christophoronomicon.nl > > It takes a straight mind to create a twisted conlang. >
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