Re: OT: Official language post

I think the reason is the disproportionate number of compound words
in(other) Germanic langs.  That and the high amount of replacement of native
Germanic words with Romance ones.  And a good deal of the Germanic words in
English have Romance-based synonyms, which helps with deciphering Romance.


Anyway, a go at deciphering this letter(I don't speak Dutch, but I have a
knowledge of German).  Ok then...

-------------------------------------
I will try to write this email in Dutch.

I have done(made?) ??? lots of ???

My family (goes?) to Belgium in the summer, but I can't go with them.  I
have to stay here in Canada and and sutdy here in the university.

-------------------------------------

Dutch is really quite a bit easier than German to decipher, and has more
English-like words than German.

>----- Original Message -----
>From: Adam Walker
>To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
>Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2003 2:39 AM
>Subject: Re: OT: Official language post
>I speak NO Dutch but had no difficulty following that.  Once you make
allowance for the rather interesting Dutch spelling it really is much easier
to decipher than >German.  What a difference a degree of kinship makes.  Has
anyone (English L1) else found it astounding how much easier it is to
decipher a text in an unfamilar >Romance lang than a text in an unfamiliar
Germanic lang?  Perhaps I should first ask, do others find it easier to
decipher Romance?
 >
>Adam
 >Rachel Klippenstein <estel_telcontar@...> wrote:
>>Ik wilde proberen, dit email in het Nederlands te
>>schrijven.
>>
>>Ik heb waarschijnlijk veel vergissingen gemaakt
>>
>>Mijn familie verhuist in de zomer naar Belgie, maar ik
>>kan niet met hun gaan. Ik moet hier in Canada blijven
>>omdat ik aan de universiteit hier studer.

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