European Union, Canada, Groenland and other territories

[Tiger]

Is it something like German and Dutch ?
If we listen really carefully, we can understand pretty much german.

When I was really young (5 yrs :p) I had a german friend on a holiday in Spain.
I justed talked Dutch to him, he talked German, and we managed to understand eachother pretty well !!
Maybe it's easier if you are younger, because I know a lot of Dutch-speaking people who don't understand any german.
Even not easy things like 'ich gehe in die Schule'.
Maybe they just don't hear it, or don't want to hear... I don't know.

There are also a few sometimes funny misunderstandings between Dutch and German.
Especially when Flemisch people try to speak German, and they just speak Dutch with a German accent.
It may sound German, and usually they even speak German words, but the sentences they make are absolute nonsense !

The best example I can remember at this moment is 'bellen'.
In Dutch this means 'to ring' or 'to telephone', but in German 'bellen' is the barking of a dog.
So if you ever go to Germany, you can't "bel" to your friend.

[eurobillsandcoins]

I'll admit the french in Canada is dying around the country and in Quebec a province of French. They say the Canadian french is different than the Parisien french is this true?

[Olivier]

They say the Canadian french is different than the Parisien french is this true?

Yes, definitly!

But the differences are the same in English-english and American-english, Australian-english... or spanish-spanish and mexican-spanish...

Olivier

[Antti]

The Finns can understand Estonian well. It sounds to them like the language from the 18th or 19th century. At least that's what a Finnish friend told me.

I'd say it's finnish with more germanic words. I don't know what Finnish sounded like in the 18th or 19th cantury, I wasn't here to listen, but characters in historical TV ddramas use much more foreign (mostly germanic) words so I guess that's true then.
So it's easy to understand because everyone here understands a germanic language, Swedish our second official language that everyone must study.
But still it's more that Estonians can understand Finnish, because they watch Finnish TV and that way they can learn Finnish

And to what Tiger said I think it's pretty much the same, when I listen to Estonian I think I understand the words but at the end of the sentence I realise I didn't understand anything at all.

[Annie_in_exile]

On the subject of Estonian and Finnish, here’s something for the francophones:
http://mapage.noos.fr/achalvin/finnois/
http://www.info-finlande.fr/home.php3

Hmm. I think that Donald’s friend must be smarter than an average Finn if he/she understands Estonian just like that. Please compare the following texts – the first sentence is Estonian, the second one is Finnish (they don’t seem to have much in common, do they?).

EST: Valdade majanduslik olukord tuleb kindlustada riiklike toetuste süsteemi abil.
FIN: Kuntien talous on turvattava valtionapujärjestelmän muutoksella.

Põhihariduse ja edasiõppimisvõimaluste eest tuleb hoolitseda võrdväärselt, arvestades õpilaste erinevate kalduvuste ja vajadustega.
Peruskoulutuksesta ja jatko-opintomahdollisuuksista on huolehdittava tasapuolisesti, oppilaiden erilaiset taipumukset ja tarpeet huomioon ottaen.

Tagada tuleb avalike tervishoiuteenuste üleüldine kättesaadavus, arvesse võttes ka vanurite ja puuetega inimeste erivajadi.
Vanhusten, vammaisten ja sairaanhoidon palvelut on turvattava yhteiskunnan toimesta asuinpaikkakunnasta riippumatta.

[BossaNova]

when I say that the situation is different for Finland, is simply because there aren't any other country in the world with finish language..

Estonians speak finnish!

Olivier

old topic.. but here's my answer: even if Estonians spoke finnish that wouldn't be a problema since both Finland and Estonia are in Europe.. that doesn't happen with Portugal and Angola...

bn

[Antti]

Hmm. I think that Donald’s friend must be smarter than an average Finn if he/she understands Estonian just like that. Please compare the following texts – the first sentence is Estonian, the second one is Finnish (they don’t seem to have much in common, do they?).

EST: Valdade majanduslik olukord tuleb kindlustada riiklike toetuste süsteemi abil.
FIN: Kuntien talous on turvattava valtionapujärjestelmän muutoksella.

Põhihariduse ja edasiõppimisvõimaluste eest tuleb hoolitseda võrdväärselt, arvestades õpilaste erinevate kalduvuste ja vajadustega.
Peruskoulutuksesta ja jatko-opintomahdollisuuksista on huolehdittava tasapuolisesti, oppilaiden erilaiset taipumukset ja tarpeet huomioon ottaen.

Tagada tuleb avalike tervishoiuteenuste üleüldine kättesaadavus, arvesse võttes ka vanurite ja puuetega inimeste erivajadi.
Vanhusten, vammaisten ja sairaanhoidon palvelut on turvattava yhteiskunnan toimesta asuinpaikkakunnasta riippumatta.

This is somehow related to my previous comment: Although those sentences don't seem to have much in common they still are understandable somehow. Or as I said, at least the words sre, official Estonian uses words that official Finnish doesn't use but spoken Finnish does. Or the vice-versa, I guess, but the point is that those are official text, but there are also other Finnish words to say about the same thing and are closer to the Estonian words (and guessing is also a good tool)
Still, I wouldn't have understood those sentences without the Finnish translations. And in case someone is interested here's what tey mean:

The economy of communities must be backed up with a change in the state's aiding systems.
Basic teaching and possibilities of further education must be taken care of equally, noticing students' different tendencies and needs.
Services of elders, disabled and health care must be backed up by the society not depending on the place of living.

So these texts are rather formal (and the translations rather wrong, not easy text) so it's certainly different from the actual spoken language.

[airis]

East Timorians don´t want to use school books written in any colonial languages. So now they have some school books in Finnish.
http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20020917IE15
Well I think, they don´t actually have to learn much Finnish.

[Tiger]

[K3lvin]

East Timorians don´t want to use school books written in any colonial languages. So now they have some school books in Finnish.
http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20020917IE15
Well I think, they don´t actually have to learn much Finnish.

Airis, shut up! You are revealing our vile plan to take over colonies from Portugal!

[Tiger]

hehe

Finland, the 21th century's world power.

[BossaNova]

East Timorians don´t want to use school books written in any colonial languages. So now they have some school books in Finnish.
http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20020917IE15
Well I think, they don´t actually have to learn much Finnish.

Airis, shut up! You are revealing our vile plan to take over colonies from Portugal!

ok, I agree, finnnish is the best language for East-Timor , by the way Portugal doesn't have any colony now, so please say ex-colony!

but this article is not very clear, in fact East-Timor has portuguese as their official language, and they already belong to the portuguese speaking countries comunity (CPLP also known as CoPaLiPo).. although only the older generations speak portuguese, all the people pray in portuguese. the majority of the timorese population is catholic like in Portugal...

any way, the official language of the timorese education system is the portuguese, there are many portuguese teachers right now.. but we never know, finnish is of course a valid option...

bn

[K3lvin]

by the way Portugal doesn't have any colony now, so please say ex-colony!
bn

Oh, I meant ex-colony, of course.

[Antti]

hehe

Finland, the 21th century's world power.

At this rate it will be at least 23rd century before we become really powerful

[Donald]

hehe
Finland, the 21th century's world power.

At this rate it will be at least 23rd century before we become really powerful

I always had the impression that Captain Kirk's original language was Finnish.