As a German, I always find it interesting how words are pronounced in Scotland because it’s often close to how a German without any knowledge of English would pronounce them. However, this starts as soon as you go north of London, where words increasingly sound more "German" in their pronunciation.
@@danman9439 German here too. When I was in Edinburgh on a ghost hunt, the host asked all the tourists in my group, who was able to pronounce "Loch, licht, and nicht." I replied "Loch, licht, and nicht!" He then said "So you're obviously Scottish." Nope", said I, "I'm German!" 😄😄
Indeed,and along with those Normans came the Flemish mercinaries who were given land in scotland ( and wales) . Quite a few scottish clans have Flemish roots. As well as flemish weavers and tradesmen who made their way up there and influenced the scottisch language that way There are a few videos on the topic available. 😊 🤘❤️
I always find it funny to see that beer is öl in Scandinavian languages, because Öl is also the German word for oil. Always gotta keep your engine well oiled :D
It's funny, for us as well, that you chose to write Oil as Öl, when the Danes uses Olie, the Norwegians Olje, Swedish Olja... and that's because the French, Spanish, Italians all use Olio.. Yet you are the ones that went, Olio nah, oel→oͤl→öl... And Swedish Öl, is from Proto-Germanic Aluz.
I am so lucky, that I speak Low and High German as well I know some Northern Frisian. It made learning English very easy and I can read and understand a lot of Dutch, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. I also recognise a lot Icelandic but it’s much complicated to get to the point.
We "Fishheads" had the time of our lives at university when we had to do our course in Anglo-Saxon or Old-English as we had no real problems getting into its structure. It was far more difficult for our fellow students who had no knowledge of Low German at all.
I speak english and 45 years ago spoke a fair amount of german. This was before bicycle racing was shown in US TV and no internet. To follow the Tour de France I would listen to Radio Nederlands in Dutch. Because of my english and german abilities I could understand the Dutch moderately well unless the announcer got excited and started speaking fast and excitedly. Then there was no hope. I actually have some books in Norwegian on my bookshelf. I can figure out the story line but not really the details. These books are from my grandfather, who grew up speaking Norwegian in North Dakota USA and actually taught Norse at University briefly.
You should check out old and middle English. Old will be a bit tougher just because of the corpus using super flowery language cause it's mostly poetry and the grammar is crazy (Icelanders would have an easier time), but eME would be an absolute breeze. Anyway, here's the same thing but in colloquial Old English Se cealde winter is nēah, en snāwstorm sċeal cuman. Cuman in hūse mīn, hit byþ wearm, min frēond. Welcuman! Cuman hēr, sing and hleap, ēte and drincan, þæt byþ min ræd. We hæfþ water, beor, and milc fresċ frām þæs cū. Ah, and wearme sūppe!
Can confirm the same works the other way around. Low German could just be another Dutch dialect as far as understanding goes. Arguably part of the Netherlands relatively close to the German border speaks (or used to speak) low German.
@@KeesBoons Sadly I dont speak Plattdütsch but understanding it is enough to understand dutch, I mean german is almost close enough to understand dutch anyways but not as close.
@@Mindinvasion I'm from the South of the Netherlands, so instead of Plattdütsch I speak (more or less) my local dialect, but I've always watched German television when I was young. Die Sendung mit der Maus and Pippi where regulars. Understanding German is not really a problem for me, but writing has always been, and always will be a lot harder. I know (in general), the gender of the worlds, as this is used in my local dialect as well, and you get a feeling for it. All the different forms still trip me up every time.
@@KeesBoons I live in East Frisia on the German-Dutch border. We speak Low German and on the other side in Groningen, some people still speak Frisian. You can definitely understand each other well. As far back as I can remember, the whole region was once Frisia, or rather the Frisian people.
As a german im mostly able to understand written Dutch. 80% if you speak slowly But thats cos im fluent in English as well 😊 Also when i lived in merry oul Ireland 20 years ago, i met a random person, who spoke Africaans to me. We were able to get each other. Sometimes Dutch sounds hilarious to us... Ig hout= Holz = wood Hout Sounds like the german word Haut= skin So when i passed the street LANGE VOORHOUT in Den Haag it ment in German LONG FORESKIN, but its actually about a long wooden fence or such 😂 Also i must add and admit: The Dutch are great neighbours. Very friendly, polite and reliably bilingual (Dutch + English) In fact, many of them speak/ understand german as well... way more than the other way round
My father spoke a different dialect (of Dutch) than my mother and he called hout 'holt'. We all understood German from watching German tv, even my parents.
Dutch Wikipedia explains the street name with: "Het Lange Voorhout, zo genoemd omdat het een uitloper (voor-bos of voor-hout) van het Haagse Bos was, kreeg geleidelijk zijn karakteristieke L-vorm." _Hout_ , like wood, means both what trees are made of and what they form. The meaning as in German _Wald_ is now mostly replaced by _bos_ and _hout_ mostly part of place names. I was taught that the 'hol' bit in Holland is derived from _holt_ , the Middle Dutch rendering of that word.
@@gertvanderstraaten6352 there was an old frisian ile, that went down in 1362 named Runghold Rung= wrong, hold= Holz = hout= wood Its so fascinating to me, how much you are actually between German and English 😁
@SweetSchnubbl Damn good try. 😀 I was taught German in school. I'm not fluent, but good enough to get by and know that there are a quite a few false friends in Dutch and German vocabularies.
The Scots and the Dutch have had a rich history. The Belgians, who were still part of the Netherlands back then, traveled to Scotland to fight alongside the Scots. Hence the Flemming name.
Indeed, along with the Normans came the Flemish mercinaries who were given land in scotland ( and wales) . Quite a few scottish clans have Flemish roots. As well as flemish weavers and tradesmen who made their way up there and influenced the scottisch language that way There are a few videos on the topic available. Point of criticism : the Netherlands or Belgium werent even a thing in 1066, when this happened. but Flanders was. Belgium as such has never been a part of the Netherlands. Besides maybe between 1815 and 1830. Before that it was union under foreign rule or seperation under foreign rule. Or a short period in the 80years war, where we were the united provinces, but one was not part of the other.
@@Wim1979 but Belgium was at first part of the Frankish Empire (in fact the core region was 'Austrasia' which is basically Western Germany, Belgium and Netherlands with the city of Aachen in the center which was also the 'de facto' capital of the travel emperor 'Karl der Grossen (Karolus Magnus - wrongly named Charlemagne (this name is historically just wrong)). And later part of the Holy Roman Empire. And most (including Northern Europe and Eastern-Central and Eastern Europe) were referred to as 'Germans' (not just due to the kingdom of Germany base of the HRE but also because from the Christian/Pope/HRE-Emperor point of view it was the main hub for Christianization in each direction which is still pagan. Thats why the Vikings later as well as in the East were Christianized from 'today Germany' and this often came with certain city laws (like the Magdeburg law) ... thats also the reason why in those peripherical regions it became a thing when those newer kingdoms became the 'right of an own seat' (and not just be represented by the HRE). for the same reasons you had during medieval time at the different universities only a few 'backgrounds' which were not just 'ethnic': you had like Germans, French, Italian (was also part of the HRE) and later Spain was added as next extension. You needed to 'subscribe' under one of those labels and as already said: everything North, East or Germanic speaking like was 'German'
Moin ut noorddüütschland low saxony germany vun de waterkant Bremerhaven 👍😁😊 I speak Low Saxon German 😊 Here the text in low German 👍 from my region 😊 De kole winter is dicht, en sneestorm schall kamen. Kaam in mien warm huus mien fründ. Willkamen! Kaam her sing un danz, eet un drink. Dat is mien plan. Wi hebbt water, beer un melk von de koh. Oh, un warme supp! Dat weer up plattdeutsch ( low german 👍) Dat gifft aver vun region to region deelwies ünnerscheedlich nedderdüütsch dialekte. Man kann sik aver verstahn. Allerbest un hool di wuchtig mien keerl 👍
Ich habe von meinen Großeltern in Cappel (nördl. von Dorum) Platt gelernt; das klang aber schon wieder anders als deins. Letztlich ist es von Dorf zu Dorf verschieden.
@Dutchman626 Moin,...achso, denn heff ik dat doch anners verstahn. Is doch wat anners as ik dacht heff. Aver nu heff ik dat richtig verstahn👍😁. Allerbest un gode 👍
I found this quite well done. And it really Highlights the different groupings. Also yay for the mention of low german 🎉. It was actually the lingua franca of the hanseatic league back in the day.
Fun Fact: My father came from eastprussia. He could talk Plattdeutsch, the dialect which was spoken in the north of Germany. He was once in the Black Forrest, where we live, in a inn. There was a man who scoulded in Platt „This would be Germans? They don‘t talk real German!“ My father talked to him in Platt and the man says „Finally there is someone who talks right German!“ My father told him, that he don‘t talk German. They talked to each other and the man told my father, that his father had a farm on which are to German Prisoners of war, from whom he had learned German. They came from the north and talked in Platt to each other, which the man had lerned.
Fun fact: The word that Germans use to describe themselves - Deutsch - and the word you guys use for the people of the Netherlands - Dutch - are descended from the word "theodisc", from "theod" meaning people in Old Germanic. Basically it means "language of the people", i.e. "vernacular", as opposed to Latin and French, the ecclesiastic / noble language. But if you try to look up where we first started using "theodisc" as a descriptor for people or language, you actually find that it is used in a Latin document about the Anglo-Saxons. So the first use of the word "Deutsch" actually describes the English people (and specifically, the English language).
Another enthusiast! Se cealde winter is nēah, en snāwstorm sċeal cuman. Cuman in hūse mīn, hit byþ wearm, min frēond. Welcuman! Cuman hēr, sing and hleap, ēte and drincan, þæt byþ min ræd. We hæfþ water, beor, and milc fresċ frām þæs cū. Ah, and wearme sūppe!
Here is that paragraph in my native Faroese (a 100% word-to-word translation is not possible but give it a go anyway): Tann kaldi veturin stendur fyri durum, ein kavaódn fer at koma. Kom inn í mítt heita hús, vinur mín. Vælkomin! Kom higar, syng og dansa, et og drekk. Hetta er ætlan mín. Vit hava vatn, øl og mjólk feska frá kúnni. Oh, og heita súpan. Have fun. ;)
My greatgrandmother spoke low German but I could only understand about 20% of it, but she was able to switch to high German to communicate with us younger folks who had no day to day experience with low German. I live in an area where low german is among the most represented but it's still a very tiny percent being able to speak and understand it, none in my private life. It's a bit of a shame because it's a cool sounding dialect but so hard to use for anyone not brought up with it.
Same. The older people from my fathers family all spoke low German, they were from the Caucasus region. Sadly, my father never learned, and so I didn't either
I didn't grow up with a dialect and never managed to understand my grandfather who only spoke Mittelfränkisch. 😂 It's always bizarre when you can't understand each other despite of officially speaking the same language
@@asaris_ fraenkisch sounds nice. You missed out. Never met your real grandfather. What a shame. Dialects are not hard to understand. I speak fraenkisch, understand badisch, swabian, Bavarian, pfaelzisch, I can understand the amisch, some Yiddish, hessian too.
It is not a dialect if it is actual "Niederdeutsch" though. It is a language which is much closer related to Dutch than High German. All of northern Germany had to learn a "new language" when standard German was introduced and that is why there are fewer strong dialects in the north because they learned a new language. The south just kept speaking like they spoke and could communicate with High German speakers which is why they were able to retain their dialects.
Can anyone confirm or deny this: The reason Scots and Scottish English sounds closer to German vowel pronunciation is because the Great Vowel Shift was less evident the further north you went. Similar to the High German Consonant Shift; the further north you go, the less pronounced the changes were (why old English is more intelligible with Low German/Low Saxon over High German).
I love how to both English and German speakers, it is Dutch that sounds messed up to them 😂 Not German to English speakers or English to German speakers.
As a german learning english was quite easy, but other german people will disagree :) Understanding spoken norwegian, swedish or dansk is very hard for me, reading is a bit easier. But I can understand roughly 50% of dutch conversations, though this heavily depends on the speaker and the accent. Dutch people on the other hand usually understand german exceptionally well.
Maybe because of the Television as well. As I've heard the Dutch don't have so much dubbed stuff as we have in Germany. Perhaps this is one reason why most of them are fluent in English and German. I really like the Dutch.
Very enjoyable video, thank you! The similarities are amazing. It's actually giving me hope, because it seems, when humans aren't busy bashing each other's heads in, they can actually grow as a community.
Why is the huge viking / Scandinavian influence NEVER mentioned?? At one point especially danish immigration was huge. They came and settled and soon mixed with the people already living there. A huge part of the country was known as Danelaw after all, and not just because of who ruled the land. English language not only gained some loanwords but it's grammar went through changes do to the old norse mixing and (as partially a creole language) the grammar simplified. There must have been a bunch of Swedish or even Finnish people too since english adopted the word "boy". In swedish it's pojke, but the origin is in finnish poika.
@@KP-rm8eg And correct me if I’m wrong, but the English letter combo “gh” did actually used to be pronounced (a more airy sound), so the j spelling might make even more sense, epically given Germanic languages pronounce the J more like a y besides English. Now “gh” is either silent or you somehow get an “f” sound like in cough. Some other words have a gh sound but they aren’t related, like ghost.
This was the most interesting and engaging video I've seen of yours in a while! This was beautiful; videos like this give people like me a new appreciation for/perspective on languages and their relations/interconnectedness ❤ Please keep them up. This made my day 😊
I visited Sweden in German school, and although that was for my English course to get us and the Swedes to speak English, I distinctly remember how we could always figure out the basics of what the other side said if they just spoke Swedish / we spoke german slow and clear enough. And also how funny it was to call beer oil of all things.
As a german from the westernmost part of germany, close to the durch border, our dialect sounds a lot like dutch. My grandparents (90+ year old) use words that we don't use in german sometimes, but that are normally used in dutch. I can understand dutch almost 100%, even though there are some words that trip me up. Like 95% of dutch uses the same kind of word like the german equivalent (with a different pronunciation but clearly decipherable), and 5% is a totally different word that i can't connect to a german word at all 😂
Yes, it's true. The true low German is not easy to understand, to a high German speaker. I'm from Frankfurt, which is quite in the middle of Germany. And I remember listening to my Grandparents talking to their neighbors, when I visited them, close to the northern city of Bremen. I tried really hard, but I just could not understand what they said. It was like a completely other language, to me.
Ich froh mich, ob's fir dich liischder wär, Lothringisch zë verstehn. 's fällt mir ah schwer, dë Litt uss Norddäitschlond zë verstehn, wenn se mit ënonner uff Dialekt redde.
I saw part of this a long time ago but had lost track of it. It was facinating to come across it again, in its entirety.The careful choice of vocabulary and grammar highlights the family resemblence among Germanic languages. I would love to have heard the dialog in some Scots dialects. Scots is considered by some to be closer to English than Frisian. I do not mean Scottish English, but broad Scots, which is considered a separate language from English.
The Anglo-Saxons are called so because some people from the Saxonian parts of what is now Germany (and Netherlands and Denmark I Guess) moved there. In old German and the languages and dialects of the North Sea have quite some similarities with older English.
It's actually a hotly debated issue if there ever was something like "Proto-Germanic". In recent decades, the majority of academics has shifted towards no. Instead, it seems like the genesis of Germanic languages from the Indo-Germanic family occurred following the sprachraum model. This is because different Germanic languages share features with languages from other branches of the Indo-Germanic family (notably Celtic / Italic (or, if you're of that persuasion, Italo-Celtic), Baltic and Slavic), but are divided amongst each other by which features they adopted. It is thus likely that the divisions that would later separate East, West and North Germanic existed before the Germanic languages split off from the main family and developed similar features while still maintaining their individual features, meaning there never was a common ancestor of the Germanic languages other than the original Indo-Germanic family and its pre-separation sub-divisions.
As for isolated germanic languages theres an even more striking example than icelandic. Feroese, the language spoken on the feroese isles which are located halway between the shetland islands and iceland.
I just learned this the other day: you is actually the historically formal word in English (sounds near identical to vous) and thou was the informal. So if the point was to make them sound similar I think this way works.
I'm a german native speaker, fluent in Englisch, and I learned Dutch and Danish among others. On top I studied linguistics and I love that example text used in that video. It's great to explain language families. There are also comparison texts for celtic languages and indo-european languages.
When I read a Dutch newspaper I understand almost everything. It‘s much more difficult if you hear people speaking, although I‘m from Northern Germany and Plattdeutsch is very similar to Dutch.
My Hungarian father in law has told me the legendary quote: Dutch is likea drunken Englishman that tries to speak German. As i speak all 3 languages i can say that i never heard a better analogy
As someone fluent in both languages it now makes total sense why dutch always sounded so strangely familiar as a kid when I was only able to speak german. It sounded like I was able to understand half of it and guess what... turns out the other half is english Also i think that danish (compared to scandinavian) has the most similarities to german but I might be the one off here
Hmm, don't know. My ex- partner is danish and when he was on the phone with his mother I didn't understand a word as a German. I liked it though, it sounded great, but the understanding ....🤪. And the words were not to remember, at least for me. I think I can only think of one single word, which was "Sprallemann" . I looked it up but it makes no sense, I thought it means "Hampelmann", but I am wrong. The brain is tricky sometimes. 😂
It is a pity that we didn't raise our daughter bilingual, because from what I know: if you speak danish you are able to communicate with the Swedish and Norwegian people as well. At least my ex was able to do so.
@ How old is your daughter? Maybe she wont have the advantage of getting raised bilungal but we still do learn faster as kids ;) The only experience I have with danish is throu online gaming tbh but i have found that german does somewhat help. The guys also mentioned what you said about them being able to communicate with Norwegians and swedes
I am from the north of Germany. Raised with low and high german makes it easy to learn english. I also understand dutch, but I can‘t speak dutch. Low german is still spoken in the north, sometimes the low german language sounds completely different from one village to the next. And I really like the scottish englisch, your „r“-sound is very similar to many low german „r“-sounds.
As a german i almost understood everything from the dutch sentence. But there are a lot of words i dont get at all from dutch people in general. But yeah i have a clue what they tell me. I love the scandinavian languages and swedish in particular. I looooove to hear it. Such a calming, soothing language. Want to learn it so badly.
and a different low-german translation: "De kolen Winter dicht, en Sneestorm schall kamen. Kaam in mien warm Huus, mien Fründ. Willkamen! Kaam her, singen un danzen, eten un drinken. Dat is mien Plaan. Wi hebbt Water, Beer un frische Melk vun de Koh. Oh, un warme Supp!"- Since there are many different dialects within that language, there are also more and diffrent versions of that translation.
"Anglo-Saxons" are the names of two north German tribes. 🤷♂ Before _Hastings 1066_ English had no French influence - and therefore was easy to understand.
No Dutch person would say "een sneeuwstorm zal komen". We would rather say something like: "Er komt een sneeuwstorm aan", or even: "Er zit een sneeuwstorm aan te komen". "Een sneeuwstorm zal komen" is not incorrect. It's just not the way a Dutch person would say it. 🙂
In an episode of the tv mini-series, "Band of Brothers," they do a patrol into German territory to snatch prisoners. Webster comes along as interpreter. In the YT comments, someone complained that Webster's 'German' sounded so clearly English with a German accent. I also listened to the actor while saying the lines, and he simply spoke the following lines in correct German: "Bring die verwundeten Mann!" Sounds a lot like 'bring dee wounded man!'
I come from the westphalian countryside and when my parents went to Scotland on vacation my mother said she thought Scots sounded like the people speaking lower german in our town. There are some simililarities for sure, like the rolling "r" that exists here but doesn't in high german
Well, it's geographically in between as well, so that makes sense.😊 Dutch had some sound shifts as in English, so some things are closer to English. But didn't have some other English sound shifts, so stayed close to German elsewhere.
In my youth in northern Germany I had a friend whose father came from Aberdeen in Scotland. Whenever he spoke Scottish English with us, it sounded a bit like our Low German. I can also understand Dutch although I don't speak it very well.
if it's spoken slowly enough or I can read it, I can understand a lot of dutch (being german and not rally speaking dutch). I do have family in the netherlands and I could suprise my dutch cousin with the fact that the berlin dialect word for "I" is pretty much the same as the dutch word for "I" . "ick" or "icke"
When I was learning German, I was amazed how the sentence 'She is nineteen years old' (sie ist neunzehn Jahre alt) sounds incredibly similar in German and English. It doesn't look that similar when reading it, but when pronounced the German one sounds like someone twisted their tongue when speaking English.
This is the Text in "Plattdütsch" (Plattdeutsch, Niederdeutsch from Mecklenburg): De kalte Winter kümmt, en Snööstorm warrt. Kumm rin in mien wärm Hus, mien Fründ. Wullkamen! Kumm rin, sing un danz, eet un drink. Dat is mien Plan. Wi hebbt Water, Bier un Melk frisch vun de Ko. Oh, un warrme Suppe!
This is it in Old English :) Se cealde winter is nēah, en snāwstorm sċeal cuman. Cuman in hūse mīn, hit byþ wearm, min frēond. Welcuman! Cuman hēr, sing and hleap, ēte and drincan, þæt byþ min ræd. We hæfþ water, beor, and milc fresċ frām þæs cū. Ah, and wearme sūppe! I didn't use dance because it didn't enter the English vocabulary until seemingly much later, after the Norman invasion. At the time the Angles Saxons etc migrated it didn't seem to be used on the continent, its earliest attestation in a Germanic language is ~800 in Old High German.
Being a northern German of Frisian descent, I speak German and Low German - the latter not as well, as I only do it with some family. Low German speakers talking in standard German just sound like they have a thick northern dialect, but speakig Low German, they really do sound Scottish, lol. They roll the "r" and lay heavy into "o" and "u" vowels - and have a reputation of mumbling and using as few words to communicate as possible (it's true). It being an in-between of German and Dutch, which in it's origin predates both singular languages, I can understand about 90% of what a Dutch person says.
Regarding a connection between Scotland and Germany: As is also shown in this video, the Germanic people's origin is in the north. The South of today's Germany was Celtic, which migrated westwards and into Wales and Scotland. Hence you find in many places in Britain the same old traditions, like the erection of a May Pole in Spring (Fertility Fest, renewal), and Easter with Bunnies, Chickens as a symbol for fertility. Also Easter Fires 🔥 are of Celtic origin, and happen on the British Island as well as in Germany. And to this day, Easter is going by Moon Phases, so it is on different dates every year. OTOH things like putting lights on a tree (or outright lighting it on fire 😂) 🎄 is Germanic. Sweden even puts a crown of lights on girls. Gotta do something during the darkest time of the year - and it is dark a lot in the north in winter.
Native English speaker learning German. Understood the Dutch & German easily. I like the northern Germanic ones too and understood it mostly. Even if I didn’t know the context already I think I would get most of it or at least the main idea.
As a norhtern German, who speaks of course germn, English and understands Plattdeutsch (lower german) i understand a lot of Dutch. Also if ou speak lower german or understand it, you mostly understand scottish people more easy. Because they are closer in pronounciation than standard english. So a north german, a dutch person and a scottish person could have a realy good conversation with out speaking the other languages. also the scandinavian Languages are easy to understand. I had a freind from Norway. and there are some words that are very similar in all languages. Mostly words that are very old.
At 2:42 when you your guessing what the words mean, the closest English to the Dutch and German is nigh. It means almost, or close by. Near is also a close word, but it's closer to nigh etymologically
I knew as a 13 years old boy that dutch is a "sweet" Mix between german and english...I understand many words,but there are also traps called "wrong friends" where the same word means something other...
Dutch is a mix between german , english AND french . For example , the french word paraplu is in dutch the same . For germans : regenschirm . Another french word in dutch : trotoir = gehweg.
The thing with the missing future tense in Proto-Germanic got me thinking! I'm not sure if it's the same all over Germany, but at least here in the south, although we have 6 tenses in standard German, we only use 2 of them 99% of the time. For everything that's now or in the future it's present tense. Everything in the past is in perfect tense. Seems to be very proto-germanic 😁
@@pok81 The future tense was only introduced because it existed in Latin. But nobody really has used it in spoken German to this very day. "Morgen geh ich ins Kino." English as well "I'm going to the movies tomorrow. "
I am North German and even though most people speak modern Standard German almost exclusively, I think having some familiarity with the local dialect helps a lot with understanding Dutch. Not completely sure, but I believe the North German dialect is much closer to Dutch and English than other German dialects. And I think older people around here would better understand modern Dutch than most South German dialects. Danish is harder to understand when hearing it, but I can read most signs and understand the basics of many newspaper articles without much problem.
Obviously the examples are carefully constructed, and words specifically chosen to be comprehensible in all three languages. As we all know, real life English and German, or English and Dutch are not mutually comprehensible. You can see the relationship between them even as a layperson, but in order to understand the other language you have to study it. The relationship between German and Dutch is different though, they are much closer than English is to either. Speakers of near border dialects in North Western Germany and Eastern Netherlands can pretty much understand each other like that. With standard German, you can't understand spoken Dutch, but written Dutch is comprehensible 60 - 90 percent, depending on how difficult the text is - where North Germans have it easier because their dialect called Low German is closer to Dutch than standard German is. The reverse is probably true for Dutch speakers.
I lived in the netherlands for a while, and although dutch isn't close enough to german that I could understand it 'like that' I did usually get the gist of what was said. Interestingly, as I am from the north, I do speak low german, and the region I was in in the netherlands had a population of speakers of Fries, which is fairly similar. It's still not effortless, but at my local bakery, I didn't even bother with english, because low german was more useful there.
When I lived in Scotland (born in NL) I always found it fascinating how much the Dundee accent sounds a lot like Dutch but with English words. Danish sounds like a harder and childish German for me, like Flamish is like a childish and softer Dutch. (ofc that's a generalisation, not all words follow that scheme).
I guess i can understand about 10-15% of dutch as a german but speaking is a whole other level. Some sounds in the dutch language are not that easy for me. But im pretty exposed to the language as i have friends and family in the Netherlands.
The word for dance is lost? Keep in mind where the word for france is comming from. Franks, they were a germanic tribe as well. Probably dance is a original german version of the old geman word for dancing?
The word seems to have danced back and forth between languages. It has come to Modern Germanic from French, to French from Vulgar Latin, but to there likely from a Germanic root, though likely with a different meaning.
As a Non English Native Speaker, I could understand most of the dialogues... Maybe I could start learning german, it's a beautifully underrated language.
Working with a plumber in london i asked him where abouts in scotland he was from because i couldn't quite figure out what area he was from and he said I'm not Scottish I'm danish very strange i would have bet money that his accent was from some where in scotland
Two Hamburg dockers sit together in a shed at lunch break. Hein asks Fiete, if he would like to go to the pub that night for a couple of beer and playing cards. Fiete answers he would like to, but he would not be able to do so, because "Ick schall to Kark." Hein: "To Kark, hüüt, up een Mittwoch? Is een dot?" "Nee, mien Dochter singt in dat Oratorium vun Händel." "Se deit wat? Wat is denn een Oratorium?" Fiete: "Dat will ick di wiesen. Wenn ick di sech, 'Hein, giv mi de Hammer.', dann is dat keen Oratorium. Un wenn ick sing, 'Ha, Ha, Hahahahahein, giv, giv, giv giv mi, giv mi, Hein, giv mi, de Ha, de Ha, de Hahahahaha, de Hammer, giv mi de Hammer, de Ha-ha-ha-hammer.', dann is dat een Oratorium." Do you get it? In German a modal verb is enough to express an idea. "Ick schall to Kark"= "I have to/must/will/shall go to church." "hüüt"="heute", "today". "up"= "on, at", "een"= "einer", "someone", "se deit"= "she does", "wiesen"= point at, show, indicate, explain" (High German "weisen" is more used in compounds like "Wegweiser" for road sign, "beweisen" for give evidence, "hinweisen" for point at. "
If they´d chosen to use Platt-Deutsch (still spoken up in the north and closely related to parts of the Netherlands) it would´ve been even closer. There are many many words close to English (in pronouciation) in that, because it´s still a rather old form of northern German. Modern High-German ist probably the most derived from its origins compared to other european languages which makes it harder to understand and compare for English speakers. edit: ah yes, hadn´t seen the part where it was mentioned when I wrote the comment :)
Hi, Mert! I`m german. Especially the written dutch is very very understandable for me! By just hearing dutch it`s relatively understandable if you hear it once again. Sometimes you want to sit in a time machine and (secretly) travel back in time. Or? 🧐😃
My husband is one of the very few people still alive to speak the dialect from the Lower Rhineland area. Here’s what he told me: De kalte Winter is noh, ene Schneesturm sull komme. Komm in min werm Huus, minne Frönd. Komm erin. Komm hier, sing un danz, eat [e-at] un drink. Dat is watt ik fürheb (Plan joovet nit]. We hebbe Water, Bier en Melk frisch vonne Kuh. Oh, un werme Zupp. Some words are obviously the same as in Dutch. But all these various dialects are going extinct. So there you go. There's not much that you can do about it. 😢
Why did I read this in a Kölsch-dialect? haha It really does read something like the local dialect over there though. Well, guess it makes sense, local languages etc having served as a substrate for High German's spread.
@@MellonVegan Because it is Rhenish Franconian, which also includes the Cologne dialect. And while we're on the subject of dialect exchange. The whole thing a little more southerly in Moselle Franconian: De kald Winda is nòh, eh Freckwedda will kumme. Kumm in mei waam Heisje, mei Freind. Wellkumm! Kumm zu'ma, sing un danz, ess un drink. Dat is mei Plaan. Ma'hann Wassa, Bia un Milsch frisch vun'da Kuh. Oh, un'eh waam Supp.
@@sèdnuvès I don't think it's Rhenish Franconian at all, it is way too close to Dutch for that and it has one very clear marker in the a -> e before an r (warm -> werm) which as far as I know only ever happens in Southern Gueldrish and Kleverlands. So yeah my guess would be Kleve.
Platt (Plattdeutsch) / low German is indeed less common than it used to be. In my grandparents generations in the North low German used to be everyones mother tongue and they learned standard German at school. I am myself from a Region where Standard German is pretty much our local dialect, but since we are part of the state of lower saxony, which in the Northern parts includes the Platt regions, I have heard it often on regional radio stations for example, where they would have a few hours of hosts speaking platt instead of standard German every now and then. So I can kind of understand it in parts. But I really have to focus and ideally would have to know the context, to make connections. Plus knowing English well, often help with understanding Platt. I wouldn't say it's dying though. There are a lof intiatives to keep it going and teach it again to children.
I'm dutch. The german I understand every sentence. There are a couple words I didn't know but at the most maybe 2. Danish I understand almost everything when I hear it, when I read it it gets a bit more difficult. Norwegian I understand at the most half of it when I hear it and when I read it only some words. Swedish I understand maybe a bit more then half of it when I hear it and when reading it more then norwegian but still less then half of it. Funny thing is I can't understand half of the frisian language and that's spoken in a part of the country I live in
Along with the Normans came the Flemish mercinaries who were given land in scotland ( and wales) . Quite a few scottish clans have Flemish roots. As well as flemish weavers and tradesmen who made their way up there and influenced the scottisch language that way There are a few videos on the topic available. 😊 🤘❤️
East germany has lots of flemish roots too, like in the region of der fläming. When the holy roman emperor conquered the lands east of the elbe he encouraged settlement to the sparsely populated land and since the low countries were so densely populated a lot of them chose to go. They were also very sought after because they were good at making the swampy marshland arable.
The bad news about Low German is the lack of a uniformed spelling, due to the fact that it differs a lot from region to region. And a lot of sounds are a mix between its consonants and vowels. For example, when we say "I have" in Low German it may be spelled as "Ick har", but we do not pronounce the "r" separately, we let the "a" vibrate. about the same way a duck quacks. An "a" in a word like "Vadder" (father) would sound as in English. And then we have an "a" that is more an "o" as in English "morning". An "o" is often very guttural and nasal at the same time, very close to the sound that you find in English words like "pour" or "bore". Nevertheless I shall try to transform that text into Low German as it is spoken in my home region close to the Danish border: "De koole Winter is noo bi* , een Schneesturm schall kumm. Kumm in mien warme Huus, mien Früünd. Willkumm. Kumm to mi, sing und danz. Dat is mien Plan. Wi hem Water, Beer un Melk frisch vun de Koo. Oh, un een warme Suup.(*nah bi=nahe bei= near to)
Loved that video, highly interesting to me. 🙂 And yes, the Norman Conquest in 1066 introduced French into English, that is why you do not eat cow, but beef - and you do not eat pig, but pork.
The screwfly: English hen / Standard German Henne.English cock/ Standard German Hahn or dated Gockel. English chicken can be a young hen, or a hen , prepared for being eaten. Standard German Küken is a young/ child hen (or cock). A hen prepared for being eaten, can be, depending on region, Hähnchen/ Hendl- little cock/ little hen or Göckele- little Gockel. English meat is in german Fleisch, english flesh is human meat. German Mett means fine minced porc, eaten raw. English bone is in current german Knochen, but some old german people still use sometimes Bein. In current german Bein means leg. English butcher is in german, depending on region Fleischer ( flesher), Schlachter ( slaughterer), Metzger ( meater), Fleischhauer ( fleshhewer), Fleischhacker (fleshhacker), Beinhauer ( bonehewer), Beinhacker ( bonehacker). Both german and english are westgermannic languages, and so many words are, at least in context, related.
The only time we ever hear German is around christmas when the old war films are on tv .. Du, steh auf und hande hoch, donner und blitzen, Achtung, jawohl, Might come in handy if i ever go there. Who knows?
![American reacts Top German Memes This Week [#84]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/UP5nUpNaqt4/mqdefault.jpg)
![American reacts Top German Memes This Week [#84]](/img/tr.png)
As a German, I always find it interesting how words are pronounced in Scotland because it’s often close to how a German without any knowledge of English would pronounce them. However, this starts as soon as you go north of London, where words increasingly sound more "German" in their pronunciation.
I noticed that too. The pronunciation of the vowels is becoming more and more similar to that of the German ones.
@@danman9439 German here too. When I was in Edinburgh on a ghost hunt, the host asked all the tourists in my group, who was able to pronounce "Loch, licht, and nicht." I replied "Loch, licht, and nicht!" He then said "So you're obviously Scottish." Nope", said I, "I'm German!" 😄😄
Maybe the fact the saxons were german got a lot to do with it
Edit: just continued the video and they go on to mention that
@@dmt_91 Okay, thanks!
@@doertefaatz And those all sound like German words - the words for hole, light, and not.
Funfact: Scots (as in Germanic Scottish, not Scottish Gaelic) is actually notably closer to German due to less Norman influence than in England.
Indeed,and along with those Normans came the Flemish mercinaries who were given land in scotland ( and wales) . Quite a few scottish clans have Flemish roots. As well as flemish weavers and tradesmen who made their way up there and influenced the scottisch language that way There are a few videos on the topic available. 😊 🤘❤️
I observed the same. I just visited Scotland some months ago and spoke to many locals.
Scots also has some incommon with North Germanic. A striking word is the word for child: da,no,se: Barn, sc: Bairn
And even closer to Dutch and Flemish (than German), as experienced.
@@Aodericchildren are also called bairns in the Geordie dialect of North East England.
As a german i understood 100% of the first durch sentence.
Me, an Austrian, as well.
It was a bit of a weird sentence. But it was definitely Dutch.
Me too, but all of us here knowing English probably helped a bit.
I'm Austrian, and even if I didn't speak English as a second language, I would have understood the Dutch paragraph without any problems.
As an American I was able to understand like 80-90% of the German & Dutch one lol
I always find it funny to see that beer is öl in Scandinavian languages, because Öl is also the German word for oil. Always gotta keep your engine well oiled :D
It's funny, for us as well, that you chose to write Oil as Öl, when the Danes uses Olie, the Norwegians Olje, Swedish Olja... and that's because the French, Spanish, Italians all use Olio..
Yet you are the ones that went, Olio nah, oel→oͤl→öl...
And Swedish Öl, is from Proto-Germanic Aluz.
Ale, would be the English equivalent word.
"Das getriebe am wochenende ölen" can have 2 meanings then
@@TheDiamondBladeHD In de olie zijn (To be in oil) is a Dutch proverb meaning to be drunk.
I am so lucky, that I speak Low and High German as well I know some Northern Frisian. It made learning English very easy and I can read and understand a lot of Dutch, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. I also recognise a lot Icelandic but it’s much complicated to get to the point.
We "Fishheads" had the time of our lives at university when we had to do our course in Anglo-Saxon or Old-English as we had no real problems getting into its structure. It was far more difficult for our fellow students who had no knowledge of Low German at all.
I speak english and 45 years ago spoke a fair amount of german. This was before bicycle racing was shown in US TV and no internet. To follow the Tour de France I would listen to Radio Nederlands in Dutch. Because of my english and german abilities I could understand the Dutch moderately well unless the announcer got excited and started speaking fast and excitedly. Then there was no hope.
I actually have some books in Norwegian on my bookshelf. I can figure out the story line but not really the details. These books are from my grandfather, who grew up speaking Norwegian in North Dakota USA and actually taught Norse at University briefly.
You should check out old and middle English. Old will be a bit tougher just because of the corpus using super flowery language cause it's mostly poetry and the grammar is crazy (Icelanders would have an easier time), but eME would be an absolute breeze. Anyway, here's the same thing but in colloquial Old English
Se cealde winter is nēah, en snāwstorm sċeal cuman. Cuman in hūse mīn, hit byþ wearm, min frēond. Welcuman! Cuman hēr, sing and hleap, ēte and drincan, þæt byþ min ræd. We hæfþ water, beor, and milc fresċ frām þæs cū. Ah, and wearme sūppe!
I sometimes get the impression that Icelandic is a modern Germanic language with an ancient language's grammar.
@ My grandfather spoke fluent Norwegian, English, and some German. He tried to learn Icelandic but it baffled him.
I am from northern Germany and understood almost everything in Dutch.
Can confirm the same works the other way around. Low German could just be another Dutch dialect as far as understanding goes. Arguably part of the Netherlands relatively close to the German border speaks (or used to speak) low German.
@@KeesBoons Sadly I dont speak Plattdütsch but understanding it is enough to understand dutch, I mean german is almost close enough to understand dutch anyways but not as close.
@@Mindinvasion I'm from the South of the Netherlands, so instead of Plattdütsch I speak (more or less) my local dialect, but I've always watched German television when I was young. Die Sendung mit der Maus and Pippi where regulars. Understanding German is not really a problem for me, but writing has always been, and always will be a lot harder. I know (in general), the gender of the worlds, as this is used in my local dialect as well, and you get a feeling for it. All the different forms still trip me up every time.
I am from Vienna, Austria, and I did too. 👍
@@KeesBoons I live in East Frisia on the German-Dutch border. We speak Low German and on the other side in Groningen, some people still speak Frisian. You can definitely understand each other well. As far back as I can remember, the whole region was once Frisia, or rather the Frisian people.
As a german im mostly able to understand written Dutch.
80% if you speak slowly
But thats cos im fluent in English as well 😊
Also when i lived in merry oul Ireland 20 years ago, i met a random person, who spoke Africaans to me.
We were able to get each other.
Sometimes Dutch sounds hilarious to us...
Ig
hout= Holz = wood
Hout Sounds like the german word Haut= skin
So when i passed the street LANGE VOORHOUT in Den Haag it ment in German LONG FORESKIN, but its actually about a long wooden fence or such 😂
Also i must add and admit:
The Dutch are great neighbours. Very friendly, polite and reliably bilingual (Dutch + English)
In fact, many of them speak/ understand german as well... way more than the other way round
My father spoke a different dialect (of Dutch) than my mother and he called hout 'holt'. We all understood German from watching German tv, even my parents.
Dutch Wikipedia explains the street name with: "Het Lange Voorhout, zo genoemd omdat het een uitloper (voor-bos of voor-hout) van het Haagse Bos was, kreeg geleidelijk zijn karakteristieke L-vorm." _Hout_ , like wood, means both what trees are made of and what they form. The meaning as in German _Wald_ is now mostly replaced by _bos_ and _hout_ mostly part of place names. I was taught that the 'hol' bit in Holland is derived from _holt_ , the Middle Dutch rendering of that word.
@MagereHein thanks for your advice. Ill look it up 😀
My guess wasnt too bad, was it ? 🥰
Not quite a fence, but an avenue, framed with trees...
@@gertvanderstraaten6352 there was an old frisian ile, that went down in 1362 named Runghold
Rung= wrong, hold= Holz = hout= wood
Its so fascinating to me, how much you are actually between German and English 😁
@SweetSchnubbl Damn good try. 😀
I was taught German in school. I'm not fluent, but good enough to get by and know that there are a quite a few false friends in Dutch and German vocabularies.
The Scots and the Dutch have had a rich history. The Belgians, who were still part of the Netherlands back then, traveled to Scotland to fight alongside the Scots. Hence the Flemming name.
Indeed, along with the Normans came the Flemish mercinaries who were given land in scotland ( and wales) . Quite a few scottish clans have Flemish roots. As well as flemish weavers and tradesmen who made their way up there and influenced the scottisch language that way There are a few videos on the topic available.
Point of criticism : the Netherlands or Belgium werent even a thing in 1066, when this happened. but Flanders was. Belgium as such has never been a part of the Netherlands. Besides maybe between 1815 and 1830. Before that it was union under foreign rule or seperation under foreign rule. Or a short period in the 80years war, where we were the united provinces, but one was not part of the other.
@@Wim1979 but Belgium was at first part of the Frankish Empire (in fact the core region was 'Austrasia' which is basically Western Germany, Belgium and Netherlands with the city of Aachen in the center which was also the 'de facto' capital of the travel emperor 'Karl der Grossen (Karolus Magnus - wrongly named Charlemagne (this name is historically just wrong)). And later part of the Holy Roman Empire. And most (including Northern Europe and Eastern-Central and Eastern Europe) were referred to as 'Germans' (not just due to the kingdom of Germany base of the HRE but also because from the Christian/Pope/HRE-Emperor point of view it was the main hub for Christianization in each direction which is still pagan. Thats why the Vikings later as well as in the East were Christianized from 'today Germany' and this often came with certain city laws (like the Magdeburg law) ... thats also the reason why in those peripherical regions it became a thing when those newer kingdoms became the 'right of an own seat' (and not just be represented by the HRE). for the same reasons you had during medieval time at the different universities only a few 'backgrounds' which were not just 'ethnic': you had like Germans, French, Italian (was also part of the HRE) and later Spain was added as next extension. You needed to 'subscribe' under one of those labels and as already said: everything North, East or Germanic speaking like was 'German'
Moin ut noorddüütschland low saxony germany vun de waterkant Bremerhaven 👍😁😊
I speak Low Saxon German 😊
Here the text in low German 👍 from my region 😊
De kole winter is dicht, en sneestorm schall kamen. Kaam in mien warm huus mien fründ. Willkamen! Kaam her sing un danz, eet un drink. Dat is mien plan.
Wi hebbt water, beer un melk von de koh. Oh, un warme supp!
Dat weer up plattdeutsch ( low german 👍)
Dat gifft aver vun region to region deelwies ünnerscheedlich nedderdüütsch dialekte. Man kann sik aver verstahn.
Allerbest un hool di wuchtig mien keerl 👍
Ich habe von meinen Großeltern in Cappel (nördl. von Dorum) Platt gelernt; das klang aber schon wieder anders als deins. Letztlich ist es von Dorf zu Dorf verschieden.
Dien plattdeutsch valt mie nait of. Moi uut Grunn.
@Dutchman626 Ik kann dien nedderlannsch verstahn, worüm magst du uns plattdüütsch ut mien region nich?
Mein lieber arnebollsen: 'Valt mie nait of' betekent dat iets heel erg meevalt of geweldig is.🤗
@Dutchman626 Moin,...achso, denn heff ik dat doch anners verstahn. Is doch wat anners as ik dacht heff. Aver nu heff ik dat richtig verstahn👍😁.
Allerbest un gode 👍
I found this quite well done. And it really Highlights the different groupings.
Also yay for the mention of low german 🎉. It was actually the lingua franca of the hanseatic league back in the day.
Fun Fact: My father came from eastprussia. He could talk Plattdeutsch, the dialect which was spoken in the north of Germany.
He was once in the Black Forrest, where we live, in a inn. There was a man who scoulded in Platt „This would be Germans? They don‘t talk real German!“ My father talked to him in Platt and the man says „Finally there is someone who talks right German!“ My father told him, that he don‘t talk German. They talked to each other and the man told my father, that his father had a farm on which are to German Prisoners of war, from whom he had learned German. They came from the north and talked in Platt to each other, which the man had lerned.
Plattdeutsch ist kein Dialekt sondern eine Sprache.
Fun fact: The word that Germans use to describe themselves - Deutsch - and the word you guys use for the people of the Netherlands - Dutch - are descended from the word "theodisc", from "theod" meaning people in Old Germanic. Basically it means "language of the people", i.e. "vernacular", as opposed to Latin and French, the ecclesiastic / noble language. But if you try to look up where we first started using "theodisc" as a descriptor for people or language, you actually find that it is used in a Latin document about the Anglo-Saxons. So the first use of the word "Deutsch" actually describes the English people (and specifically, the English language).
Another enthusiast!
Se cealde winter is nēah, en snāwstorm sċeal cuman. Cuman in hūse mīn, hit byþ wearm, min frēond. Welcuman! Cuman hēr, sing and hleap, ēte and drincan, þæt byþ min ræd. We hæfþ water, beor, and milc fresċ frām þæs cū. Ah, and wearme sūppe!
Here is that paragraph in my native Faroese (a 100% word-to-word translation is not possible but give it a go anyway):
Tann kaldi veturin stendur fyri durum, ein kavaódn fer at koma. Kom inn í mítt heita hús, vinur mín. Vælkomin! Kom higar, syng og dansa, et og drekk. Hetta er ætlan mín. Vit hava vatn, øl og mjólk feska frá kúnni. Oh, og heita súpan.
Have fun. ;)
My greatgrandmother spoke low German but I could only understand about 20% of it, but she was able to switch to high German to communicate with us younger folks who had no day to day experience with low German. I live in an area where low german is among the most represented but it's still a very tiny percent being able to speak and understand it, none in my private life. It's a bit of a shame because it's a cool sounding dialect but so hard to use for anyone not brought up with it.
Same. The older people from my fathers family all spoke low German, they were from the Caucasus region. Sadly, my father never learned, and so I didn't either
I didn't grow up with a dialect and never managed to understand my grandfather who only spoke Mittelfränkisch. 😂
It's always bizarre when you can't understand each other despite of officially speaking the same language
@@asaris_ fraenkisch sounds nice. You missed out. Never met your real grandfather. What a shame. Dialects are not hard to understand. I speak fraenkisch, understand badisch, swabian, Bavarian, pfaelzisch, I can understand the amisch, some Yiddish, hessian too.
It is not a dialect if it is actual "Niederdeutsch" though. It is a language which is much closer related to Dutch than High German. All of northern Germany had to learn a "new language" when standard German was introduced and that is why there are fewer strong dialects in the north because they learned a new language. The south just kept speaking like they spoke and could communicate with High German speakers which is why they were able to retain their dialects.
@@Mulmgott understood. i do recognize that Platt is in fact a language and not a dialect.
Can anyone confirm or deny this: The reason Scots and Scottish English sounds closer to German vowel pronunciation is because the Great Vowel Shift was less evident the further north you went. Similar to the High German Consonant Shift; the further north you go, the less pronounced the changes were (why old English is more intelligible with Low German/Low Saxon over High German).
I'm no linguist either but I heard of this being the case before as well
Wow! That was really interesting. Thank you 🙏😊😁
As a German, Dutch sounds like a mixture of English and a drunk person speaking German.
I love how to both English and German speakers, it is Dutch that sounds messed up to them 😂 Not German to English speakers or English to German speakers.
English sounds like a drunk Frisian who tries to speak French but fails..
That was fascinating!
As a german learning english was quite easy, but other german people will disagree :) Understanding spoken norwegian, swedish or dansk is very hard for me, reading is a bit easier. But I can understand roughly 50% of dutch conversations, though this heavily depends on the speaker and the accent.
Dutch people on the other hand usually understand german exceptionally well.
Maybe because of the Television as well. As I've heard the Dutch don't have so much dubbed stuff as we have in Germany. Perhaps this is one reason why most of them are fluent in English and German. I really like the Dutch.
Very enjoyable video, thank you! The similarities are amazing. It's actually giving me hope, because it seems, when humans aren't busy bashing each other's heads in, they can actually grow as a community.
That was brilliant. Das war brilliant. Good find! Guter Fund! Thank you! Danke Dir!
Why is the huge viking / Scandinavian influence NEVER mentioned??
At one point especially danish immigration was huge. They came and settled and soon mixed with the people already living there.
A huge part of the country was known as Danelaw after all, and not just because of who ruled the land.
English language not only gained some loanwords but it's grammar went through changes do to the old norse mixing and (as partially a creole language) the grammar simplified.
There must have been a bunch of Swedish or even Finnish people too since english adopted the word "boy". In swedish it's pojke, but the origin is in finnish poika.
'Nabij' would be 'nearby' in English. Basically winter is near.
English also has the now archaic word "nigh". As in "Winter is nigh".
@@KP-rm8eg And correct me if I’m wrong, but the English letter combo “gh” did actually used to be pronounced (a more airy sound), so the j spelling might make even more sense, epically given Germanic languages pronounce the J more like a y besides English. Now “gh” is either silent or you somehow get an “f” sound like in cough. Some other words have a gh sound but they aren’t related, like ghost.
This was the most interesting and engaging video I've seen of yours in a while!
This was beautiful; videos like this give people like me a new appreciation for/perspective on languages and their relations/interconnectedness ❤
Please keep them up. This made my day 😊
I visited Sweden in German school, and although that was for my English course to get us and the Swedes to speak English, I distinctly remember how we could always figure out the basics of what the other side said if they just spoke Swedish / we spoke german slow and clear enough.
And also how funny it was to call beer oil of all things.
As a german from the westernmost part of germany, close to the durch border, our dialect sounds a lot like dutch. My grandparents (90+ year old) use words that we don't use in german sometimes, but that are normally used in dutch. I can understand dutch almost 100%, even though there are some words that trip me up. Like 95% of dutch uses the same kind of word like the german equivalent (with a different pronunciation but clearly decipherable), and 5% is a totally different word that i can't connect to a german word at all 😂
Yes, it's true. The true low German is not easy to understand, to a high German speaker.
I'm from Frankfurt, which is quite in the middle of Germany.
And I remember listening to my Grandparents talking to their neighbors, when I visited them, close to the northern city of Bremen.
I tried really hard, but I just could not understand what they said. It was like a completely other language, to me.
Ich froh mich, ob's fir dich liischder wär, Lothringisch zë verstehn. 's fällt mir ah schwer, dë Litt uss Norddäitschlond zë verstehn, wenn se mit ënonner uff Dialekt redde.
I wonder how close these languages were a 1000 years ago.
I saw part of this a long time ago but had lost track of it. It was facinating to come across it again, in its entirety.The careful choice of vocabulary and grammar highlights the family resemblence among Germanic languages. I would love to have heard the dialog in some Scots dialects. Scots is considered by some to be closer to English than Frisian. I do not mean Scottish English, but broad Scots, which is considered a separate language from English.
The Anglo-Saxons are called so because some people from the Saxonian parts of what is now Germany (and Netherlands and Denmark I Guess) moved there. In old German and the languages and dialects of the North Sea have quite some similarities with older English.
As a Frenchman who’s interested in European languages, this video was fascinating.
Oui, je suis Lorrain et je parle à la fois le français et un dialecte allemand qui descend de la langue de Clovis et de Charlemagne!
It's actually a hotly debated issue if there ever was something like "Proto-Germanic". In recent decades, the majority of academics has shifted towards no. Instead, it seems like the genesis of Germanic languages from the Indo-Germanic family occurred following the sprachraum model. This is because different Germanic languages share features with languages from other branches of the Indo-Germanic family (notably Celtic / Italic (or, if you're of that persuasion, Italo-Celtic), Baltic and Slavic), but are divided amongst each other by which features they adopted. It is thus likely that the divisions that would later separate East, West and North Germanic existed before the Germanic languages split off from the main family and developed similar features while still maintaining their individual features, meaning there never was a common ancestor of the Germanic languages other than the original Indo-Germanic family and its pre-separation sub-divisions.
I’m German. I can understand Dutch quite well if spoken slowly and clearly.
Great video, and great reaction to it!
As for isolated germanic languages theres an even more striking example than icelandic. Feroese, the language spoken on the feroese isles which are located halway between the shetland islands and iceland.
The Frenchie says 'partez' and 'votre', which are polite French. He would have used informal/rude 'parte' and 'ton' to make his disdain more évident.
I just learned this the other day: you is actually the historically formal word in English (sounds near identical to vous) and thou was the informal. So if the point was to make them sound similar I think this way works.
I'm a german native speaker, fluent in Englisch, and I learned Dutch and Danish among others. On top I studied linguistics and I love that example text used in that video. It's great to explain language families. There are also comparison texts for celtic languages and indo-european languages.
When I read a Dutch newspaper I understand almost everything. It‘s much more difficult if you hear people speaking, although I‘m from Northern Germany and Plattdeutsch is very similar to Dutch.
Thanks again for an awesome video. Your channel is really educating. Greetings from Berlin ✌
It's not his content he just reacted
My Hungarian father in law has told me the legendary quote:
Dutch is likea drunken Englishman that tries to speak German.
As i speak all 3 languages i can say that i never heard a better analogy
As someone fluent in both languages it now makes total sense why dutch always sounded so strangely familiar as a kid when I was only able to speak german. It sounded like I was able to understand half of it and guess what... turns out the other half is english
Also i think that danish (compared to scandinavian) has the most similarities to german but I might be the one off here
Hmm, don't know. My ex- partner is danish and when he was on the phone with his mother I didn't understand a word as a German. I liked it though, it sounded great, but the understanding ....🤪. And the words were not to remember, at least for me. I think I can only think of one single word, which was "Sprallemann" . I looked it up but it makes no sense, I thought it means "Hampelmann", but I am wrong. The brain is tricky sometimes. 😂
It is a pity that we didn't raise our daughter bilingual, because from what I know: if you speak danish you are able to communicate with the Swedish and Norwegian people as well. At least my ex was able to do so.
@ How old is your daughter? Maybe she wont have the advantage of getting raised bilungal but we still do learn faster as kids ;) The only experience I have with danish is throu online gaming tbh but i have found that german does somewhat help. The guys also mentioned what you said about them being able to communicate with Norwegians and swedes
I feel you on the not being able to remember the words. Think all I got left is "vordan har du deyt" wich means how are you if I'm not mistaken
@@Winona493 It's sprællemand and you are right, it translates as Hampelmann in German.
I am from the north of Germany. Raised with low and high german makes it easy to learn english. I also understand dutch, but I can‘t speak dutch. Low german is still spoken in the north, sometimes the low german language sounds completely different from one village to the next. And I really like the scottish englisch, your „r“-sound is very similar to many low german „r“-sounds.
The historic roots of languages are like a big puzzle, very interesting and satisfying to learn about!
As a german i almost understood everything from the dutch sentence. But there are a lot of words i dont get at all from dutch people in general. But yeah i have a clue what they tell me.
I love the scandinavian languages and swedish in particular. I looooove to hear it. Such a calming, soothing language. Want to learn it so badly.
Fascinating comparison. As a German i was not aware of how much i would understand of the Swedish and Norwegian sentences.
and a different low-german translation: "De kolen Winter dicht, en Sneestorm schall kamen. Kaam in mien warm Huus, mien Fründ. Willkamen! Kaam her, singen un danzen, eten un drinken. Dat is mien Plaan. Wi hebbt Water, Beer un frische Melk vun de Koh. Oh, un warme Supp!"-
Since there are many different dialects within that language, there are also more and diffrent versions of that translation.
"Oh, en warme soep" - Da habe ich verstanden: "Oh, und warme Schuhe"
Soep in je schoen.
"Anglo-Saxons" are the names of two north German tribes. 🤷♂
Before _Hastings 1066_ English had no French influence - and therefore was easy to understand.
No Dutch person would say "een sneeuwstorm zal komen". We would rather say something like: "Er komt een sneeuwstorm aan", or even: "Er zit een sneeuwstorm aan te komen". "Een sneeuwstorm zal komen" is not incorrect. It's just not the way a Dutch person would say it. 🙂
In an episode of the tv mini-series, "Band of Brothers," they do a patrol into German territory to snatch prisoners. Webster comes along as interpreter.
In the YT comments, someone complained that Webster's 'German' sounded so clearly English with a German accent.
I also listened to the actor while saying the lines, and he simply spoke the following lines in correct German:
"Bring die verwundeten Mann!"
Sounds a lot like 'bring dee wounded man!'
I come from the westphalian countryside and when my parents went to Scotland on vacation my mother said she thought Scots sounded like the people speaking lower german in our town. There are some simililarities for sure, like the rolling "r" that exists here but doesn't in high german
To Germans Dutch sounds like the illegitimate love child of German and English 😂
Well, it's geographically in between as well, so that makes sense.😊 Dutch had some sound shifts as in English, so some things are closer to English. But didn't have some other English sound shifts, so stayed close to German elsewhere.
In my youth in northern Germany I had a friend whose father came from Aberdeen in Scotland. Whenever he spoke Scottish English with us, it sounded a bit like our Low German. I can also understand Dutch although I don't speak it very well.
if it's spoken slowly enough or I can read it, I can understand a lot of dutch (being german and not rally speaking dutch). I do have family in the netherlands and I could suprise my dutch cousin with the fact that the berlin dialect word for "I" is pretty much the same as the dutch word for "I" . "ick" or "icke"
2:35 you have to view it with more oldschool eyes. "The winter is nigh".
When I was learning German, I was amazed how the sentence 'She is nineteen years old' (sie ist neunzehn Jahre alt) sounds incredibly similar in German and English. It doesn't look that similar when reading it, but when pronounced the German one sounds like someone twisted their tongue when speaking English.
This was a fun one to watch. You seem to love language as much as I do! Norwegian videos making fun of the Danish language are hilarious
This is the Text in "Plattdütsch" (Plattdeutsch, Niederdeutsch from Mecklenburg):
De kalte Winter kümmt, en Snööstorm warrt. Kumm rin in mien wärm Hus, mien Fründ. Wullkamen! Kumm rin, sing un danz, eet un drink. Dat is mien Plan. Wi hebbt Water, Bier un Melk frisch vun de Ko. Oh, un warrme Suppe!
This is it in Old English :)
Se cealde winter is nēah, en snāwstorm sċeal cuman. Cuman in hūse mīn, hit byþ wearm, min frēond. Welcuman! Cuman hēr, sing and hleap, ēte and drincan, þæt byþ min ræd. We hæfþ water, beor, and milc fresċ frām þæs cū. Ah, and wearme sūppe!
I didn't use dance because it didn't enter the English vocabulary until seemingly much later, after the Norman invasion. At the time the Angles Saxons etc migrated it didn't seem to be used on the continent, its earliest attestation in a Germanic language is ~800 in Old High German.
Being a northern German of Frisian descent, I speak German and Low German - the latter not as well, as I only do it with some family. Low German speakers talking in standard German just sound like they have a thick northern dialect, but speakig Low German, they really do sound Scottish, lol. They roll the "r" and lay heavy into "o" and "u" vowels - and have a reputation of mumbling and using as few words to communicate as possible (it's true).
It being an in-between of German and Dutch, which in it's origin predates both singular languages, I can understand about 90% of what a Dutch person says.
Regarding a connection between Scotland and Germany:
As is also shown in this video, the Germanic people's origin is in the north. The South of today's Germany was Celtic, which migrated westwards and into Wales and Scotland.
Hence you find in many places in Britain the same old traditions, like the erection of a May Pole in Spring (Fertility Fest, renewal), and Easter with Bunnies, Chickens as a symbol for fertility.
Also Easter Fires 🔥 are of Celtic origin, and happen on the British Island as well as in Germany.
And to this day, Easter is going by Moon Phases, so it is on different dates every year.
OTOH things like putting lights on a tree (or outright lighting it on fire 😂) 🎄 is Germanic.
Sweden even puts a crown of lights on girls.
Gotta do something during the darkest time of the year - and it is dark a lot in the north in winter.
The French example at the end: use "solely" rather than "only" to make the English closer to the French.
Native English speaker learning German. Understood the Dutch & German easily. I like the northern Germanic ones too and understood it mostly. Even if I didn’t know the context already I think I would get most of it or at least the main idea.
As a norhtern German, who speaks of course germn, English and understands Plattdeutsch (lower german) i understand a lot of Dutch.
Also if ou speak lower german or understand it, you mostly understand scottish people more easy. Because they are closer in pronounciation than standard english.
So a north german, a dutch person and a scottish person could have a realy good conversation with out speaking the other languages.
also the scandinavian Languages are easy to understand.
I had a freind from Norway. and there are some words that are very similar in all languages. Mostly words that are very old.
At 2:42 when you your guessing what the words mean, the closest English to the Dutch and German is nigh. It means almost, or close by. Near is also a close word, but it's closer to nigh etymologically
I knew as a 13 years old boy that dutch is a "sweet" Mix between german and english...I understand many words,but there are also traps called "wrong friends" where the same word means something other...
Dutch is a mix between german , english AND french .
For example , the french word paraplu is in dutch the same .
For germans : regenschirm .
Another french word in dutch : trotoir = gehweg.
@Smellslikenarcspirit many languages has a little french... cadeau(tje) by example, Geschenk...present...
The thing with the missing future tense in Proto-Germanic got me thinking! I'm not sure if it's the same all over Germany, but at least here in the south, although we have 6 tenses in standard German, we only use 2 of them 99% of the time. For everything that's now or in the future it's present tense. Everything in the past is in perfect tense. Seems to be very proto-germanic 😁
There is a whole Wikipedia page about the 'süddeutscher Präteritumsschwund'. It's actually quite fascinating.
@@pok81 The future tense was only introduced because it existed in Latin. But nobody really has used it in spoken German to this very day. "Morgen geh ich ins Kino." English as well "I'm going to the movies tomorrow. "
I am North German and even though most people speak modern Standard German almost exclusively, I think having some familiarity with the local dialect helps a lot with understanding Dutch. Not completely sure, but I believe the North German dialect is much closer to Dutch and English than other German dialects. And I think older people around here would better understand modern Dutch than most South German dialects.
Danish is harder to understand when hearing it, but I can read most signs and understand the basics of many newspaper articles without much problem.
That was great -- thanks a lot!
Best from Germany
Low Saxon is also spoken in the North east of the Netherkands.
Obviously the examples are carefully constructed, and words specifically chosen to be comprehensible in all three languages. As we all know, real life English and German, or English and Dutch are not mutually comprehensible. You can see the relationship between them even as a layperson, but in order to understand the other language you have to study it. The relationship between German and Dutch is different though, they are much closer than English is to either. Speakers of near border dialects in North Western Germany and Eastern Netherlands can pretty much understand each other like that. With standard German, you can't understand spoken Dutch, but written Dutch is comprehensible 60 - 90 percent, depending on how difficult the text is - where North Germans have it easier because their dialect called Low German is closer to Dutch than standard German is. The reverse is probably true for Dutch speakers.
I lived in the netherlands for a while, and although dutch isn't close enough to german that I could understand it 'like that' I did usually get the gist of what was said. Interestingly, as I am from the north, I do speak low german, and the region I was in in the netherlands had a population of speakers of Fries, which is fairly similar. It's still not effortless, but at my local bakery, I didn't even bother with english, because low german was more useful there.
When I lived in Scotland (born in NL) I always found it fascinating how much the Dundee accent sounds a lot like Dutch but with English words.
Danish sounds like a harder and childish German for me, like Flamish is like a childish and softer Dutch. (ofc that's a generalisation, not all words follow that scheme).
As German, Dutch and English are West Germanic languages it is not surprising there are similarities between these languages.
High German and Dutch have the same ancestors.High German split off by shifting consonants.
Languages are very interesting for me. I always end up watching videos about languages on UA-cam or reading articles on Wikipedia.
I guess i can understand about 10-15% of dutch as a german but speaking is a whole other level. Some sounds in the dutch language are not that easy for me. But im pretty exposed to the language as i have friends and family in the Netherlands.
"De winter was lang zonder jouw liefde. De winter was koud zonder jouw lach" (Willeke Albertie)
"De storm is over, weg is nu de regen" (Heintje)
The word for dance is lost? Keep in mind where the word for france is comming from. Franks, they were a germanic tribe as well. Probably dance is a original german version of the old geman word for dancing?
The word seems to have danced back and forth between languages. It has come to Modern Germanic from French, to French from Vulgar Latin, but to there likely from a Germanic root, though likely with a different meaning.
Gothic has its own word for 'to dance', which is 𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (laikan), so the video creator was actually wrong.
As a Non English Native Speaker, I could understand most of the dialogues... Maybe I could start learning german, it's a beautifully underrated language.
In Scotland, do you call codfish torsk? Norwegians also call it torsk. I am pretty sure it is called that in the Orkneys.
dorsch in german, which sounds quite similar to the norwegian torsk, i think. 😊
Wow the Norwegian was actually pretty close to Dutch with some accents from various parts of the Netherlands 😮 👍🏼
Working with a plumber in london i asked him where abouts in scotland he was from because i couldn't quite figure out what area he was from and he said I'm not Scottish I'm danish very strange i would have bet money that his accent was from some where in scotland
All mentioned languages are in the same language group, the Germanic language group.
What he´s leaving out at the end is that alot of the french words came from latin due to the roman occupation (like "occupation" :P)
Two Hamburg dockers sit together in a shed at lunch break. Hein asks Fiete, if he would like to go to the pub that night for a couple of beer and playing cards. Fiete answers he would like to, but he would not be able to do so, because "Ick schall to Kark." Hein: "To Kark, hüüt, up een Mittwoch? Is een dot?" "Nee, mien Dochter singt in dat Oratorium vun Händel." "Se deit wat? Wat is denn een Oratorium?" Fiete: "Dat will ick di wiesen. Wenn ick di sech, 'Hein, giv mi de Hammer.', dann is dat keen Oratorium. Un wenn ick sing, 'Ha, Ha, Hahahahahein, giv, giv, giv giv mi, giv mi, Hein, giv mi, de Ha, de Ha, de Hahahahaha, de Hammer, giv mi de Hammer, de Ha-ha-ha-hammer.', dann is dat een Oratorium."
Do you get it? In German a modal verb is enough to express an idea. "Ick schall to Kark"= "I have to/must/will/shall go to church." "hüüt"="heute", "today". "up"= "on, at", "een"= "einer", "someone", "se deit"= "she does", "wiesen"= point at, show, indicate, explain" (High German "weisen" is more used in compounds like "Wegweiser" for road sign, "beweisen" for give evidence, "hinweisen" for point at.
"
If they´d chosen to use Platt-Deutsch (still spoken up in the north and closely related to parts of the Netherlands) it would´ve been even closer. There are many many words close to English (in pronouciation) in that, because it´s still a rather old form of northern German.
Modern High-German ist probably the most derived from its origins compared to other european languages which makes it harder to understand and compare for English speakers.
edit: ah yes, hadn´t seen the part where it was mentioned when I wrote the comment :)
Hi, Mert! I`m german. Especially the written dutch is very very understandable for me! By just hearing dutch it`s relatively understandable if you hear it once again.
Sometimes you want to sit in a time machine and (secretly) travel back in time. Or? 🧐😃
My husband is one of the very few people still alive to speak the dialect from the Lower Rhineland area. Here’s what he told me:
De kalte Winter is noh, ene Schneesturm sull komme. Komm in min werm Huus, minne Frönd. Komm erin. Komm hier, sing un danz, eat [e-at] un drink. Dat is watt ik fürheb (Plan joovet nit]. We hebbe Water, Bier en Melk frisch vonne Kuh. Oh, un werme Zupp.
Some words are obviously the same as in Dutch. But all these various dialects are going extinct. So there you go. There's not much that you can do about it. 😢
Why did I read this in a Kölsch-dialect? haha
It really does read something like the local dialect over there though.
Well, guess it makes sense, local languages etc having served as a substrate for High German's spread.
@@MellonVegan Because it is Rhenish Franconian, which also includes the Cologne dialect.
And while we're on the subject of dialect exchange.
The whole thing a little more southerly in Moselle Franconian:
De kald Winda is nòh, eh Freckwedda will kumme. Kumm in mei waam Heisje, mei Freind. Wellkumm! Kumm zu'ma, sing un danz, ess un drink. Dat is mei Plaan. Ma'hann Wassa, Bia un Milsch frisch vun'da Kuh. Oh, un'eh waam Supp.
@@sèdnuvès I don't think it's Rhenish Franconian at all, it is way too close to Dutch for that and it has one very clear marker in the a -> e before an r (warm -> werm) which as far as I know only ever happens in Southern Gueldrish and Kleverlands. So yeah my guess would be Kleve.
@@alfonsstekebrugge8049 You do know that Rhenish Franconian is a language family and therefore it doesn't matter which dialect it is in the end?
Platt (Plattdeutsch) / low German is indeed less common than it used to be. In my grandparents generations in the North low German used to be everyones mother tongue and they learned standard German at school. I am myself from a Region where Standard German is pretty much our local dialect, but since we are part of the state of lower saxony, which in the Northern parts includes the Platt regions, I have heard it often on regional radio stations for example, where they would have a few hours of hosts speaking platt instead of standard German every now and then.
So I can kind of understand it in parts. But I really have to focus and ideally would have to know the context, to make connections. Plus knowing English well, often help with understanding Platt. I wouldn't say it's dying though. There are a lof intiatives to keep it going and teach it again to children.
I'm dutch. The german I understand every sentence. There are a couple words I didn't know but at the most maybe 2. Danish I understand almost everything when I hear it, when I read it it gets a bit more difficult. Norwegian I understand at the most half of it when I hear it and when I read it only some words. Swedish I understand maybe a bit more then half of it when I hear it and when reading it more then norwegian but still less then half of it. Funny thing is I can't understand half of the frisian language and that's spoken in a part of the country I live in
Holländisch ist ein deutscher Dialekt.
Along with the Normans came the Flemish mercinaries who were given land in scotland ( and wales) . Quite a few scottish clans have Flemish roots. As well as flemish weavers and tradesmen who made their way up there and influenced the scottisch language that way There are a few videos on the topic available. 😊 🤘❤️
East germany has lots of flemish roots too, like in the region of der fläming. When the holy roman emperor conquered the lands east of the elbe he encouraged settlement to the sparsely populated land and since the low countries were so densely populated a lot of them chose to go. They were also very sought after because they were good at making the swampy marshland arable.
11:05 also interesting ... I´d read "The cold winter is tight by" or "Der kalte Winter ist dicht bei" in German.
The bad news about Low German is the lack of a uniformed spelling, due to the fact that it differs a lot from region to region. And a lot of sounds are a mix between its consonants and vowels. For example, when we say "I have" in Low German it may be spelled as "Ick har", but we do not pronounce the "r" separately, we let the "a" vibrate. about the same way a duck quacks. An "a" in a word like "Vadder" (father) would sound as in English. And then we have an "a" that is more an "o" as in English "morning". An "o" is often very guttural and nasal at the same time, very close to the sound that you find in English words like "pour" or "bore". Nevertheless I shall try to transform that text into Low German as it is spoken in my home region close to the Danish border:
"De koole Winter is noo bi* , een Schneesturm schall kumm. Kumm in mien warme Huus, mien Früünd. Willkumm. Kumm to mi, sing und danz. Dat is mien Plan. Wi hem Water, Beer un Melk frisch vun de Koo. Oh, un een warme Suup.(*nah bi=nahe bei= near to)
Loved that video, highly interesting to me. 🙂
And yes, the Norman Conquest in 1066 introduced French into English, that is why you do not eat cow, but beef - and you do not eat pig, but pork.
Sow / swine - Sau/ Schwein
Please eat nothing of this.😂 Be a vegan!!!
If there is no meat, we eat vegetarisns.
And why the meat from chickens (poor people's meat) is not a French word it's just chicken.
The screwfly: English hen / Standard German Henne.English cock/ Standard German Hahn or dated Gockel. English chicken can be a young hen, or a hen , prepared for being eaten. Standard German Küken is a young/ child hen (or cock). A hen prepared for being eaten, can be, depending on region, Hähnchen/ Hendl- little cock/ little hen or Göckele- little Gockel. English meat is in german Fleisch, english flesh is human meat. German Mett means fine minced porc, eaten raw. English bone is in current german Knochen, but some old german people still use sometimes Bein. In current german Bein means leg. English butcher is in german, depending on region Fleischer ( flesher), Schlachter ( slaughterer), Metzger ( meater), Fleischhauer ( fleshhewer), Fleischhacker (fleshhacker), Beinhauer ( bonehewer), Beinhacker ( bonehacker).
Both german and english are westgermannic languages, and so many words are, at least in context, related.
The only time we ever hear German is around christmas when the old war films are on tv ..
Du, steh auf und hande hoch, donner und blitzen, Achtung, jawohl,
Might come in handy if i ever go there. Who knows?
Delete the french words in you English, and use the English words, and you basically speak rotten Dutch already... and Low German.
"Room and board". Hmm. This is interesting.
Well in Scotland and Germany there is the sound that is made by the Ch, which is no longer in English.
The sound that is in every other Dutch word too.
@@thescrewfly Isn't the G in dutch pronounces similarly to the german ch?
@@scottsutoob In most dialects of Dutch, yes.
You are my brother. Greetings from a Frisian
”Basic English Grandma” made me laugh (yes of course that was not was meant)