Coronavirus - A pale horse,4 men and ....beer

[firlandsfarm]

... But it's better now that we all have a supply of bog roll.

Another shortcoming of online newspapers!!

[firlandsfarm]

I always thought they learned English as being the most 'international' language because nobody other than they can speak their language!

Because English is just one of the many Germanic languages and the vast majority of the most used words actually have Germanic origin. Same as Danish, Dutch, German etc that all belong to the same language family, so it's all obviously much easier to learn.

While on the other popular branch of Indo-European languages you have Italic languages, with the likes of Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian. That's why they all sound very similar and use the same words, and if you become fluent in one of them it is extremely easy to learn another from that same branch.

But yeah, Scandinavians generally find English very natural to learn and speak, besides the likes of Finland whose language belongs to the Baltic branch and is vastly different. From personal experience Danes are the only people I've met so far that sometimes don't even have an accent when speaking English, I could barely tell despite having a good ear for these sorts of things.

Interesting! Though as a well-travelled linguist, I can tell you that Portuguese, Italian and Spanish while Latin-based, are quite different and nothing like 'easy to learn from another of the same branch'.

The similarity between Danish, Swedish and Norwegian is far, far closer than any of the Latin-based languages. Finnish however (Suomi), is more Russian-influenced and very different to the other Scandi dialects.

The toughest European languages I have studied (thus far) were actually Greek and Polish and they are both a work-in-progress.

There's one word that always comes back to me as it's the same in most of the Latin AND Germanic languages. Can you guess what it is?

Answer: Ananas (pineapple).

CS

No mention of Double Dutch then!!

[Kafkaesque]

... Which may explain their ability to speak English better than most english people.

I always thought they learned English as being the most 'international' language because nobody other than they can speak their language!

Because English is just one of the many Germanic languages and the vast majority of the most used words actually have Germanic origin. Same as Danish, Dutch, German etc that all belong to the same language family, so it's all obviously much easier to learn.

While on the other popular branch of Indo-European languages you have Italic languages, with the likes of Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian. That's why they all sound very similar and use the same words, and if you become fluent in one of them it is extremely easy to learn another from that same branch.

But yeah, Scandinavians generally find English very natural to learn and speak, besides the likes of Finland whose language belongs to the Baltic branch and is vastly different. From personal experience Danes are the only people I've met so far that sometimes don't even have an accent when speaking English, I could barely tell despite having a good ear for these sorts of things.

Spot on.

Another factor, no one would know, unless they've grown up here, is that Danish TV doesn't dub any tv. Whereas they do so in Germany, France etc. I've grown up watching US/British children's shows with subtitles (and it times not even that) from a very young age, which I'm sure gave me a leg up. Also, started having English class in the 5th grade, and these days English starts in the 1st grade! Though I have zero idea how that compares (then and now) to other parts of the world.

[Kai]

Another factor, no one would know, unless they've grown up here, is that Danish TV doesn't dub any tv.

What I like about Danish live TV is that you can apparently swear as much as you like, Carra had some fun with it if I remember correctly I'd say that's pretty f***ing unique

I've grown up watching US/British children's shows with subtitles (and it times not even that) from a very young age, which I'm sure gave me a leg up.

I still use English subtitles when watching shows/movies, not out of necessity but out of habit.

[Korattt]

ain’t people great?

86E28D90-DE32-40DE-88E1-91601C8B2A37.jpeg

[jimibt]

fingers xx'd all...

Covid vaccine: First vaccine offers 90% protection

[Dallas]

fingers xx'd all...

Covid vaccine: First vaccine offers 90% protection

+7'800'000'000

[Euler]

A good way to start the week!

[Jukebox]

Ouch - if they store it at minus 80 degrees I hope they warm it up a bit before use.

[Emmson]

fingers xx'd all...

Covid vaccine: First vaccine offers 90% protection

If that had been announced 7 days ago could have affected the election.

[jimibt]

fingers xx'd all...

Covid vaccine: First vaccine offers 90% protection

If that had been announced 7 days ago could have affected the election.

yeah, but that would have meant having the results *in time* for the election. not quite sure that's how it works (tho no doubt trump will call foul on this also)

[Dallas]

Massive reaction to it in the markets, FTSE up 5.5% (around £80billion)

FTSE.JPG

[Euler]

Boom!

[Kai]

[Dallas]

For any Anti-Vaxer's out there just remember Pfizer are the same company that created viagra