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English is a Germanic language and I would argue that it is particularly difficult for Native speakers of Romanic languages to pick it up. I'm German and my ex

English is a Germanic language and I would argue that it is particularly difficult for Native speakers of Romanic languages to pick it up. I'm German and my experience has always been that English is a very simple language and yet versatile enough to allow for very nuanced expression.

filpen 13y ago
How do you cope with the pronunciation though? It is my 5th year living in Germany, and as an italian I find the pronunciation much more straightforward in German than in English.
forinti 13y ago
English is, as far as I can tell, the most Latin of the Germanic languages. I sometimes like to see how close I can build two sentences, one in Portuguese (my native tongue) and one in English. For example: I redacted a text, removing the froufrou. Eu redigi um texto, removendo o frufru. French also helps a lot in bridging the gaps.
- felxh 13y ago
  English is the 'most Latin' of the Germanic languages because of the norman conquest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England). Since then, you could almost say that english has a double vocabulary; one anglo-saxon (germanic) and one norman-french (romanic). This is why english has so many synonyms and allows for very nuanced expressions (as mentioned by the parent post).
  - forinti 13y ago
    I know, I receive Webster's Word of the Day and most of them are Latin words: really easy for anyone who speaks a Romance language. The last five were: incipient; indissoluble, indoctrinate, infantilize, inscrutable. So maybe Webster should have two mailing lists. One for anglo-saxons and one for speakers of Romance languages.
    - felxh 13y ago
      Funny, I was just googling for that :). The best I could find: http://www.quora.com/English-language/Is-there-a-thesaurus-that-includes-only-Anglo-Saxon-synonyms http://www.quora.com/English-language/Is-there-a-thesaurus-t...

filpen 13y ago

How do you cope with the pronunciation though? It is my 5th year living in Germany, and as an italian I find the pronunciation much more straightforward in German than in English.

forinti 13y ago

English is, as far as I can tell, the most Latin of the Germanic languages. I sometimes like to see how close I can build two sentences, one in Portuguese (my native tongue) and one in English. For example: I redacted a text, removing the froufrou. Eu redigi um texto, removendo o frufru. French also helps a lot in bridging the gaps.

felxh 13y ago
English is the 'most Latin' of the Germanic languages because of the norman conquest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England). Since then, you could almost say that english has a double vocabulary; one anglo-saxon (germanic) and one norman-french (romanic). This is why english has so many synonyms and allows for very nuanced expressions (as mentioned by the parent post).
- forinti 13y ago
  I know, I receive Webster's Word of the Day and most of them are Latin words: really easy for anyone who speaks a Romance language. The last five were: incipient; indissoluble, indoctrinate, infantilize, inscrutable. So maybe Webster should have two mailing lists. One for anglo-saxons and one for speakers of Romance languages.
  - felxh 13y ago
    Funny, I was just googling for that :). The best I could find: http://www.quora.com/English-language/Is-there-a-thesaurus-that-includes-only-Anglo-Saxon-synonyms http://www.quora.com/English-language/Is-there-a-thesaurus-t...