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Not particularly relevant, partly because English has been corrupted by all sorts of influences. There's some common vocabulary, but the syntax and sound are ve
by TillE 13y ago
Not particularly relevant, partly because English has been corrupted by all sorts of influences. There's some common vocabulary, but the syntax and sound are very very different.
Look at it from the other perspective: German is commonly (and IMO properly) considered a bit harder for anglophones to learn as compared to Spanish or Italian. The linguistic family is only a small piece of information, and doesn't tell the whole story.
- asveikau 13y agoAs far as I know the fact that "the sound is different" from most European languages is not really due to any "corruption" (like the Norman Conquest) but due to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift Quoting from the Wikipedia article linked above: > Vowels of Middle English had "continental" values much like those remaining in Spanish and liturgical Latin. However, during the Great Vowel Shift, the two highest long vowels became diphthongs, and the other five underwent an increase in tongue height. As for syntax I've always heard and read that it sounds very natural to speakers of Germanic languages.