I was trolling another forum and found someone posting examples of the Frisian language and it is supposedly the closest relative of English. Its kind of interesting - the way they pronounce worlds is similar to an English speaker - towards the front of the mouth with none of the guttural Germanic sounds of Dutch or German. I think it would be an easy language for us to learn - except its spoken by so few people (500,000 in The Netherlands). I like to read about how English came into being and if the French speaking Normans hadn't invaded England it could very well sound like this language. Here's some modern examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mthO5jb4W4M&context=C4031f42ADvjVQa1PpcFNP6L2VHeptTADZaN5pK5iZ0H-jg1XTYtM=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwiFZwPwDzA&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgA2eU8V9Ko&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeC1yAaWG34

OK, my slightly embarrassing interest in Frisian has been satisfied.

Very interesting links.

I hope you meant to say you were "trawling" rather than "trolling."

I want to learn Frisian.

Oops...there are mods everywhere! You're like Oblivion guards - psychic!

It's funny you should say that, because, as far as I know, Frisian is much more similar to ancient Germanic languages than either Dutch or German.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/IndoEuropeanTree.svg

I had completely forgotten about Twarres, those guys were very popular here in the Netherlands about ten years ago.

I can readily understand Frisian, which pisses 'em off no end because Dutch people aren't suppose to

I also find it similar to Danish in sound, but that could just be my warped hearing..

That's a really nice song. I've been listening to it all day. Love good harmonies.



Andy, I'm not surprised at your skill at all. Maybe being a native Dutch speaker plus being fluent in English gives you an unfair advantage in deciphering Frisian! Isn't Texel a Frisian Island? I was checking the Wikpedia article on Friesland and it mentioned the Frisian Islands. I hope I can swing a trip to Northern Europe in a few years. I'd love to go to the Netherlands and Scandinavia (plus visit Britain again).

I already knew this by fact, but never have heard someone speaking Frisian. Thanks for the link, it's very interesting.

BTW the break down is;

"Centum" languages

Indo-European-> Germanic-> West Germanic-> Low German, which includes:

Afrikaans
Dutch
Flemish
Modern Low German
Frisian
English

the island is officially *west* Frisian, which is most of the eastern coast of North Holland, and us. What the actual difference is, don't ask, I've been here off and on for thirty years now and I'm still trying to figure that one out. Although the west Frisian dialect -which isn't Frisian, just Dutch with gibberish mixed in at odd intervals, does pont somewhat in the direction of Friesland -much in the way a blind person will point at a crowd and say 'the noise comes from over there'.. there isn't much actual hands on Frisian heritage on this side of the IJsselmeer me thinks..

The other islands are Frisian, if only because they're part of the province Friesland, and we're part of North Holland.

Its pretty easy to speak only words based on Old English prior to the Norman invasion. Speak simply and plainly. The majority of every day speech is of Anglo-Saxon or Norse origin (but a word like "origin" isn't!).

But we can all agree that http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-avV4qnlbI&t=6m49s is the best language. And yes, that was William Shatner.

I'm a native Frisian speaker. Still speak it with my family and a small circle of friends. Never learned to write it though
I remember back in primary school some people came by for a university project where they had children read out English and Frisian sentences or something like that. The memory is fuzzy

It sounds kinda danish to me, not the language but the way they sound.

Something tells me that the words simply and plainly aren't of Anglo-Saxon or Norse origin either.

They're not. Seems that unless you speak like a half-wit there's no way to avoid French based words. Damn snail-eating Normans!

More a dialect than language, but I would recommend to just learn german and speak it with your english accent. That works too.

Schools in Friesland don't have classes in the native language of the region? I would think there would be a big push to preserve the language.



I read that Frisians get very upset when someone says its a dialect of Dutch instead of a language.

Depends on what you mean by "frisian". There are many different dialects of it. East-Frisian is actually dead, North-Frisian rarely spoken.
(slowly got replaced by "Niederdeutsch" over the decades)
I actually talk only about the frisian "language" which exists in Germany. There is a great amount of people who speak Frisian in the Netherlands.

Yeah, I guess I mean West Frisian.

It's actually complicated. West-Frisian actually has two meanings: The actual frisian language and a dutch (non frisian, but still calls itself so) dialect in Western Friesland.

They do in primary school, but the classes we were given (at my school anyway) tended to be sporadic and disjointed affairs. The accompanying study book was also spectacularly dull
Personally, I was also much more invested in English (for which there weren't any classes in primary school).

That's kind of sad. Its such a small language you'd think they would be pushing for its use (to preserve it) like the French speakers do in Quebec.

It's hard for me to comment on really, since this was all in primary school. I left that behind fourteen years ago.
My parents have always encouraged me to speak Frisian when possible, but outside my direct family all my interaction with others has almost always been in Dutch... even with other native Frisian speakers
Unless you specificly care about the language, it's just simpler to use Dutch in my experience

... or like the Welsh do. Sometimes I think they're a bit militant about it, but I'd rather that than have it die out.

Exactly.