devuser wrote:

If someone is interested in germanic languages i think dutch would be easier for english speakers than german as it doesn't have the gender/article madness and often seems closer to english than the german translations.

No, but it has quite a few words (and sentences for that matter!) that can have more then one meaning, all depending on context! This is highly confusing for those not raised with Dutch as their native language

True, dutch probably has it's very own set of pitfalls. Ik spreek nederlands een kleen betje but it's (very) far from enough to be able to hold a conversation so idiomatic expressions are beyond me.

I have to admit i had this vague feeling

If someone is interested in germanic languages i think dutch would be easier for english speakers than german as it doesn't have the gender/article madness and often seems closer to english than the german translations.

No, but it has quite a few words (and sentences for that matter!) that can have more then one meaning, all depending on context! This is highly confusing for those not raised with Dutch as their native language   I know, we have quite a few of those* where I work. In fact, so much so that the company offers them Dutch language lessons during company time, twice a week! I don't need that, as you may have guessed from my nick

*this includes folk from the Indian subcontinent, Central & Eastern Europe, Asia, various African nations and Central & South America.

Live in the US, don't call any particular place home. Lived good deal of my life in the Pacific, Marianas and Hawaii. Born in Tennessee, Texas is where much of my family reside.
...
@siva: Could be the US with your riddle.  For reference: New Madrid Seismic Zone, San Andreas, and Yellowstone National Park potential super volcano.

Don't forget Florida, which is soon to become the new Atlantis.

devuser wrote:

sgage wrote:

Also, my deep thanks (and respect) to those of you for whom English is a second (third?) language. I know it is a strange language, but somehow you make it work!

At least english doesn't assign random genders to inanimate objects which all have different articles. A bit of fun trivia: Guess which genders knife, spoon and fork have in german. Hint: You are likely to be wrong since it makes no sense at all

Heh, point taken. German happens to be the one language I've somewhat studied, so das, die, and der is the answer to your question. :-)  And yes, it makes no sense and all, other than to maybe differentiate things in a complex sentence with their adjectives and pronouns and what have you.

Well, almost You got die and der mixed up. A spoon is male while a fork is female (for whatever unknown reasons). It's pretty much a non issue anyways since beyond sounding a bit weird it's not going to change the meaning of a sentence and at least where i life there are so many non native speakers that it's not going to be noticed much at all. Besides, with some words it even depends on the region you are in. Like email for example is generaly accepted to be female in northern and central germany but when you move further south torwards austria you'll notice that it suddenly lost it's gender and became neutral.

If someone is interested in germanic languages i think dutch would be easier for english speakers than german as it doesn't have the gender/article madness and often seems closer to english than the german translations. Like you have 'street' in english 'straat' in dutch but 'Straße' in german, 'blood' - 'bloed' - 'Blut', 'i have' - 'ik heb' - 'ich habe' or even 'santa claus' - 'sinterclaas' - 'Weihnachtsmann' with german being completly off here. Anyways, my coffee is empty so i guess that's enough language observations for now. Hope i did'nt bore you to much

sgage wrote:

Also, my deep thanks (and respect) to those of you for whom English is a second (third?) language. I know it is a strange language, but somehow you make it work!

At least english doesn't assign random genders to inanimate objects which all have different articles. A bit of fun trivia: Guess which genders knife, spoon and fork have in german. Hint: You are likely to be wrong since it makes no sense at all

siva wrote:

Fun facts: in the future, most of my country will explode, and another part will be submerged underwater, all due to purely natural causes.

Which country am I in?

You are living on a very flat vulcano? No, seriously, i don't have the slightest clue

Heh, point taken. German happens to be the one language I've somewhat studied, so das, die, and der is the answer to your question. :-)  And yes, it makes no sense and all, other than to maybe differentiate things in a complex sentence with their adjectives and pronouns and what have you.

@MiyoLinux: Great state of Georgia, loved living there for a few years in Buford.

@siva: Could be the US with your riddle.  For reference: New Madrid Seismic Zone, San Andreas, and Yellowstone National Park potential super volcano.

cheers

z