Comments by "tjohanne" (@tjohanne) on "How anyone (including YOU) can read German" video.

As a Norwegian speaker, looking in the general direction of the Netherlands, it almost amazes me that those three languages aren't seen as just dialects of each other. If there was more interaction among British, Dutch and German, everybody could be fluent in all of them. German seems complicated, but it's only because we let ourselves be awed by it. If you keep to basic everyday vocabulary, it's almost all the same from there all the way to the Arctic circle. Seems to me that people often don't WANT to make themselves understood, like when Danish people switch to English when they speak with Norw/Swe. If they just cared to speak a bit slower, the languages are the same.
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It's funny, I had German in high school (in Norway), but didn't really pay attention or study actively. I couldn't speak freely. But in my adult life I listen to German music, and when I've talked to Germans, it seems I actually know the language quite well (according to them). So if I actually TRIED to become fluent, I think it would be easy.
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@megapangolin1093 It's a bit difficult to speak with locals, because of different pronunciations. Whether you're on this or that side of a mountain in Norway, can make a huge difference in how they speak (the "kick" or rhythm of the speech), and the Danish camouflage their words with their "stød", the feature that makes them sound as if being hit in the stomach every time they breathe out.
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@kareno8634 It sure is difficult to 'settle' and concentrate on it! You could try Duolingo on iPhone or Android and see if you like it! Important thing for English speakers is to look for similarities in structure and vocab. Danish is easy that way. Unfortunately, pronunciation is.. strange, to say the least. Sounds weird, but if you want to learn Danish, it's maybe easier to learn Norwegian in order to understand Danish texts 😅 Maybe Scandinavians will agree with me. Danish has a special feature called "stød", which basically means that they pronounce words as if you hit them in the belly every time they open their mouth.
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@Bjowolf2 True. But now Norwegian kids do it even to Norwegians. The youtube-generation thinks that American English is just an extension of Norwegian. I am Norwegian and work as a teacher, and I've more or less given up on speaking correct Norwegian - we easily start a sentence in Norwegian and end up with English or vise versa.
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@panther7748 I'm Norwegian, and we have the same with Dutch. It sounds like a radio that you just have to fine tune a bit, and then you'll understand everything at once! Dutch tend to become damn good English speakers.
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