Frisian: The Closest Germanic Language to English

[@bozo4K]

this is what english sounds to people who dont speak english

[@bggtyftygghv]

Me after 10 beers

[@JJMGBC]

Haha so true

[@keyboardheroism]

Mooie meisjes

[@PhoenixToluwa]

😂😂😂 so true

[@kiriiba]

this is what english sounds like to foreigners

[@metroidman3893]

I cant understand what hes saying at all. But its so eerie how I feel like I could if I listened harder...

[@mrbrightside473]

That’s how I feel, it sounds like I’m hard of hearing and he’s also really drunk but that he’s trying to speak english

[@elsakristina2689]

He sounds like if a northern English person like from Lancashire or Merseyside were trying to speak Dutch

[@AndreAcilaOfficial]

Sounds like a British person trying to speak Dutch

[@frisianmouve]

Even as a native Frisian speaker I have to concentrate a bit on what he's saying as he's kinda mumbling. He's talking about going to Germany with his mother while there were was still border control as it was long ago. He had papers, his mother didn't, but they let them in anyway, the guard said just check back in on your way back

[@iceomistar4302]

Glad that with my limited knowledge of Old English, Dutch and German I was able to pick up half of everything he was saying. Us mem and Dutslan were the two words I was able to pickup quite easily.

[@frisianmouve]

@@iceomistar4302 Your comment made me watch this video again and put up a translation as well as a literal word for word translation

[@VinceJ-xr4ml]

This is what English sounds to a foreigner.

[@enkula118]

🤣🤣

[@sebas4951]

Yea, british

[@urbnctrl]

I am half Frisian, but I would need alot of beer to understand that thick ass accent.

[@cyberpsyduck3625]

This really shows how something so similar and familiar can also be extremely alien and different

[@rhome4206]

Sounds like a Scotsman after 10 pints

[@dancampbell189]

The english dialect spoken in Newfoundland uses all of these sounds

[@Dorgpoop]

Just sounds like a guy with such a thick west country or east Anglian accent that you can't understand them

[@johnyiannacopoulos639]

Sounds like Maine

[@hardywatkins7737]

Yeah, sounds just like a westcountry accent to me.

[@forrestmalcom8351]

This almost sounds like a drunk person speaking English far away 😅

[@keighlancoe5933]

That literally sounds like the dialect the farmers spoke at my pub when they came in for a pint in the Forest of Dean

[@blueblaze9862]

To my native English speaking ears, id think the person was mentally ill or drunk or having a stroke

[@wombathead87]

Frisan?? Nah just davo after a case or two of vb.

[@robertkemp8717]

As I Englishman, I didn’t understand a word. But the rhythm of the sentences seems identical; so much so that I found myself nodding in agreement to everything he said. I just assumed he’d been on the electric soup.

[@theawesomest2850]

But he doesn’t look drunk

[@moneychasechoppa8023]

Bro sounds like a sims 4 character

[@jackriley5750]

This sounds is like if there was a Scottish sims character

[@timothyknoll4417]

I feel like I’m having a stroke

[@CRACKBONE7317]

It's strange. It sounds like he's mumbling quite a bit, and that's probably what I'd assume if I had heard him talking to me, given that I didn't know of Frisian.

[@xAlexZifko]

Ye verily, the poetic tongue of a Frisian man is spoken by every drunkard.

[@qh777]

As a native English speaker, I did not understand any of it.

[@jankeizer407]

My mothers family is Frisian so I understand both languages. This short talk shows not much familiarity between Frisian and English. This man talks about ging across the Dutch-German border with a friend of his but they have forgotten their passports. The borderpolice allows them across. I'll give a beter exemple: Frisian: "Jo matte troch disse dourre" English: "You must go trough this door"

[@Angartyr]

I heard a fisherman from West Jutland talk about how many fish he got to day in the net .... and then there were also some delicious herrings ❤ on the beach... ❤danelove❤ to our descendants in England who still speak Old Danish, Frisian and Jutlandish!

[@danieldelaney1377]

He sounds Australian

[@cam4991]

This is what you hear when you're not paying attention to what someone's saying

[@kotsaris87]

It is so weird that so many people fall for the same mistake: The fact that Frisian is the closest relative to English DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN THEY ARE CLOSE. It simply means that it is its closest relative, even if it is far removed...

[@JuliusSeizureOfficial]

This sounds very much like the old boys in Suffolk which is explained by thr proximity of frisia to East anglia.

[@asct3674]

this mellow "vowel-fronted" accent is found in no other germanic language

[@ramamonato5039]

In the year 2000, there was a song titled "Wêr Bisto". It is a Frisian song. I heard it here in Jakarta. One of local FM radio station played that song. .

[@thisispebe]

thats so cool! i love that song. i think it's one of the best dutch songs ever made

[@aukekamp6903]

@@thisispebe Frisian songs you mean, not dutch xD

[@KrazieB7]

Sounds like one of my uncles after a round of golf. 😂

[@veracity5977]

as an american i understood 0%

[@sleepydog4205]

i live like one hour away from this dude and i dont understand anything either

[@cdanerz3677]

Frisian is nearer to eald englisc and scots is nearer to English as of today

[@stefanahl788]

This is almost as in Swedish " Jag vill köpa en brun ko" "som ger mycket mjölk,"

[@differous01]

The Norman 'Harrowing of the North' wiped out the population of Munucceaster, so the Conqueror's son built a New Castle and settled folk from Friesland there. You can hear the Geordie accent here.

[@Wildmountainsafaris]

Sounds like a Cornish accent

[@nicolasperseguino2082]

I don' t care. I'll learn many languages. So that i can ge through. And make as many friends as i possibly can.

[@jiros00]

The many similarities stem from Frisian and Old English sharing the same ancestor. However I'd argue Norwegian (and then Danish and Swedish) is closer. The syntax is almost the same. Frisian is only partially the same. The languages flow differently. Norwegian phonetics are more similar too. Frisians don't have the extensive shared history with Anglo-Saxons that Vikings do.

[@ole7146]

Danish/English: Kom her, du skal se mit hus / come here, you shall see my house (same amount of words/same wordorder). Dutch/Norwegian: Kom hier je moet mijn huis zien / kom hit, du må se huset mitt (same amount of words/same wordorder - but not as in Danish/English). Danish/English/Dutch: Min søn har en grøn jakke / my son has a green jacket / mijn zoon heeft een groene jas (same amount of words/same wordorder). Norwegian: sønnen min har en grønn jakke (same amount of words/but diffrent wordorder).

[@jiros00]

@@ole7146 But Frisian is partially SVO. Well know to be less so than Norwegian. In Frisian: In moai ferske (Object) sjongt (Verb) de famke (Subject). The girl sings a beautiful song. In Norwegian: "Jenta synger en vakker sang." Same word order for English and Norwegian. PS. Note (referring to your examples) that in Norwegian you can quite normally say "Min sønn har en grønn jakke" not just "Sønnen min har en grønn jakke".

[@ole7146]

@@jiros00 how often does Norwegians use one over the other?

[@jiros00]

@ole7146 Are you trying to argue that Frisian syntax is closer to English? It certainly is not. Look this up if you want.

[@ole7146]

@@jiros00 no, the question was when do Norwegians use one wordorder over the other?

[@frisianmouve]

Alright, as this video apparantly is still attracting viewers I'll do a translation and a word for word literal translation so you can compare grammar. And seriously I swear, the Frisian and English parts of my brain were fighting constantly with the literal translation and it felt oh so wrong. No, bin we foar Dútslan. Tr: So, we're in front of Germany Lit: Now, are we before Germany Soeden we der wol even yn meie? Tr: Are we allowed to go in? Lit: Would we there well a moment in allowing? No ik sis we kin it probearje Tr: Well, we can try Lit: Now I say we can it try Sjoch de douane stong der noch foar no Tr: you see, there was still border control back then Lit: See the border control stand there still before (no is a stop word here that can be left out, maybe best translated as you see) Dat wie lang lyn hjer Tr: That was long ago Lit: That was long ago here En eh ik sei tsjin die kerel ik sei eh ik ha alle papieren wol, mar myn mem hat niks, mar ik sei "meie wy wol even nei binnen, meie wy wol even dútslân sjen?" Tr: And eh I said to the guy I said eh I have all the papers, but my mom has nothing, but I said "are we allowed to go in, are we allowed to see Germany for a bit?" Lit: And eh I said to the guy I said eh I have all papers well, but my mom has nothing, but I said "allow we well a bit to inside, allow we well a bit Germany see?" Kom mar sei der, weromreis mar wer even melde Tr: Come on in, just report back in on your way back Lit: Come but say he, return trip but again moment report No ha wy even Dútslân sjoen Tr: So we saw Germany for a bit Lit: Now have we moment Germany saw Ha wy noch even winkele Tr: We then shopped for a bit Lit: Have we still moment shopped No hiest toch yn Dútslân west net? Tr: Well you still went to Germany right? Lit: Now have still in Germany went right?

[@notwithouttext]

i think SCOTS is actually the closest germanic language to english

[@jiros00]

It certainly is.

[@YamnayaSintash]

That means nothing, Scots came from English and is just a dialect.

[@notwithouttext]

@@YamnayaSintash it came from OLD english, and has since diverged. it has different grammar, vocabulary, and phrases.

[@Vecorix]

​@@notwithouttextmiddle rather

[@notwithouttext]

@@Vecorix oh my bad, thanks

[@Luca-uc2ro]

Is close to old english

[@Guitarman973]

Didn't understand anything. English isn't similar even to Old English from which it derives. So how it can be comparable to language which gone its own way.

[@nienkevisser9725]

But I noticed that myself and many Frysians are good at speaking English and it's easy to learn for us, so that might say something isn't it

[@Vecorix]

English is still a North Sea West Germanic language, you can't change the branch of a language, and so this is the closest in terms of branches to English

[@LaoLanLanLao]

Blame the damn fr*nch for doing that.

[@harrypjotr4987]

west frisian, which you heard in this video is actually closer to old english than english is itself.

[@TheOnlyZackshadyK98]

What language is this XDDD?

[@erwinh7175]

Frisian (Frysk)

[@keyboardheroism]

Jo spraken de frysk.. foar de tchjise en foar de bûtter

[@peachr384]

East Frisian is a dying language :(

[@KarrieDreammind5]

Your profile picture is so suitable to your comment!

[@Angoneymlous]

If english is so similar to frisian why can't they make a germanic lang so that every germanic countries can understand each other.

[@KarrieDreammind5]

@Angoneymlous That's the same as saying why not revive Latin so that all Latin countries can understand each other. They already can to some extend, but nobody wants to adapt to another language, everyone is proud of their own language.

[@namkpo548]

English I s a Germanic language 😷

[@cortical2digital]

Reminds me of Hot Fuzz: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqSQo5qsoLeZrcU

[@rose-ex9lk]

Exactly what I thought 😂

[@davebenet451]

Afrikaans is the closest

[@mamayemajr.7514]

Cope

[@FUSIONJAZZMAN420]

Frisian is the closest language that is related to it but Afrikaans is much easier to learn and closer grammatically.

[@FUSIONJAZZMAN420]

@@mamayemajr.7514 He isn't totally wrong.

[@eldobooysen2274]

As an Afrikaans speaker, Dutch is closer to Frisian than Afrikaans

[@wdym100]

This sounds nothing like english

[@rad_lad_2715]

This sounds exactly like david Bradley's character from hot fuzz

[@JuliusSeizureOfficial]

It has similar speech patterns to those in Suffolk.

[@anthonykaiser974]

Perhaps to a layperson.

[@0TheFather0]

Wtf

[@MilesChristi-f6l]

That would be Scots that’s closest. Frisian is also very close.

[@đœwæþ]

Scots is too similar to be a language maybe a dialect that can become a language.

[@MilesChristi-f6l]

@@đœwæþ nah. Scots is definitely a language lol. I see what you mean though.

[@đœwæþ]

@@MilesChristi-f6lScots is between a language and a dialect but it leans towards a dialect.. I changed my mind. Scot is a language becuz Scottish peeple think it is.

[@UNITDW]

@@MilesChristi-f6lScots is a dialect of English

[@Cardulionax]

Nah Scots WAS a dialect of English but then Scots and English diverged with English picking up a lot of Latin admixture whereas Scots kept it's Germanic substrate mostly intact.

[@cashlindontv7293]

Not even close to English....i didnt understand a word.

[@JiveCinema]

If you're a native English speaker you understood the cadence. Cadence and syntax of words are similar if not the same to English.

[@anthonykaiser974]

The fact you didn't understand a word doesn't mean it's not close. German dialects are relatively close and still often not mutually intelligible.

[@pumpkinthe_cat]

english is very far removed from the other west germanic languages