WIKITONGUES: Rejzka speaking Upper Sorbian

Upper Sorbian is spoken by as many as 40,000 people, principally in the State of Saxony in Eastern Germany. Though it was legally marginalized between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, Upper Sorbian became a written language in the 1500s and flourished thereafter. Though it has faced challenges in recent decades, with many language schools closing, Upper Sorbian continues to enjoy official status in the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg, and prevails as an Internet language as well. A member of the West Slavic family, Upper Sorbian is closely related to Lower Sorbian, Polish, and Czech, and more distantly to Russian and Bulgarian. Read more on Wikipedia: bit.ly/1NhS1ns.
The speaker(s) featured herein have not explicitly agreed to distribute this video for reuse. For inquiries on licensing this video, please contact [e-mail].
Help us caption & translate this video!
amara.org/v/7MXI/

[@Wikitongues]

Caption and translate this video: amara.org/v/7MXI/ Help us record another language by supporting on Patreon: patreon.com/wikitongues Submit your own video here: wikitongues.org/submit-a-video Sign up for our monthly newsletter: eepurl.com/gr-ZQH

[@ronaldschatte1383]

Definitely glad she did this video. It is said the last non-German speaker of the Sorbian Languages died in the 1950s. If you search, you will find records from 150 years and more ago stating the Sorbian language will die with the next generation....and yet it perseveres. No need to hate that she has a German accent. She is Sorbian and that is all that matters. Enjoy your culture for what it is, we will cherish ours all the more for what we have.

[@wtc5198]

thats not a german accent, the language itself is very influenced by german

[@nikolaisokiran9533]

@@wtc5198 It's both.

[@permin9533]

I really like Sorbian, the Slavic language with German sound

[@user-xt6mf1wk8w]

Realy?

[@wingedhussar1117]

People, stop staying she should get rid of her German accent. There is no Sorbian without a German accent, it's just the way Sorbian sounds because it has been influenced by German over a few centuries.

[@kwetka2781]

thank you!

[@alik1989]

I disagree, there are in fact speakers who don't have such a thick accent and whose speech sounds much more "Slavic". For example, the actress Hanka Rjelka.

[@alekshukhevych2644]

Her accent isn't nearly as bad as some of the other ive heard..

[@cartouche7431]

That's not true. There is a video of a Lower Sorbian family speaking at home without any German accent. Most modern Sorbs are just German-speaking posers trying to imitate a Slavic language.

[@rippspeck]

Don't flatter yourselves, there's no prestige associated to Slavic languages in Germany.

[@MrSupremequask]

Please keep this heritage alive! Don't let this beautiful langue die!

[@posticusmaximus1739]

Unfortunately that is Deutschland's goal

[@Nazdreg1]

@@posticusmaximus1739 I do think, Germany should protect their minorities and help them flourish.

[@lordrockman7431]

A beautiful language I'm so glad it still survives.

[@Cris-gf2sg]

I'm Polish Native Speaker I can understand almost everything. Sounds like a mixed Polish with Czech! It's has nothing to do with German! Sounds very cute!

[@ratkopetrovic4959]

Well, sounds like serbian... 'cause it is? 🤔 But I guess there are a lot of slavic words... in Czech "pokoja" means room and peace, in serbian there is a word for a dead man - "pokojnik", the one who sleeps forever, who's now in peace... so it could sound like many slavic languages. 🤔

[@jasonjames6870]

I heard some German in there

[@curiousitycave]

@@ratkopetrovic4959 Serbian?? 😂😂

[@storytimewithynai2304]

I agree BUT I did hear many German words in there

[@Leonardo-se4su]

@@ratkopetrovic4959 Yes.

[@Lancemarkful]

I'm Kashubian and I understood a lot of it, and see similarities to polish and kashubian

[@DiskusGames]

I don‘t know much about kashubian, but I do know that the Upper Sorbian she speaks is more related to czech rather than polish. Lower Sorbian has more similarities to Polish, but unfortunately that only has around 7,000 speakers left, while Upper Sorbian at least still has around 25,000.

[@yorokobiyos2729]

I understand about 50% of what she's saying as a Polish person but that German accent and in particular German "R" + umlauts was surprising & distracting but I guess that's how Upper Serbian sounds nowadays. Still kudos for her for preserving this language and being fluent in it as it's unfortunately dying one.

[@kwetka2781]

thank you. I wish we still rolled the "R"- then we would sound more Slavic, I agree

[@linajurgensen4698]

Reyska El but we don’t want to sound more slavic

[@andrzejdobrowolski9523]

@@linajurgensen4698 Gefahlt dir es, dass ihr seit 1000 Jahren euch germanisiert?

[@bojanstare8667]

@@andrzejdobrowolski9523 Deutscher sind immer sehr arogant. Es ist Shade, dass Windische Leute werr die Deutsche Sprache sprehen, eben mehr arogant sind. Sorry for my bad German. Just lazzy four years in high school. But as I know you have hard grammatic. Gender and numbering sensitive words is hard to learn such nice language. I know because my mother language is Slovene, same hard to learn as Sorbian language.

[@ZeLeninovoMasoveRizoto]

@@kwetka2781 if I'm not mistaken, she pronounces "reč" correctly? So it's not like you completely got rid of it or anything.

[@amabarbigrl]

When I was young girl I thought Lusatian Serbs is totally the same as us Balkan Serbs, I thought they speak the same language, have the same names, surnames, that they are also Orthodox as we are. I was little bit dissappointed few years ago when I realized that it's not like I imagined 😂 I didn't understand much from this video, but I'm glad that Sorbian language didn't die yet. Greetings from Serbia

[@kaligulajovanovic]

Ime Srbi i Srbi kao narod su mnogo starije kategorije od nas danas kojima jenacionalni identitet tako oblikovan da smo pravoslavni i govorimo Vukov reformisani srpski jezik. Srbi nemaju dodira sa Lužičkim Srbima možda hiljadu godina i otuda tolika razlika. Ali, Srbima se zovemo i jedni i drugi jer smo od istog roda, od iste grane. Ime Srbi je starije od naziva Sloveni. Nekada davno, svi koje danas znamo kao slovenske narode su se najverovatnije nazivali Srbima. O tome postoji niz ozbiljnih dokaza. Poslušajte Radovana Damljanovića na YT, on to dobro objašnjava.

[@anandantor99]

They are Catholic, not Orthodox

[@daca8395]

@@kaligulajovanovic jel ima videa u koji se nece zavuci pobornici jovana seretica...

[@kaligulajovanovic]

@@daca8395 ne seri, magarče

[@daca8395]

@@kaligulajovanovic bas zreo i odmeren komentar. Od takvih bolje i ne ocekujem

[@boskocecez]

Sestro naša :) drago nam je da vas čujemo

[@SaturnineXTS]

Well, this is Upper Sorbian, so it's supposed to be closer to Czech and Slovak, while Lower Sorbian would be closer to Polish.

[@CrazyLeiFeng]

That's how it sounds

[@robertkukuczka6946]

Szkoda, że tak mało znany jest język dolno i górno łużycki. Pozdrawiam.

[@lemurbb]

Piękny język,pozdrawiam z Polski🙂

[@zeelowsguys]

A very unique and beautiful language even though I didn’t understand a word thank you for sharing 👌

[@zeelowsguys]

Wow this Is an amazing and unique language thsnks for sharing...from New Zealand

[@lp2059]

Me, a native Serbian who was born in Austria and so learned German and now in my free time Russian as well as some skill in Ukrainian, Polish and other Slavic languages makes me able to understand a lot

[@markeedeep]

Jako naprežem uši da bi mogao razumeti šta govori, jako brzo govore Lužini i dosta gutaju reči. Ono što sam pokupio po zvuku podseća me na mešavinu poljskog i češkog. Zašto tako brzo govore?

[@Lobocito87]

So schön, dass junge Menschen diese Sprache wieder für sich entdecken. Das ist historisch gewachsene Mehrsprachigkeit hierzulande. Klasse!

[@vanhooligan7532]

My great-grandfather came from Daubitz and spoke both German and Sorbian. His last name was Rjosk, which I was told is Slavic.

[@ogurenedebaki2044]

You live in which country?

[@adasselskyflyio4509]

Pozdrav z Česka! Překvapuje mě, jak podobné máme jazyky.

[@AsdAsd-tx8pc]

It sounds beautiful to me :-) also you're beautiful too :-) I'm Polish and was very curious, what Sorbian language sounds like. Thanks for the video!

[@IllidanS4]

Je krásné to poslouchat a rozumět tomu.

[@orkotron007]

rezka govori gornje serbski jezik (slovenian language) :-))

[@bojanstare8667]

@@orkotron007 Ne nakladaj. Ena redkih stvari, ki jo imamo skupno, je dvojina. In to polna, ne pa takšna, s katero se hvalijo Litvanci. Pa še to, da jih Nemci imenujejojo Wenden, nas pa Windischer.

[@kaligulajovanovic]

@@bojanstare8667 Zato što ste svi starinom Srbi.

[@bojanstare8667]

@@kaligulajovanovic Srbi ste rodom ispodKavkaza i počeli ste pričati Slovenski, kada ste došli kodnas i naučili. Prije ste bili isti kao Hrvati i Bugari. Hrvati su iz Irana a Bugari Volgari, koji su dobili bugarski jezikod Makedonaca. A sada se i vi i Bugari dičite sa tuđim perjem. Sramite se svog ponašanja.

[@ukrainian_mf]

​@@bojanstare8667WHAT

[@sorgification]

Jsem čech a rozuměl jsem.

[@kaczynskis5721]

Not surprising as Upper Sorbian is quite close to Czech.

[@lazarradojevic7556]

sorgification ja sam Srbin a razumeo sam :D

[@Spinnradler]

Я Немец и не понял ничего. 😥

[@Rolando_Cueva]

Ja razumieju ciabie! :o Slavic bros!! ⚪️🔴⚪️

[@austinpierce2866]

Was this written in Sorbian? Because I studied Czech and honestly I had no problem understand that written sentence.

[@Thornus_______]

It sounds beautiful

[@Crazybutnice91]

I don't understand much, but it sounds so nice and calming. Thats probably also because of her voice.

[@christopherkroussoratsky2014]

I Am Macedonian, and i can understand so much of what she said, there most be a common linguistic`precursor where all the Slavic languages developed from.

[@GrandeSalvatore96]

Old Church Slavonic, it seems

[@HeroManNick132]

Ти си българин.

[@igorv8694]

"Ja sam;sto let(a);naša reč je;važna;dobra;naši" ,kao da izgovara neko iz Srbije 100%. Hi!These words sound 100% as а Serbian would say and pronounce in Serbia🙂

[@bojanstare8667]

Jesi li možda pao sa kreveta ujutro? Nisam baš Srbin, ali toliko znam srpski, da znam koliko je to slično srpskom jeziku.

[@daca8395]

Yeah, because they are common slavic words. Sorbian is closer to Czech then to serbian!

[@miloradparvanov9596]

Gospodi blahoslovi vas bratia! Lubim vas!

[@author7027]

Господи, благослови ваc, браття! Любим вас! =Gospody blahoslovy vas brattia! Lubym vas! Співпало один в один.

[@ukrainian_mf]

​Хєхєхє :)

[@NANA-uk9ll]

Wow, ja všetko rozumiem. Beautiful language

[@robson617]

Ja też praktycznie wszystko rozumiem. Pozdro z PL

[@baileyryan488]

I remember her!!!!! Rejska thank you

[@annak.6176]

I love this language, where can I learn this?? I'm in love 🤩

[@Zhiivago]

Sounds beautiful. /Serbo-Croatian speaker

[@BumblebeeTuna8]

Eastern Germany was originally Sorbian/Polabian/Leshitic being more closely similar to the Polish.

[@RumanischBursche]

Bravo!!! Thank you very much! I was really interested to hear how the Slavic language of Germany sounds. Great job! It sounds more like Čeština with some notes of Język Polski. But unfortunately it wouldn’t be intelligible to Russian speaking people, although I could understand some things because I’ve been exposed to Polish language.

[@rds7516]

Very lovely, it sounds very interesting with a germanic accent.

[@frankiedomanico9701]

It would sound a lot better without one though

[@Peter-tr7gg]

@@frankiedomanico9701 it's part of the language dumbass

[@frankiedomanico9701]

@@Peter-tr7gg how do you know? did you study Slavic linguistics?

[@Peter-tr7gg]

@@frankiedomanico9701 stop replying to me

[@frankiedomanico9701]

@@Peter-tr7ggmake me

[@0YTMan]

Sounds like Polish with some German on it.

[@Martytoofree]

+0YTMan já jsem is typicaly czech... I hear lot of czech in that.. naše hrabstvo... just that "r" is german... it is mix of czech and polish, well Luzica was part of czech kingdom for hunderds of years, it was also part of Great moravia and samo's kingdom, they could return to czechoslovakia after first world war, but they didn't want to

[@Martytoofree]

taky rozumím všecko

[@antivari100]

Zvuci kao Serbski i Poljski i Ceski

[@zafelrede4884]

"they could return to czechoslovakia after first world war, but they didn't want to" maybe because literally 1% of the population in that area is sorbian?

[@lazul100]

Muthelm Heimerbürger Sorbian activists tried to connect Lusatia to Czechoslovakia or Poland but it was impossible, USSR didn't wanted to weaken DDR too much. Also Lusatia was Polish from 1002 to 1031.

[@vectrex28]

It looks like a mix of Czech, Polish and German. I know Czech so I could understand a few of the things she was saying.

[@rickjones2509]

+Vectrex2809 Horni sorbstina me pripomina vic jako polstina . Dolni sorbstina je mnohem vic jako cestina.

[@vectrex28]

+Rick Jones Nevíš jestli je tu video podobné tohohle s dolní sorbštinou?

[@DezoCorka007]

To je psaný text. Ale ta výslovnost je asi jako "Fschitsü tschlovjekojö sü vot narode svobodňü a sü jenacü po dostojnostschü" .)

[@mikoajbojarczuk9395]

Vectrex2809 As Polish I can also say I understood some of the things she said, plus knowing Czech I also spotted some words in her speech that are similar to the Polish ones and different to the Czech... But still, whenever you look at Sorbian, I agree, you can see it's kind of a mix of Polish, Czech and German. Líbí se mi čeština a chtěl bych se naučit víc v budoucnu abych se mohl domluvit s Čechem, ale už znám tolik češtiny, že můžu jistě mít dobrý rozhovor, pokud jde to o základech nebo i někdy o věcech za základy, jestli jsem se už něco z této oblasti naučil. I dokonce jsem se rozhodl, že když skončím svůj plastický směr ve vysoké škole, plánuji se dostat do univerzity, kde budu mít možnost pro pokračování jazykového učení (nyní učím se doma) a zachytit svůj sen o tom aby stát se polyglot :) Jako skutečnost, znám už mnoho jazyků, jako je polský (můj rodný), český (zřejmě), slovenský, ruský, ukrajinský, chorvatský, srbský, německý a anglický. Jsem na jiné úrovně ve všech, některé znám dost dobře a některé jiné musím zlepšit - český a slovenský jsou možná těmito co znám nejvíce protože jsou nejvíce blízké podobnosti polštině a tak se zdají je lehko pochopit. Pozdravy můj český kamarád :)

[@exocet8834]

I think it totally sounds like if a German with a strong German accent speaks Polish(Upper Sorbian) or Czech(lower)

[@norafrost7]

I am Serbian and I can understand many things you're saying. Are the roots connected to my language? it has a very much similar name, Serbian - Sorbian...

[@jml732]

Yes indeed, in the high Middle Ages Sorbs/Surbs where referred to as "White Serbs" (from Bohemia/Saxony, Boihaemum = Bojka = White Serbia), who after the collapse of Samo's Empire immigrated into what is now Serbia. There were already Slavs who assimilated the Illyrian, Romance and Greco-Roman population in Dalmatia however the new Sorbian immigrants along with other new incoming slavic tribes where the first who created a somewhat centralised and organised authority and were given recognition and protection by the Byzantine Empire. The connection to Sorbian is probably because the language or at least remnants of it managed to stay alive as the main working-/royal language of the Serbs in their early history.

[@thegallanonim]

Actually no, that's a myth common in Serbia (at least based on the comments made by Serbs online). Linguists and ethnographs failed to find any evidence that Sorbs and Serbs are related to each other more than, for example, Serbs and Poles. However, all South Slavs are pretty closely related to Czechs and Slovaks. You see, when the Slavs migrated from their original home somewhere in modern-day Poland/Belarus/Ukraine, ancestors of modern Poles, Sorbs, Kashubians etc. travelled straight west, while ancestors of both modern Western South Slavs, as well as Czechs and Slovaks, crossed the Carpathians and Sudetes - the only difference is that Czechoslovaks kinda just... stayed there. And if you analize the languages, you can see that in many ways Czech and Slovak are way more similiar to South Slavic languages, rather than to Poles and Sorbians. As of the name, well Sorbian is an english word, and in most languages the names of Sorbs and Serbs are exactly the same. However, this isn't the only such case. In what's now Ukraine there was once a tribe called Croatians, and in western Poland there was a tribe called Volhynians, despite the fact they didn't inhabit the land we now call Volhynia, which was inhabitted by another tribe, also called Volhynians. In their own languages, Slovaks and Slovenes also use the same name to describe themselves (altho its true they are actually closely related). Most Slavic tribe names have origins related to where they lived, or what they did, so it's not surprising they repeat every now and then.

[@zaboybagoi8636]

Yes,both of these people name themselves "Srp",not Serb or Sorb

[@SRBINPZS]

@@thegallanonim it is not a myth, that is we came from, obviuously after 1500 years language is different.

[@thegallanonim]

@@SRBINPZS It is a myth and all enthnolingual studies confirm it. Sorry not sorry

[@JorgeGarcia-lw7vc]

I know Czech and I understood a lot of what she said. Compared to Czech, I do find that it has a more Balkan rhythm to it, like Slovak--I ll be hearing more speakers to understand it, and maybe head to Bautzen or some nearby nice town there to check it out. In any case, great to see young people keeping that fascinating language alive there.

[@bojanstare8667]

Interesting. You said that Slovak are Balkan nation? So Czechs are Spanish?

[@JorgeGarcia-lw7vc]

@@bojanstare8667 No. I meant that SK has a rhythm that gets closer to Balkan South Slavic languages, like Serbian.

[@bojanstare8667]

@@JorgeGarcia-lw7vc Surely. Same as Bosanac in Vienna speaking Serbian with German accent.

[@themer333]

Samo napred sestro! Najlepsi Srpski jezik!

[@bojanbojic9230]

Треба слушати више пута. разумео сам кад нпр каже : реч и оквирно сам схватио о чему говори. Једино што ми смета је онај немачки изговор и поготово глас р. Увек имам осећај да говори немачки.

[@nixymax]

Kakve veze ovaj jezik ima sa srpskim jezikom, izuzev toga što je iz iste porodice jezika. Od ostalih slovenskih jezika najbliži je češkom i poljskom. Govorim slovački i prepoznajem puno elemenata češkog i poljskog. Srpski mi uopšte ne pomaže da razumem ovaj jezik, ali zahvaljujući slovačkom razumem dosta. Ko govori poljski mislim da bi razumeo veoma dobro

[@nixymax]

Panter Panta Ja sam rekao za lika koji je rekao "Najlepši Srpski jezik". Nemoj da govorimo o Slovenima, studiram slovenske jezike, književnost i kulturu tako da bih mogao do sutra. Sličnost u nazivu nema veze, zaista. Slični su i recimo, Swaziland i Switzerland a nemaju nikakve veze među sobom. Ja sam hteo da izučavam lužičko-srpski ali ga nema na fakultetu...

[@maxkho00]

@@nixymax Nie do konca c vami sogłasien, vsië-taki iz vsiech zapadno-słovianskich jazykov imienno łužanski naibolieje podobien serbskomu, chotia i očevidno, čto koniečno že sam łužanski namnogo bliže k českomu, čem k liubomu drugomu jazyku, zdieś sporu niet.

[@nixymax]

Max Khovansky Iba by som chcel povedať, že som Váš komentár rozumel dobre. Vidím, keď čítam, môžem rozumieť viac. Vidím veľa podobností s češtinou

[@TheSailorsPaw]

i want to speak the sorbian language, i am from this country, but did only know it from genealogical research

[@milutinmicic2941]

Здраво Rejzka, historians say all Serbs came from Luzica and surrounding regions. Actually Sorb is just century and a half German modification Serb (Срб, Србин). We should form some special connections as a people as soon as we can.

[@user-qz9zu1fq9k]

Milutin Micic as a Pole I didn't know this. But you Serbs definitely must have acquired a genetic footprint from Turks or surrounding Mediterraneans, because you guys are quite dark

[@milutinmicic2941]

@@user-qz9zu1fq9k There are genetic haplotype research that describe this. Actually there is a database on the internet, "serbian dna project", where you can check your teory. It is part of poreklo.rs, it would translate something like "the origin". Surprisingly low is "the footprint" you speak about.

[@milutinmicic2941]

@@user-qz9zu1fq9k Actually, if you look Luzica Serbs and Balkan Serbs, there is no visual difference.

[@milutinmicic2941]

@GAgaV8 Slavs do have genetic link, it is a definiton of beeing Slav - to have a genetic profile that is considered Slavic. Can you pass the link or a pdf of that research that claim there is no genetic link of Luzica Serbs and Balkan Serbs that would be fun to see

[@milutinmicic2941]

@GAgaV8 Please pass that scientific work you mantioned. What we, the Serbs - as you call us, claim is that we are from same origin. We departed around 1000 years, thereafter those you call Sorbs are heawyly germanized. (Slavic influence in Germans in genetic and culture is also heawy.) That is what we claim. This 1000 years and the policy of German state ower centuries, including nacists, produced the difference so even "Sorb" language is west-slavic now, and "Serb" is soth-slavic. And we do not call ourselfs Serbs for your information.

[@Jazzwithlaz]

holy crap. I just understood everything she said. I'm Serbian...

[@vladimirnikolic1688]

jbt jedva razumem ko da pricaju srpsko poljski

[@inatalin]

Мени личи на пољско-немачки, ништа је нисам разумела... чујем само пш вж бш џ..

[@Jazzwithlaz]

Ета Русском ро больше гласит

[@krakataukrakatau9137]

not true. (from Serb)

[@antivari100]

Prica mjesavinu Serbskog i poljskog jezika i malo ceskog a to je sve isti jezik

[@markosobic3307]

Lots of love for our northern brothers and sisters

[@mikoajbojarczuk9395]

As a native Polish speaker, I'm glad I get to see Upper Sorbian being spoken by its native speaker here on KZbin! In truth, the language is close to extinction and in the next 100-200 years it might be gone for good. Kind of feel bad for the Sorbs because they never had a nation of their own where their language would have been prevalent in everyday communication. Today they reside in Eastern Germany and are constantly forced to use German outside their homes more and more as a result of cultural enforcement of linguistics. In addition, I'd soon like to start learning this fascinating West Slavic minority's language to enrich my knowledge of it thus give myself the opportunity to test it out with natives of Upper Sorbian in the future as a way to pay respects to my West Slavic brothers and sisters!

[@deezee1570]

There is an obvious German phonetic influence (though less than the influence of English on Polish today), but still admirable that the language survived. And since I mentioned English effect on Polish... it's really sad whet they are doing the with Polish language.

[@matusmotlo3854]

Influence of English on Polish/other languages? I've never heard any Poles, Slovaks or Czechs speak with an English accent, meanwhile, all Sorbs except for the oldest generation speak with a full-on German accent. Using a few English words doesn't mean you have an English/American accent.

[@anonymousxxx9513]

​@@matusmotlo3854 Maybe deezee1570 thought of ł which became an English w? Don't think that can be blamed on the influence of English though.

[@matusmotlo3854]

@@anonymousxxx9513 Lol that change is hundreds of years old and widespread in other Slavic dialects, like the Wallachian dialect of Czech or the Záhorie dialect of Slovak. Anyway, it's a completely unrelated sound change from a form of the "l" sound in "light" to the "w" sound in "wall". It's a change from the "v" sound in "vineyard" to the "w" sound in "wall" in English. Foreigners (not speaking about you trying to justify him, I'm talking about him) should be banned from speaking on Slavic languages or countries completely, under the threat of death penalty :(((

[@chrisjayrulz]

hmm, Interesting to hear a slavic root in Germany. I heard that a version of Silesian is spoken near Leipzig, but this one sounds much more Russian/Slovakian obscured by the local accent intonation. Janey, I thinkthat we are in the same boat in more ways than one, and agree with you entirely.

[@dominikdrobisz6924]

+chris Jones Hello! By Silesian you mean Germanic-Silesian or Slavic-Silesian? I would be astonished if you meant the second one.

[@Spinnradler]

Who is Janey? My Eastern German parents also learned a SLavic language at school, even the my mother's parents did. Russian.

[@saxaroneandtheyarrower5683]

Woah, this sounds so cool! I’m hearing both German and Polish elements.

[@stanislavtempir310]

You are right that the language has a lot of identical elements with Polish, but as a Czech living 10 km from the Polish border I would say that upper sorbian is definitely more similar to Czech than Polish.

[@kedrak90]

This feels very similar in flow to German but I didn't understand a word. When I hear plattdütsch it seems different. Does being more understandable draw attention to the diffrences and this not understandable to the similarities?

[@bojanstare8667]

Are you Slavic?

[@peterk.6093]

This sounds more understandable to Slovaks than the Goral dialect from the Slovakia. There must be strong Polish influence and it would be nice to know how the historical Sorb language might used to sound a few hundred years ago. I also never understood where the name "sorb" came from, if it has anytnihg in common with Serbs.

[@matusmotlo3854]

Random tribal names. There were Dulebes in Bohemia, Pannonia and in Ukraine, Polans around Kiev and in Greater Poland (that's where the name comes from), Obotrites in Northern Serbia and Mecklenburg, Croats in Bohemia, Galicia and Croatia, Moravians in Moravia+Slovakia and in Serbia, and I'm sure you'd find even more examples.

[@KeiViolet]

It’s actually the same people, they are not Sorbs but Serbs, Germans named them Sorbs because they can’t pronounce words without vowels, just as English, so instead Srbin, they added vowel O or E, making it sound Serb or Sorb

[@nofuxCZ]

It's like a mix of Czech and Polish with German "accent" (which I know is not really an accent, that's just how the Sorbians speak). At first it was difficult to understand but on a repeated listen and after getting used to the "accent" I was able to understand most of it. Also it's funny to read comments from some Serbians here who try hard to look like they understand most of it. The words that are similar are probably similar in all other slavic languages, not because there is some magical link between you and Sorbians.

[@radunMARSHAL]

And they're all lying, Czech is much comprehensible to a Serbian speaker than this. This sounds more like Polish. But what do you mean "not because there is some magical link between you and Sorbians."? They don't even call themselves Sorbians, it's a term made by others to distinguish Sorbians and Sorbian language from Serbians and Serbian language since Sorbians call themselves Serby/Serbja and their language Dolnoserbski/Hornjoserbsce which is basically the same as Srbi and Srpski, though a century or two ago Serbs were also calling themselves Serbi(i is pronounced the same as y in Sorbian) and their language Serbski. It could be a coincidence but since both are Slavs and there's a clear distinction between Westernsouthslavic aka Slovenian/Serbocroatian which is closer to Western Slavic and Easternsouthslavic aka Bulgarian/Macedonian which are doing their own Balkan thing but are also closer to Eastern Slavic, it is very probable that Sorbians are the ancestors of Serbians. Though that doesn't mean that Serbian and Sorbian should be intelligible at all since they were divided by a large space between them for more than a millennium and were facing completely different historical circumstances. But there are instances of Sorbians coming to Serbia since Serbia was established as a state in the early 19th century, and feeling themselves as sharing the same identity as Serbians. One of them was even a renowned General in the Royal Serbian army during the Balkan wars and WWI, Paulus Sturm, he renamed himself to Pavle Jurisic Sturm, Pavle being the Serbian form of Paulus and Jurisic is the exact translation of Sturm into Serbian.

[@radunMARSHAL]

@GAgaV8 I just wanted to say that this thing is really incomprehensible to Serbocroatian speakers, which I belong to, and that this is as incomprehensible to us as Polish while even Czech and Slovak is more comprehensible to us. I've also said that Sorbs, who actually call themselves the same as Serbs and not Sorbs, are probably the ancestors of Serbians, not that they are the same and speak the same and are the same genetically. I am aware that Sorbs are closest genetically to Poles and Czech and that's completely understandable and expected, since they are all neighbors, the same way Serbs/Croats/Bosnians/Montenegrins are genetically close to Romanians, Albanians, Greeks, Hungarians, Bulgarians and Macedonians, even though many of these are not even Slavic people. What I was trying to say is that the Sorbs and Serbs probably have the same relation as, for example, Uyghurs/Kazakhs/Turkmens I dunno, and Turks from Turkey. These Turkic peoples are obviously the ancestors of modern Turks from Turkey, Turkish language is close to Central Asian Oghuz Turkic, but Turks from Turkey are actually genetically close to Greeks, Arabs, Armenians, Iranians etc. and have little to no genetic link to the other Turks. The ancestors of Serbs didn't just come in and settle in a completely empty land. The Balkans were full off native people when they came and settled, and these natives were not only the vestiges of Latinized Roman people, but also other Slavs that came to the Balkans a few centuries before as well as the remnants of Goths, Huns, Avars etc. So, Serbs are Slavic just by culture and language, but genetically, they are pretty much Balkan natives since they obviously assimilated quite a lot of the native populations and other Slavs. On the other hand, Poles and Sorbs are pretty much natives in their lands and these lands were probably the lands were Slavs originated as a people.

[@Spinnradler]

Well, there is a magical link between Sorbs and Serbians: the magician Krabat, the Sorbian folk hero, was based upon a Croatian soldier from 17th century.

[@Spinnradler]

@Panter Panta Krabat = Hrvat. I don't know more. Even of there was no state called Croatia back then, there must have been at least people who called themselves Croatians.

[@bojanstare8667]

Yes indeed. And some words are international, which understand everybody.

[@ewaholda1978]

Sounds like Czech + Polish maybe also German

[@psihodelija8917]

Lijepa Srpkinja 😍 it's interesting that she didn't say Sorb but Serbska

[@srbdjak8258]

❤ ПОЗДРАВ МОЈОЈ БРАЋИ СРБИМА ИЗ ЛУЖИЦА ОД БРАЋЕ СРБА ИЗ РЕПУБЛИКЕ СРПСКЕ ЖИВЈЕЛИ МИ СРБИ МА ГДЈЕ БИЛИ ❤❤❤

[@VD-or9nl]

Sve si je razumeo. Oni tamo nisu divljaci kao vi u Šumskoj. ❤❤❤

[@srbdjak8258]

@@VD-or9nl дивљак ми говори па се и не љутим поздрав брате из Републике Српске

[@slavkostankovic3247]

Ti nju razumes Sta ? 😃

[@srbdjak8258]

@@slavkostankovic3247 Да наравно да разумијем па и ја сам Србин

[@masterofreality5528]

​@@srbdjak8258Ne lupaj. Srbin sam i razumem je 20-30% max

[@JarKosovic]

Шкода що зникає слов"янська мова в Німцях....Тисячу літ Лужицькі Сорби тримались власних традицій і мови але відновлення Мови і Традицій можливе лишень при існуванні власної Держави....У нас зараз відновлюється вживання Української мови тому що є Держава Українців-Русинів а от при московії нашу мову знищували,забороняли і зневажали....Тому я вас розумію! Тримайтесь Брати ! Нехай вас береже Господь !!!

[@Serenoj69]

From the reactions it seems people are a bit irritated because she has a clear German accent. But that is normal. In Spain there is a language called Gallego. Its written form is much like Portuguese but it is spoken with a Spanish accent and in the end it just sounds like a Spanish person trying to talk Portuguese. Nothing also. Much to the chagrin of quite a few Portuguese btw....But that is what happens, much like Sorbian I think.

[@Rolando_Cueva]

False. Galicians who live in rural areas have a completely different accent. They actually sound more Northern Portuguese than Spanish!!

[@bojanstare8667]

One Slovene comedian has told in original Slovene language some sentences with clearly France accent. Slovene is my mother language, but I didn`t understand first nothing at all. I have had to hear it two times to understand him.

[@user-vm1tk9dj8t]

I’m Ukrainian and absolutely like the Sorbian languages. wish you to flourish❤

[@Greksallad]

Very interesting language. I had never heard it spoken before. It's clearly a Slavic language but it sounds like it has had some major influences from German

[@jaromirmusil9017]

LOL. This will probably be due to the fact that Lusatia has not been part of Bohemia for more than 500 years but is in Germany. Czech and Lusatian Serbian are basically the same languages. Therefore, well-spoken Lusatian Serbian has no German accent at all. But for a Lusatian Serb, for whom German is his native language, it is almost impossible to speak Lusatian Serbian without a German accent. This is easy to understand. Greetings to Lusatian neighbors from Bohemia.

[@CP-ww1nj]

Rejsko! I want to speak too. Can you teach me?

[@hryhorhiyparmut7058]

After hearing this I can say that Sorbian has more of a German accent than native speakers of Yiddish in Ukraine and Poland have even though their language is Germanic. Eastern Yiddish (maybe minus Satmar) is German with a slavicized accent.

[@evzenvarga9707]

I'm Czech and i understand a lot.

[@mattynek2]

Taky 🇨🇿

[@suoree]

Sounds like Polish with czecho-german-balkan accent :> Some like Kashubian

[@robertkukuczka6946]

Lower sorbian is closer to Polish. Upper to Czech

[@matusmotlo3854]

@Vorgen Alderland No. Lechite languages are exclusively Polabian, Kashubian and Polish. Sorbian forms a separate branch of Western Slavic, as do Czech and Slovak.

[@matusmotlo3854]

@Vorgen Alderland So it's not Lechite :) And there's no such thing as "Lechian".

[@matusmotlo3854]

@Vorgen Alderland Of course, everything is Polish/"Lechian". Interesting fantasies you have there. Too bad zero linguists, archeologists and historians subscribe to them.

[@user-pl3zh8lu3i]

Kao Srbin...Kad zbore razumem nekih 35% ali kada pišu razumem 90%

[@denfyrstesumareninoreg3455]

slaba je ona srbijanka kad se ne razume

[@mozdieloz3826]

I would like it written down in Upper Sorbian, so that I can see, what the nice lady is saying - as well as hear it. That way it will be easier for me to try to speak it.

[@sirwootalot]

It sounds almost just like Polish (I understand over half of it), but with a VERY, VERY thick German accent.

[@kwetka2781]

that's what happens after such a long time under German influence. can't change that. this is how it sounds

[@karoandunicorns8922]

+Reyska El to pšawie Polski. pozdrawiam

[@Bonedalas]

I don't know Polish, but I can't hear ANY German in it, not only refering to words but phonology. Perhaps it's just the difference between Sorbian and Polish?

[@andremuller9385]

@@Bonedalas The intonation is completely German, the /r/ sound is uvular at the beginning of syllables, and vocalic after vowels at the end of a syllable, exactly like in German. The vowel quality also sound a lot like in German, even having phonetically "ü", schwa and lax "i".

[@andremuller9385]

P.S.: Not a criticism, this is just how it sounds after centuries of German influence. I like how it sounds. :)

[@marapavlovic2177]

Beautiful language Greetings from Serbia!

[@DaniloThePopa]

Where can I learn Upper Sorbian?

[@Rolando_Cueva]

In Deutschland

[@Spinnradler]

Maybe also in Prague?

[@bojanstare8667]

Just find a sorbian girl.

[@user-xt6mf1wk8w]

Veliki pozdrav za daleke pretke iz Srbije🇷🇸❤️👋

[@mirko1466]

Ja sam Srbin i razumijem je koliko i Čeha i Poljaka, ali osnova je ista. Ne mislite da smo slučajno Srbi i mi i vi?

[@Nightcorechina]

Last year Microsoft translator added Upper Sorbian. The best translation is from german

[@mikoajbojarczuk9395]

As a native Polish speaker who recently started studying the Sorbian language, I can for sure say that Sorbian orthography resembles much of Polish orthography than it does with Czech and Slovak orthographies. For example, Sorbian possesses letters like w, ś, ć, ń, ź, dź (digraph) and ł which do not exist in Czech nor Slovak. On the other hand, however, Sorbian also has its share of accented letters with the two, like č, ě (not present in Slovak), š and ž. To sum it up, Sorbian has a total of 35 letters in its alphabet, 26 of which are in common with Slovak, 29 of which are in common with Czech, and 30 of which are in common with Polish. This proves that my statement about Sorbian orthography being closer to Polish orthography than to Czech and Slovak orthographies is correct. But when it comes to concluding which language Sorbian is the most similar to in terms of lexicon, then Czech is its closest relative. Slovak is second-closest and Polish is more distant.

[@Spinnradler]

I think it's great that you study it! May I ask, which one: Upper Sorbian or Lower Sorbian? I wish you much luck and fun by learning it! 👍

[@mikoajbojarczuk9395]

@@Spinnradler Upper Sorbian for sure! And thank you for the motivation, my friend! I'll need it for the future if I am to ever get a career dedicated to linguistics which I'm kind of striving towards currently! I think learning languages is great and improves your social skills with foreigners, especially when you travel abroad and apply your knowledge of the natives' language to your advantage to aid you on your journey! Adding to that, it is true to say that relying on people to speak English anywhere you travel around the world can be mission impossible at times which begs for linguistic study in order to successfully get by with whoever you interact with abroad, let it be someone who knows very little English or none at all out of the majority of the population that lacks proficiency of it or simply never really needed it in life! For that matter, learning a foreign language is a crucial skill to have!

[@Spinnradler]

@@mikoajbojarczuk9395 You are right in that. Maybe you get interested in teaching? Both Upper and especially Lower Sorbian community are longing for good teachers. But just enjoy learning it!

[@mikoajbojarczuk9395]

@@Spinnradler I did consider becoming a language teacher in the future once I finished university to get a degree in modern foreign languages in order to receive a qualification for that possible future job. It's definitely one of my most desired goals in life career-wise so if I just keep pushing myself with linguistics even more for the next few months/years, I could end up in a very good position to increase my chances of becoming an undoubtedly valuable asset to the education industry after graduating university! I started taking interest in linguistics ever since the age of 11 (I'm now 20 by the way), starting off my linguistic journey with Russian as my third language respectively, and looked up to it with passion and joy. Today I now possess the knowledge of over ten different languages, all to a varying but adequate level, and these are Polish (as mentioned before - my native tongue), English (obviously), Czech, Slovak, Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, German, and bits of Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Macedonian!

[@Spinnradler]

@@mikoajbojarczuk9395 успехов тебе!

[@vkirsch9070]

Dobar jezik samo se vidi utecaj germansog. Kako se kaže Skola ?

[@Visoki89]

I'm from Serbia and I understood everything she said. The similarity is astonishing. Great respect for our brothers and sisters in the North. You're not forgotten and we miss you. Nedostajete nam. Недостајете нам. From Serbia, with love. S' ljubavlju iz Srbije. Са љубављу из Србије.

[@VD-or9nl]

Aj ne seri da si sve razumeo. Skoro se ništa ne razume.

[@Visoki89]

@@VD-or9nl То је твој проблем, не мој.

[@masterofreality5528]

​@@Visoki89Nemoj da lazes, razumemo je 20% max

[@BuXnAMaN]

Dont lie, you did not understand it all. Maybe 30% top.

[@user-xt6mf1wk8w]

​@@VD-or9nlteže se razume kada ih samo slušaš, ja sam se dopisivao sa jednim i mnogo je lakše kada čitaš ono što napišu isto važi i naš jezik za njih, skoro sve razumeju

[@lukask7445]

KZbin generates subtitles automatically and thinks that it is Russian.

[@stevemarkovic]

dok slusam nista ne razumem, kad citam sve razumem

[@cezgal]

As a polish I can understand 70% whats you're talkin :) greetings

[@podroznikwysublimowany1699]

+cezary galoch I'm Polish and i barely understand anything. Stop lying.

[@user-qz9zu1fq9k]

Same here XD Her thick german accents obscures this beautiful language

[@Robertoslaw.Iksinski]

I'm Polish and i understand a lot of Upper Sorbian, because i actually understand Polish, not only contemporary dialect of Warsaw TV ;)

[@podroznikwysublimowany1699]

Robertosław Iksiński LOL great fantasies :)) people who say that have completely no clue whatsoever, if you can understand 1 word it doesn't mean you can understand whole language.

[@Robertoslaw.Iksinski]

Only one sentence: Witajcze, ja sym Rejzka z Łużicy z serbskej mensziny. Condolences for "Polish speakers" who do not understand this sentence...

[@Robertoslaw.Iksinski]

Very similar to extinct Lower Silesian dialect of Polish. Ja sym z Pólskej i wjele rozumju.

[@vkirsch9070]

Who do you say škola in sorbia ?

[@Slawny_luziski_Wojak]

Bohužel tuto słowo je "šula"

[@nikolav.7406]

​@@Slawny_luziski_Wojakyou are Sorb? Did you ever did dna test?

[@CrazyLeiFeng]

Fajnie

[@ljubomirpetrovic4696]

Way to go, girl! She speaks Sorbian language very nice, very much understandable for me, and yet I am from Serbia! So if you put two and two together, you will see that Sorbs and Serbs are the same people from same ancestors! Lots of support for my Sorbs brothers and sisters!

[@Lampchuanungang]

Un video stranu, l'Alimagna ùn hè mai statu una terra di lingua serba o soraba chì hè u serbu pocu parlatu cù un accentu tedescu, l'Alimagna ùn hè mai statu una terra di nè latina nè lingua slava, solu germanica. Smetti di inventà a moda, site digià impazzitu. Smetti di inventà a moda, sì.

[@KeiViolet]

Loool, what you call Germany, used to be called Serbia in ancient times before germans showed up in Europe

[@gaborodriguez1346]

Is Sorbian somehow related to Serbian?

[@KeiViolet]

Yes, they were the same people once, had same language and customs and country

[@andreahoffman8152]

Similar to Slovak language too.

[@saszablaze1]

ooooh. polish sorbian language. lush. bardzo dobrze. lubie to. her name is cool too.

[@MultiSciGeek]

Sounds like Polish, Slovak, Slovene and German mixed

[@hanselvogis5142]

More like mix of Czech and Polish with some archaic Serbian and with German accent.

[@bojanstare8667]

@@hanselvogis5142 Arhaic Serbian isussually Slovene. Also Bulgarian says that our language is like their in midlle ages.

[@MegaZidzid]

Mnogo lep glas.

[@Huyedelomalo]

AHAHAHAHAH! I understood some 60% !!!! Probably would understand more if slowly :) Greetings from Bulgaria !!!

[@ChrisM-lb8xw]

Sounds like old Polish or Czech. I’m a native Polish speaker who also speaks Russian. I understood approx 85%

[@Spinnradler]

Priwjet! Did you learn Russian still in school during Soviet time or later ?

[@ChrisM-lb8xw]

@@Spinnradler learned a bit back at school but the got married to a Russian speaker and learned again 🙃

[@MikaSerbian]

Riska pozdrav

[@antivari100]

Riska voli te Srdjan

[@daMacadamBlob]

To me, it sounds like Polish with a German accent and Czech intonation

[@libatonvhs]

To me, as a Pole, it sounds like Czech spoken with a German accent.

[@TommyJapanBrony]

Sounds like... Polish?

[@barbarianslab]

Sounds like Serbian with heavy German/Slovenian accent. Pozdrav iz Srbije!

[@draganlekic54]

👍 Beatifful Sorbian Sisters

[@amergol2209]

I am Polish and i understand what she actually talking about.

[@Spinnradler]

To jest bardzo dobre!

[@harbinger200]

Im Serbian i understand half of the words. The ones i understand sounds exactly as Serbian.

[@casperado666]

it's a Slavic language dude. Don't be surprised :) Greetings from Ukraine

[@slavkostankovic3247]

As Serbian from Serbia! I understand every fifth word ! And I’m speaking Russian also perfectly

[@marekdudzik7033]

its Sorbian not Serbien

[@majstter7420]

​@@marekdudzik7033But still a related language, although it is closer to Czech and Polish than Serbian.

[@user-xt6mf1wk8w]

Mnogo je lakše kada se čita i više se razume nego kada se sluša izgovor.Isto važi i za njih kada čitaju naše tekstove, provereno, dopisivao sam se sa nekim Lužičkim Srbinom i on je to isto primetio uz opasku da razume skoro 90% od napisanog na (balkanskom) Srpskom.

[@HeroManNick132]

@@majstter7420 Sorbian has 2 languages. Upper (this one) and Lower. But most people speak Upper Sorbian than Lower Sorbian.

[@sashamilanactor]

She sounds so german .

[@ianyioannes6200]

DA SA CELKOM DOBRE ROZUMIET. :-)