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Big Norm · 09-30-2001, 09:14 PM

What a very interesting discussion. All because I am doing a little research regarding a Russian Luger. But I also had a birthday recently and my friends in Norway sent me a CD of Norwegian folk songs. I could not understand a word of them. So I started listening to the rythem of the language. I distictly picked up some French, German and Slavic sounds as well as some languages that I could not place. But my friends assured me that it was all Norwegian.

I can understand dialect differences based on proximity to another countries borders. I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and I am sure that I have a little Canadian in my language. Aye! Northern Michigan has a lot more of a Canadian sound than Southern Michigan. After talking to my German friend, I realized that there always has been a Northern and a Southern German dialect. And now that the Berlin wall has fallen, there is a third dialect.

But there is a difference between a dialect and a language. The Russians changed their alphabet and well as their language. So much so that the Russians could no longer read Bulgarian and visa versa. I guess that the simular thing could be said regarding the Irish and maybe the Welsh languages. I now can understand the legal and business implications for standardization of a language. But it had to be very confusing for the people of these countries at the time of its happening.

Thank you one and all for this interesting and informative discussion. I am now going to try to copy it to my word processor program for further study. History is great stuff and now I understand why my German friend could not read 'old' German written in the 1939-40's. My genealogy documents were probably written by an old Catholic priest in occupied Danzig who probably had not converted to the 'new' German and maybe had a dialect problem.

Big Norm

09-30-2001, 09:14 PM	#12
Big Norm RIP Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: SE Michigan Posts: 1,864 Thanks: 1 Thanked 6 Times in 5 Posts	Re: Language Change Effects The Collectors What a very interesting discussion. All because I am doing a little research regarding a Russian Luger. But I also had a birthday recently and my friends in Norway sent me a CD of Norwegian folk songs. I could not understand a word of them. So I started listening to the rythem of the language. I distictly picked up some French, German and Slavic sounds as well as some languages that I could not place. But my friends assured me that it was all Norwegian. I can understand dialect differences based on proximity to another countries borders. I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and I am sure that I have a little Canadian in my language. Aye! Northern Michigan has a lot more of a Canadian sound than Southern Michigan. After talking to my German friend, I realized that there always has been a Northern and a Southern German dialect. And now that the Berlin wall has fallen, there is a third dialect. But there is a difference between a dialect and a language. The Russians changed their alphabet and well as their language. So much so that the Russians could no longer read Bulgarian and visa versa. I guess that the simular thing could be said regarding the Irish and maybe the Welsh languages. I now can understand the legal and business implications for standardization of a language. But it had to be very confusing for the people of these countries at the time of its happening. Thank you one and all for this interesting and informative discussion. I am now going to try to copy it to my word processor program for further study. History is great stuff and now I understand why my German friend could not read 'old' German written in the 1939-40's. My genealogy documents were probably written by an old Catholic priest in occupied Danzig who probably had not converted to the 'new' German and maybe had a dialect problem. Big Norm