Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 7:16 pm Post subject: Written vs Oral Intelligibility
Some say that the oral form of langauge is easier to understand than the written form in many cases because of differences in orthography. For instance, many will say that spoken Dutch is easier for English speakers to understand than written Dutch, because of Dutch's very unique spelling system. But once you learn the basics of Dutch orthography, it is far easier to understand than spoken Dutch. In many cases, words that look much like their English equivalents in writing are not so easily identifiable in oral communication, such as good-goed.
Here's a rough estimate of the percentage I understand of foriegn languages, first in written form, and then in spoken form.
Written language is almost always easier in my experience. There was a Dane at work a couple of weeks ago, and I couldn't understand half of what he was saying. He came by a couple of times and at one point he was standing by the counter waiting for somebody to come and talk to him. Everybody avoided him so finally I walked up to him. He spoke and I took an educated guess as to what he was saying, and fortunately I guessed right.
I usually don't have much problem understanding what Harrenys writes in Danish, though I admit to having misunderstood him a couple of times. Of course, it's easier when you're sitting here with an online dictionary.
Well, he came by because of the O-ringen, or the Swedish 5-Days, which is an orienteering competion. They took blood samples from a whole bunch of participants which meant extra work for us, and he was the one who gave it to us.
I agree with your opinion, Porthos ! I have a latin language as mother tongue and it's easier for me for example to understand something of written Portuguese than spoken Portuguese. I noticed the same even in Germanic languages which I know.
I agree with your opinion, Porthos ! I have a latin language as mother tongue and it's easier for me for example to understand something of written Portuguese than spoken Portuguese. I noticed the same even in Germanic languages which I know.
Interesting — that's more than I understand, and I hear people speaking Scots every day (including someone I actually live with).. When people speak it to me, I can usually get the gist of what they're saying after I've asked them to repeat it a few times, but sometimes I just nod and say 'aye' in the appropriate places.
The fascinating (and rather sad, in my view) thing though is that many people in Scotland who speak Scots don't even realise it, because they've been brought up to think that what they speak is 'bad English'.
Interesting — that's more than I understand, and I hear people speaking Scots every day (including someone I actually live with).. When people speak it to me, I can usually get the gist of what they're saying after I've asked them to repeat it a few times, but sometimes I just nod and say 'aye' in the appropriate places.
You have comforted me, Benjamin! Recently I got frustrated when I coudn't understand what my Scottish guest was saying...
The embarrassing thing for me though is that people who (often unconsciously) speak Scots expect me to understand them because I'm a native English speaker — especially as I actually live in Scotland and apparently now speak 'posh Scottish English' (it would be different if I were, say, an American tourist). Fortunately for me though, most younger people and older middle-class people in Scotland speak Scottish English rather than Scots.
One thing that often confuses me though is how people in Scotland often use 'to stay' where other English speakers would be more likely to say 'to live'. I went to the Unitarian Church in Dundee yesterday, and I was talking to an elderly woman on the way out. This was (roughly) our conversation:
Woman: So you're a student at the University of St Andrews?
Me: Aye, that's correct.
Woman: And where is it you stay?
Me: Oh, um, I live in St Andrews.
Woman: Ah okay, I stay over in Tayport. My taxi'll be here in a minute.
Me: Ah right, I came here on the bus.
Woman: I have a lot of family coming to stay over Christmas. MY son and his wife from Edinburgh, my daughter and grandchildren from America, my other son and his wife and children from Kent and my other daughter from Leeds.
Me: Oh wow, very widespread then.
Woman: Aye. So where is it you stay?
Me: Uh, in St A...
Woman: In England, I mean.
Me: Oh, in Birmingham. Seven hours on the train next week, I'm not looking forward to it. I don't have a reserved seat so I'm probably gonnae have to stand all the way.
Needless to say, I was a bit confused by our conversation. It seems that, the first time she asked 'where is it you stay?', she was asking me where I live now, but the second time she was asking me where I was going to be staying over Christmas. At least I think that's what she meant... unless she actually sees me as someone who magically lives both in St Andrews and in Birmingham at the same time (a common perception about university students, incidentally, even though it's totally inaccurate in my case).
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