Martin speaks Danish with a distinct Copenhagen dialect in all conversations with Saga. Saga speaks Swedish with Stockholm dialect in all conversations with Martin
I'd also wondered that BT! In the Anglo-French remake, the Tunnel, the two lead detectives tended to speak in each others language when in that country. Someone told me that Swedish and Danish are not so different that people easily pick up the other language. I am sure BN will be able to confirm or deny that. The latest series of Broen/Bridge started a couple of weeks ago. We've yet to watch it, but press reviews have been quite mixed so far.
@greg: The Bridge US has far less nuance than the Swedish=Danish show. The detectives speak English to each other; we are shown little of Hispanic El Paso; and the lead Mexican detective, Ruiz, speaks Spanish only to other Mexicans. Furthermore, the Mexican characters tend to feel like stereotypes to me. The show draws a very bright line and incorporates a lot of concern about Mexico that are very current.
Moments of miscomprehension seem to be built into every episode, some more obvious than others (such as the discussion over definite articles in Danish in episode 2). However, some seem like they could just derive from the characters' quirks. I might expect that Saga would be so stubborn that she might never surrender her precise, clipped Swedish enunciation even if she were speaking Danish.
Indeed, Swedish is probably the most unique of the Northern Germanic languages. I believe that Danish is closer to Norwegian (riksmaal) thanks to shared history.
- It is,
- But I have visited areas of Norway where I didn't understand one word.
- - But that goes for GB too. Back in my schooldays, I visited South Hampton . . . My goodness, that was not the kind of English I learned in school.
If I go to, say, Glasgow I cannot understand more than about one word in four sometimes, until the person speaking to me realises and then moves to a version of English where I can pick up perhaps three out of four words. I actually find New York English easier than Scottish English much of the time. As GP will recognise, listening to someone from the Fens speaking in the local dialect can be difficult to understand at times (we both have lived there during formative parts of our lives!) So I assume it is generally the same with other languages...
I watched this indie Scottish movie a month ago (The Angel's Share) and I ended up turning on the subtitles because I would miss a word or two due to their very thick accents. Well worth the trouble for this movie. Beyond that though I remember meeting some Irish when I studied in Australia and when they got really excited about something I would usually lose what they were talking about. Limits of my Midwestern American ears, I guess!
Glasgow, Newcastle are both virtually incomprehensible to me. And most other areas of the country if you are speaking to someone from a really rural dialect.
NankerP, thanks for your mention of Scandal. That is one of those shows I didn't catch the beginning of, so didn't watch any of it (Breaking Bad also falls into this category). Library has it, so I will be seeing season one any day now. I'm 1st in line in the library holds queue.
Doofy, your zombie comment was very witty and made me laugh.
The dialect conversation is fascinating! I think there's a lot less misunderstanding in the US. There maybe phrases or a few words that aren't understood...but you can travel about 3000 miles coast to coast and be understood, disregarding those New Hampshire standoffs. winky
Just saw this mash up of scenes of the kids in Season 4 of The Wire with HAIM's song "The Wire". It makes me sad for those kids all over again! If only they'd been in a sitcom that HAIM actually soundtracked, Pryzbylewski might have been able to save them!
There is some dialect/slang confusion sometimes though, Katrina. My midwestern parents once asked a hotel clerk in Louisiana where the pop machine was.
For the most part, linguistic differences across geography aren't that pressing in the US. It's the rural/urban divide where accents might become confusing. A word here or there might have special meaning: I remember being confused by New Englander's obsession with package stores, as if they were constantly mailing things. However, I never felt that dialect was alive in the US as it could be in Europe, and I would eavesdrop on the (beautiful) Strasbourg trams in order to listen to Els
Haha, I'd forgotten all about packy stores. Also "bubblas" (bubbler = water fountain) and how to order coffee (you had to say "coffee black" if you wanted black coffee. "coffee" had cream & sugar in it, as I recall. "Coffee light" had extra cream).
One guy at the packy tried to correct me when I asked for a paper sack. He insisted it was a bag.
For us North Londoners, the South London accent is hard to unravel.
As for Glasgow, I went out with a girl who was born and raised there, when she had a few drinks I did not understand a word she said! That came in useful sometimes
In Cologne, I would keep getting weak coffee every time I asked for black tea. According to the memoir of literary theorist Hans Mayer, during WWI, restaurants would run through the coffee grounds a second time in order to extend their supplies. I guess a taste for this beverage held.
Then there was the time I was in Nashville and a clerk told my mom "I just love all y'alls accent!"
When out and about here in the mid west I regularly get the comment "oh, you have an accent." I have got into the habit of replying "Oh, what a coincidence, so do you!" Most folk get it. One person looked troubled and responded "No! I don't have an accent!"
@katrina re "coffee black" - it took me forever when I moved to the US to get used to asking for "hot tea". That's redundant where I come from, and feels like asking for "cold ice cream".
LOL, yes, tea in the USA is iced tea. Which my husband drinks year-round, and it pissed him off to no end that it was a seasonal drink when we lived in New England.
Everywhere else, I think, you can get iced tea year-round.
So hubby would make a big deal about getting two glasses of ice so he could make his own iced tea out of their hot tea, in the off season.
One person looked troubled and responded "No! I don't have an accent!"
My older son listened to a recording of himself the other day and was startled to discover he has an Irish accent.
Actually when we first started going over to the US to my wife's relatives, I found myself translating for her. She'd been deliberately trying to lose her Americanisms while living in Ireland, whereas I was working for a US-based publisher and had to learn to write American.
I was reading something a few days ago asking when does an accent become a dialect, and when does a dialect become a separate language. The drift of the article was that whilst English is becoming a world language, breakaway languages are beginning to form from English. Even simple words like bath can be pronounced differently depending on where you live - baaath or barrth. But music, or to be more precise, lyrics, in English is the commonality across the world.
Katrina, the song was written about East End boys who came from an area in London which was heavily industrialised having the docks and factories and West End Girls which was where richer people lived. The West end of London is the entertainment centre of London and is where people from all classes and ethnic backgrounds meet up and enjoy themselves
I enjoyed that Sherlock episode, but it seemed like a bit of an "event," since it has been so long coming and they have become such big stars. Maybe I was just up too late - I had also watched Downton Abbey and parts of 2 football games! I hope it will get back to more mystery and less of the relationship stuff. I did like Watson's fiancee, and loved Sherlock's parents.
Comments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfEcEGGmIdU
Martin speaks Danish with a distinct Copenhagen dialect in all conversations with Saga. Saga speaks Swedish with Stockholm dialect in all conversations with Martin
Moments of miscomprehension seem to be built into every episode, some more obvious than others (such as the discussion over definite articles in Danish in episode 2). However, some seem like they could just derive from the characters' quirks. I might expect that Saga would be so stubborn that she might never surrender her precise, clipped Swedish enunciation even if she were speaking Danish.
- But that does not mean that I can switch to swedish if I wanted to.
- But I have visited areas of Norway where I didn't understand one word.
- - But that goes for GB too. Back in my schooldays, I visited South Hampton . . . My goodness, that was not the kind of English I learned in school.
Doofy, your zombie comment was very witty and made me laugh.
The dialect conversation is fascinating! I think there's a lot less misunderstanding in the US. There maybe phrases or a few words that aren't understood...but you can travel about 3000 miles coast to coast and be understood, disregarding those New Hampshire standoffs. winky
YouTube
Craig
Then there was the time I was in Nashville and a clerk told my mom "I just love all y'alls accent!"
I also remember traveling through rural Alabama where the drawl got so thick I could no longer understand some folks.
Craig
One guy at the packy tried to correct me when I asked for a paper sack. He insisted it was a bag.
As for Glasgow, I went out with a girl who was born and raised there, when she had a few drinks I did not understand a word she said! That came in useful sometimes
@katrina re "coffee black" - it took me forever when I moved to the US to get used to asking for "hot tea". That's redundant where I come from, and feels like asking for "cold ice cream".
Everywhere else, I think, you can get iced tea year-round.
So hubby would make a big deal about getting two glasses of ice so he could make his own iced tea out of their hot tea, in the off season.
My older son listened to a recording of himself the other day and was startled to discover he has an Irish accent.
Actually when we first started going over to the US to my wife's relatives, I found myself translating for her. She'd been deliberately trying to lose her Americanisms while living in Ireland, whereas I was working for a US-based publisher and had to learn to write American.
Sounds like McWhorter's territory (although I'm sure David Crytal touches on the subject dozens of times as well).
Craig
Craig