Rank your favorite Germanic languages

[Valwar]

I guess I only like English, because of its extensive vocabulary, it is very versatile for transitioning between the Romance and Germanic languages plus it just sounds more pleasant since it is one of, if not the, softest, least gutteral of the Germanic languages.

To me, other Germanic languages - especially German - sound absolutely awful to listen to. Even just saying "I love you" in German sounds like a Nazi Stormtrooper shouting out orders into your eardrum. Dutch sounds like what English would sound like if you tried to speak it underwater.

Compare how beautiful and easy-sounding "I love you" is in English compared to other Germanic languages:

English - I love you

Afrikaans - Ek is lief vir jou/Ek het jou lief

German - Ich liebe Dich/I mog Di ganz arg!

Dutch - Ik hou van jou

Danish - Jeg elsker dig

Friesian - Ik bin fereale op dy/Ik hâld fan dy

Swedish - Jag alskar dig

Yiddish - Ikh hob dikh lib

I don't understand why "I love you" is more beautiful than "jag elsker dig". You probably don't speak those other languages, so you can't hear it in the way a native interprets those words. I think it's just stereotypes like with the stormtrooper etc.

[Valwar]

Es (latin ) is ( english )

In is LATIN..and germans get this term from ancient Romans..

Do you know that English and German grammar ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ?

Some every day verbs like to drink to go... are not enough to state that German and English are similar..

Listen... the only reliable written sources are old latin and old greeks dating back 1000 years B.C.... other sources are speculations sources..

The runes writings are Etruscan writings and not Viking writing system..

The similarity of the words you are noticing is due to a shared Indo-European origin.

I don't think you know what Germanic means, it doesn't mean the same as German. Germanic people and languages originated in Denmark I think. And German and English split off pretty long ago, so you can't expect them to be identical.

I am not basing the similarity of English and German on a few everyday words, I am basing the similarity of English and German on the conclusions of literally every linguist ever who has studied this.
The reason I used that example was because you brought up German "bin" and said it didn't exist in English, so I wanted to show you it did with a slightly different meaning.

[Alcuin52]

I dont consider English a Germanic Language, it is a mutt language, a creole

It is a glorious, mellifluous product of our Anglo-Saxon, Viking and Norman forebears

Stay mad

[Dandelion]

I guess I only like English, because of its extensive vocabulary, it is very versatile for transitioning between the Romance and Germanic languages plus it just sounds more pleasant since it is one of, if not the, softest, least gutteral of the Germanic languages.

To me, other Germanic languages - especially German - sound absolutely awful to listen to. Even just saying "I love you" in German sounds like a Nazi Stormtrooper shouting out orders into your eardrum. Dutch sounds like what English would sound like if you tried to speak it underwater.

Compare how beautiful and easy-sounding "I love you" is in English compared to other Germanic languages:

English - I love you

Afrikaans - Ek is lief vir jou/Ek het jou lief

German - Ich liebe Dich/I mog Di ganz arg!

Dutch - Ik hou van jou

Danish - Jeg elsker dig

Friesian - Ik bin fereale op dy/Ik hâld fan dy

Swedish - Jag alskar dig

Yiddish - Ikh hob dikh lib

Well, I don't notice it as a speaker of Dutch. German also sounds soft despite its reputation.

I think you just watched La Vita è Bella and have that 'lager rules' scene fixed in your permanent memory.



My stereotype of German is more like this

[Dandelion]

My favourite Germanic language is German, even though I can appreciate other ones too, English included. Its orthography and phonology is great in how it evolved. A total chaos that still fits together neatly save a few minor imperfections (like why is the past participle of 'to read' 'read' and not 'red'?).
Dutch is a language which is close to my heart only because it's the language of my culture, but I find it generally 'boring' and too simplified grammatically. German is more expressive at times because of has a more advanced grammar which didn't get rid of its subtleties.
Still, people call Dutch an ugly language, but people internationally generally can't help but like a person when he/she talks with a Dutch accent the same. What people say is one thing.

As for Scandinavian languages, I like Swedish the most. As for North Germanic languages, Icelandic is also interesting together with Swedish, but only because it's so archaic. Faroese sounds nicer whereas Icelandic has adopted ugly 'thll' phonemes where they used to say 'll'. Otherwise, a beautiful language too. The most grammatically complex and archaic Germanic language alive.

[Gründig]

English and German.

[Dandelion]

You're right, I missed that word and I didn't include % because I sorted out all the words only in my text editor.

And I meant English Grammar is by far mostly Germanic, not that there has been no Latin influence at all.

People also forget how Dutch and German have borrowed from Latin, and more extensively than people assume. Our loans are just far more ancient and sound Germanic to our ears. E.g. 'muur', 'paard' (actually a Gaulish word through Late Latin from the collapsing Roman Empire), 'kleur', 'vorm', ...

But yes, it's ludicrous to say English isn't Germanic.

[Dick]

English and German.

[Sapaudius]

1. High German
2. Austro-Bavarian/Swiss German
3. English
4. Afrikaans
5. Dutch
6. Low German
7. Norwegian
8. Swedish
9. Icelandic/Faroese
10. Danish

[Wanderer]

People also forget how Dutch and German have borrowed from Latin, and more extensively than people assume. Our loans are just far more ancient and sound Germanic to our ears. E.g. 'muur', 'paard' (actually a Gaulish word through Late Latin from the collapsing Roman Empire), 'kleur', 'vorm', ...

But yes, it's ludicrous to say English isn't Germanic.

Most other Germanic languages (as well as Slavic languages, Baltic, etc.) do indeed have considerable Latin and Greek lexical influence, as well. English is really in its own category because of the magnitude of this influence, compared to other Germanic languages.