Do you know or can you guess which language it’s in and where it’s spoken?
21 thoughts on “Language quiz”
Sounds a lot like the Luxembourgish newscasts I’ve heard, so I’ll guess that.
I’m not familiar with Luxembourgish, so I think it’s Dutch. Something about a car crash (due to bad weather) and the financial crisis…
a german dialect, something like swiss german/alsatian/allemanisch
I heard New York Times, the West Bank, a whole lot of glottal sounds, and a few interesting other sounds. I will go with Yiddish or another Jewish language.
I’ll guess Luxembougish as well, also, possibly Frisian.
Sounds Germanic. I’m going to say Yiddish.
I’m 99.9% sure it’s Luxembourgish (Lëtzebuergesch): “Gudde Moien” at the top of the bulletin (and, extra-linguistically, the “news sting” music sounds like RTL).
It’s interesting how similar it sounds prosodically to the Hunsrückisch dialect heard in the German TV series “Heimat” — not surprisingly, I suppose, given the geographical proximity — though Luxembourgish has a much larger French admixture in it.
My thought was Luxemburgish (Lëtzebuergesch) too. Clearly related to German, but without the extra affricates if Schwyzertüütsch or the Alemannic lilt of SD or Elsässisch.
My guess is also Luxembourgish. It’s reassuring to see that more knowledgeable commentators agree.
i think its german, luxemburgish flemish or related to these
I’d add to this the fact the uvular [ʁ] instead of the [r] typical of Alemannic, and that the [tœʃn̩] I hear after “akzident” is most likely (?) töschen (?) “between”, closer to Dutch “tussen” than High German “zwischen”, it’s petty certain this is a variety of the old West Germanic continuum somewhere along the middle band east of Belgium. I think Lëtzebuergesch is a pretty good bet.
…oh, and “New York Times schreift dat” is more lower Rhine-like Middle Franconian phonology on its way to Lower Franconian (Dutch)… In German, “…schreibt, dass” and Dutch, “schrijft dat”…
You’re quite right, Christopher, about the word meaning “between” that we hear in this recording. The Luxembourgish word is “tëschent” (ë = /e/). It’s heard again (in the report about the Greek financial crisis) in “tëschent Athen”. I think that just about wraps it up, don’t you? 🙂
That was meant to be “ë = /ə/” {schwa, in case it dosen’t come out right this time!)
It´s not one of the Frisian languages, neither it is Dutch. I´m sure it is Luxemburgish- Letzebuergesh…
Well, I can’t tell anything other than it sounds very German and a smidge Scandinavian to my ear, so I *will* guess Frisian.
Luxembourgish, most definitely, and it is indeed from RTL Lëtzebuerg (Luxembourg)– I’m listening to that very station on my iPod touch as I type… 😉
d.m.f.
The answer is Luxembourgish (Lëtzebuergesch), which is spoken in Luxembourg
I travelled there once so guessing it is Luxembourgish…
I am late to the quiz.. but before i saw the comments, I heard it and had a vague idea that it could be related to Dutch or Swedish.. but I dont know either of the languages…. so that was a wild guess anyway…
Sounds a lot like the Luxembourgish newscasts I’ve heard, so I’ll guess that.
I’m not familiar with Luxembourgish, so I think it’s Dutch. Something about a car crash (due to bad weather) and the financial crisis…
a german dialect, something like swiss german/alsatian/allemanisch
I heard New York Times, the West Bank, a whole lot of glottal sounds, and a few interesting other sounds. I will go with Yiddish or another Jewish language.
I’ll guess Luxembougish as well, also, possibly Frisian.
Sounds Germanic. I’m going to say Yiddish.
I’m 99.9% sure it’s Luxembourgish (Lëtzebuergesch): “Gudde Moien” at the top of the bulletin (and, extra-linguistically, the “news sting” music sounds like RTL).
It’s interesting how similar it sounds prosodically to the Hunsrückisch dialect heard in the German TV series “Heimat” — not surprisingly, I suppose, given the geographical proximity — though Luxembourgish has a much larger French admixture in it.
It’s certainly very close to German dialect and a quick rummage through this website http://wings.buffalo.edu/linguistics/people/faculty/fertig/fertig/GermDialSoundlinks.html
suggests, as others have pointed out, that this is indeed Luxembourgish/Lëtzebuergesch.
My thought was Luxemburgish (Lëtzebuergesch) too. Clearly related to German, but without the extra affricates if Schwyzertüütsch or the Alemannic lilt of SD or Elsässisch.
My guess is also Luxembourgish. It’s reassuring to see that more knowledgeable commentators agree.
i think its german, luxemburgish flemish or related to these
I’d add to this the fact the uvular [ʁ] instead of the [r] typical of Alemannic, and that the [tœʃn̩] I hear after “akzident” is most likely (?) töschen (?) “between”, closer to Dutch “tussen” than High German “zwischen”, it’s petty certain this is a variety of the old West Germanic continuum somewhere along the middle band east of Belgium. I think Lëtzebuergesch is a pretty good bet.
…oh, and “New York Times schreift dat” is more lower Rhine-like Middle Franconian phonology on its way to Lower Franconian (Dutch)… In German, “…schreibt, dass” and Dutch, “schrijft dat”…
You’re quite right, Christopher, about the word meaning “between” that we hear in this recording. The Luxembourgish word is “tëschent” (ë = /e/). It’s heard again (in the report about the Greek financial crisis) in “tëschent Athen”. I think that just about wraps it up, don’t you? 🙂
That was meant to be “ë = /ə/” {schwa, in case it dosen’t come out right this time!)
It´s not one of the Frisian languages, neither it is Dutch. I´m sure it is Luxemburgish- Letzebuergesh…
Well, I can’t tell anything other than it sounds very German and a smidge Scandinavian to my ear, so I *will* guess Frisian.
Luxembourgish, most definitely, and it is indeed from RTL Lëtzebuerg (Luxembourg)– I’m listening to that very station on my iPod touch as I type… 😉
d.m.f.
The answer is Luxembourgish (Lëtzebuergesch), which is spoken in Luxembourg
The recording comes from RTL
I travelled there once so guessing it is Luxembourgish…
I am late to the quiz.. but before i saw the comments, I heard it and had a vague idea that it could be related to Dutch or Swedish.. but I dont know either of the languages…. so that was a wild guess anyway…