Continuing our survey of the dialects of Northern Europe, we come to: THE SCOTS LANGUAGE: Here's my hilarity find of the day ~ The Scottish Parliament's official website in Scots ~ the stately language of Robbie Burns and Irvine Welsh.
Now I always thought "Scots" meant badly spelled English with a Scottish flavour, and that the Gaelic tongue ~ related to Welsh ~ was the "proper" language of Scotland.But Gaelic never has been spoken in Lowland Scotland, where lots of people, including so it appears the Scottish government, believe Scots to be a proper language, distinct from English (and very distinct from Gaelic).
Walcome tae the Scottish Pairlament wabsite
Banner featuring images of the Scottish Parliament and Public Information Service leaflets
The Scottish Pairlament is here for tae represent aw Scotlan’s folk.
We want tae mak siccar that as mony folk as possible can finn oot aboot the Scottish Pairlament. Information anent whit we can dae tae help ye engaige wi the Pairlament gin ye arenae fluent in English can be haen at Langage assistance providit by the Scottish Pairlament (22.2KB pdf).
This pairt o the wabsite hauds information anent the Scottish Pairlament that we hae producit in Scots. Uise the link aneath tae find oot mair.
* Garrin the Scottish Pairlament Wark for You (1.59MB pdf)
Contactin the Scottish Pairlament
Gin ye hae a quaistion anent the Scottish Pairlament or the Memmers o the Scottish Pairlament (MSPs), ye can contact the Public Speirins Service in ony leid by post, email or fax.
Address:Public Information Service
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP
Email: sp.info@scottish.parliament.uk
Fax: 0131 348 5601
See the above in Scottish Gaelic
And here, from Wikipedia's Frisian entry, are sentences in the Frisian and Low Saxon dialects.Of all the languages in the world, the closest to English is said to be Frisian, a separate tongue from Low Saxon/German, spoken in the Eastern Netherlands and parts of Northern Gernmany up to Southern Denmark,
where, according to Wikipedia, quadrilingualism used to be widespread (North Frisian, Standard German, Low German and South Jutlandic Danish)..And there I was, thinking Frisian was a language moo'd by black and white cows...
Comparative sentence
Saterland Frisian
Die Wänt strookede dät Wucht uum ju Keeuwe un oapede hier ap do Sooken.
North Frisian (Mooring dialect)
Di dreng aide dåt foomen am dåt kan än mäket har aw da siike.
West Frisian
De jonge streake it famke om it kin en tute har op 'e wangen.
East Frisian Low Saxon
De Jung straktde dat Wicht um't Kinn to un tuutjede hör up de Wangen.
Danish
Drengen aede pigen på kinden og kyssede hende på kinderne.
Dutch
De jongen streelde/streek het meisje rond haar kin en kuste haar op haar wangen.
Dutch Low Saxon
De jonge strek 't dearntje um de kinne en gaf heur een smok.
German
Der Junge streichelte das Mädchen ums Kinn und küsste sie an den Wangen.
English
The boy stroked the girl on the chin and kissed her on the cheeks.
Lancashire dialect and accent
Th' lad strorkt 'lass on 'jib an busst er on th' cheaks.
Lancashire dialect and accent
Th' lad strorkt 'lass on 'jib an gev er a smeawch on th' cheaks.
Scots
The laddie straikit the lassie oan the chin an gied hir a smouch oan the chouks.
Notice Lancashire II: smeawch ~ just like one of our modern words for kissing: smooching ....
GERMANIC LANGUAGE MAP
Showing the High-Central-Low German to Dutch continuum in green and English-Frisian in orange...
FRISIAN LANGUAGE MOVEMENT
No gabbly Germanic dialect here ~ you can pretty much follow what they're getting at. They want road signs in the language, children to learn it at school and so on
FRISIAN VICTORIA'S SECRET SUPERMODEL DOUTZEN KROES
... speaks about Frisian in Lower Franconian (Dutch!)
