Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

This has been around facebook and I thought fun so I wanted to share it.

English: A dog
Swedish: What
English: The dog
English: Two dogs
Swedish:
Swedish:
Swedish: En hund, hunden
Swedish: Två hundar, hundarna
German:
English: No, go away
Swedish: No one invited you
German: Der Hund
English: I said go away
German: Ein Hund, zwei Hunde
Swedish: Stop it
German: Den Hund, einen Hund, dem Hund, einem Hund, des Hundes, eines Hundes, den Hunden, der Hunden
Finnish: Sup
English: NO
Swedish: NO
German: NO
Finnish:
English:
German:
Swedish:
Finnish: Koira, koiran, koiraa, koiran again, koirassa, koirasta, koiraan, koiralla, koiralta, koiralle, koirana, koiraksi, koiratta, koirineen, koirin
German:
Swedish:
Finnish:
English:
Finnish: Aaaand... koirasi, koirani, koiransa, koiramme, koiranne, koiraani, koiraasi, koiraansa, koiraamme, koiraanne, koirassani, koirassasi, koirassansa, koirassamme, koirassanne, koirastani, koirastasi, koirastansa, koirastamme, koirastanne, koirallani, koirallasi, koirallansa, koirallamme, koirallanne, koiranani, koiranasi, koiranansa, koiranamme, koirananne, koirakseni, koiraksesi, koiraksensa, koiraksemme, koiraksenne, koirattani, koirattasi, koirattansa, koirattamme, koirattanne, koirineni, koirinesi, koirinensa, koirinemme, koirinenne
English:
Swedish:
German:
Finnish: Wait! then theres koirakaan, koirankaan, koiraakaan, koirassakaan, koirastakaan, koiraankaan, koirallakaan, koiraltakaan, koirallekaan, koiranakaan, koiraksikaan, koirattakaan, koirineenkaan, koirinkaan, koirako, koiranko, koiraako, koirassako, koirastako, koiraanko, koirallako, koiraltako, koiralleko, koiranako, koiraksiko, koirattako, koirineenko, koirinko, koirasikaan, koiranikaan, koiransakaan, koirammekaan, koirannekaan, koiraanikaan, koiraasikaan, koiraansakaan, koiraammekaan, koiraannekaan, koirassanikaan, koirassasikaan, koirassansakaan, koirassammekaan, koirassannekaan, koirastanikaan, koirastasikaan, koirastansakaan, koirastammekaan, koirastannekaan, koirallanikaan, koirallasikaan, koirallansakaan, koirallammekaan, koirallannekaan, koirananikaan, koiranasikaan, koiranansakaan, koiranammekaan, koiranannekaan, koiraksenikaan, koiraksesikaan, koiraksensakaan, koiraksemmekaan, koiraksennekaan, koirattanikaan, koirattasikaan, koirattansakaan, koirattammekaan, koirattannekaan, koirinenikaan, koirinesikaan, koirinensakaan, koirinemmekaan, koirinennekaan, koirasiko, koiraniko, koiransako, koirammeko, koiranneko, koiraaniko, koiraasiko, koiraansako, koiraammeko, koiraanneko, koirassaniko, koirassasiko, koirassansako, koirassammeko, koirassanneko, koirastaniko, koirastasiko, koirastansako, koirastammeko, koirastanneko, koirallaniko, koirallasiko, koirallansako, koirallammeko, koirallanneko, koirananiko, koiranasiko, koiranansako, koiranammeko, koirananneko, koirakseniko, koiraksesiko, koiraksensako, koiraksemmeko, koiraksenneko, koirattaniko, koirattasiko, koirattansako, koirattammeko, koirattanneko, koirineniko, koirinesiko, koirinensako, koirinemmeko, koirinenneko, koirasikaanko, koiranikaanko, koiransakaanko, koirammekaanko, koirannekaanko, koiraanikaanko, koiraasikaanko, koiraansakaanko, koiraammekaanko, koiraannekaanko, koirassanikaanko, koirassasikaanko, koirassansakaanko, koirassammekaanko, koirassannekaanko, koirastanikaanko, koirastasikaanko, koirastansakaanko, koirastammekaanko, koirastannekaanko, koirallanikaanko, koirallasikaanko, koirallansakaanko, koirallammekaanko, koirallannekaanko, koirananikaanko, koiranasikaanko, koiranansakaanko, koiranammekaanko, koiranannekaanko, koiraksenikaanko, koiraksesikaanko, koiraksensakaanko, koiraksemmekaanko, koiraksennekaanko, koirattanikaanko, koirattasikaanko, koirattansakaanko, koirattammekaanko, koirattannekaanko, koirinenikaanko, koirinesikaanko, koirinensakaanko, koirinemmekaanko, koirinennekaanko, koirasikokaan, koiranikokaan, koiransakokaan, koirammekokaan, koirannekokaan, koiraanikokaan, koiraasikokaan, koiraansakokaan, koiraammekokaan, koiraannekokaan, koirassanikokaan, koirassasikokaan, koirassansakokaan, koirassammekokaan, koirassannekokaan, koirastanikokaan, koirastasikokaan, koirastansakokaan, koirastammekokaan, koirastannekokaan, koirallanikokaan, koirallasikokaan, koirallansakokaan, koirallammekokaan, koirallannekokaan, koirananikokaan, koiranasikokaan, koiranansakokaan, koiranammekokaan, koiranannekokaan, koiraksenikokaan, koiraksesikokaan, koiraksensakokaan, koiraksemmekokaan, koiraksennekokaan, koirattanikokaan, koirattasikokaan, koirattansakokaan, koirattammekokaan, koirattannekokaan, koirinenikokaan, koirinesikokaan, koirinensakokaan, koirinemmekokaan, koirinennekokaan
Swedish:
German:
English: Okay, now you're just making things up!
Finnish:
Finnish: And now the plural forms...

Haha! Jesus, is that true?

It's funny because it's a lot of words for the same thing!

this explains quite a bit about the Finns I've met.
On the subject of Finns......
Went drinking with some Finnish special forces in Kosovo.
Those boys are party animals.
We spent some time drinking in the Sauna, then piled into an APC, filled the back with beer, then went for a high speed drive around Pristina.
Good times..

Reminds me of back when I studied Greek in high school. Nothing too crazy in that language, except they had 48 ways to say "the". You used a different form of it for first person vs 2nd or 3rd person, and you have singular vs plural, and masculine vs feminine vs neuter genders of the word, and of course then there's 4 cases each word can have... English is one of the languages that uses word order in a sentence to differentiate subject vs object vs possessive and etc. Greek and Latin use word endings. It's a nightmare to memorize for anybody who isn't used to such things.

The truth about Finnish:

Whyy uusee oŏnee vŏowëel wheen yyoouu caän uusee twoo? Aälsŏŏ, cŏonsiideër doouubliing thee nüümbeer ööf syyllaablees iin åa woord byy reepeeaatiing thee eeaach oönëë thuůslyyůuslyy, aäpplyyiing thee döouublëe-leettëer ruulëe töo 'Kk's aand 'Yy's (beecaäuusee yyŏouu doon't seeee thåat muuch iin ootheer laanguuaagees) åånd haaviing aä beewiildeeriing nüumbeer ŏof aäcceents thaat caan bee aäppliieed too vooweëls. Oŏh, aånd kkeëëep iit phooneetiic soo thäät iit's eeäasyy too speeäakk whiilee yyöŏüu'ree drůůnkk.

Ii'm niineetyy-niinëe peerceënt suurëe thëe whoolee laängüuaagee iis aa joökkee, thaät theeyy aactuuaallyy speeåakk aå peerfeectlyy noŏrmaal laanguuaägee möost oöf thee tiimee aand oonlyy üüsee theeiir sŏo-caalleed naätiivee toongůüee tŏo coonfuüsee fooreëiigneers, juust liikkëe thee Weelsh doo.

Finnish is the most awesomely crazy language in the world (or Europe at least), with Hungarian a close second.
Russian is also pretty crazy:
sobáka sobáki sobáke sobáku sobákoj sobákoju sobák sobákam sobákami sobákax sobáčij sobáčʹjevo sobáčʹjemu sobáčʹim sobáčʹjem sobáčʹja sobáčʹjej sobáčʹju sobáčʹjeju sobáčʹje sobáčʹi sobáčʹix sobáčʹimi

Thankfully English is such a simple language, otherwise I would have never learnt it

I don't like languages that have different ways of saying "the" and other similar words based off the apparent "gender" of the word (der Hund vs die Milch). It just seems so... inefficient.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I don't like languages that have different ways of saying "the" and other similar words based off the apparent "gender" of the word (der Hund vs die Milch). It just seems so... inefficient.

Articles in general are inefficient. Language can do just fine without them, they are completely unnecessary. Just try speaking English while leaving out all articles, it works perfectly fine.
For German especially, it is a shame it has such an ugly, complicated system of articles. German is such a wonderfully precise and logical language, but the articles kinda ruin it.

 Iron_Captain wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I don't like languages that have different ways of saying "the" and other similar words based off the apparent "gender" of the word (der Hund vs die Milch). It just seems so... inefficient.

Articles in general are inefficient. Language can do just fine without them, they are completely unnecessary. Just try speaking English while leaving out all articles, it works perfectly fine.
For German especially, it is a shame it has such an ugly, complicated system of articles. German is such a wonderfully precise and logical language, but the articles kinda ruin it.

The articles aren't that bad once you get used to them. And really, they help with the precision. The articles and case system of German allow the word order to be much more fluid (as opposed to English, which relies on word order to tell you which part of speech everything is), so you can add emphasis by changing the word order in German, and you still know what role each noun is playing since you know what case it is.