# Distinguishing between related languages **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 29, 2012, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinguishing-between-related-languages/633010 "2012-08-29T05:15:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinguishing-between-related-languages/633010/41 "2012-08-31T15:05:21Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Especially seeing as the only correct way to read out phone numbers is each digit individually. Too cumbersome and runs into human short term memory limits of 7+/- 2 items. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinguishing-between-related-languages/633010/42 "2012-08-31T15:24:35Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > If 50-90 are based on multiples of 20, then what are 30 and 40? tredive and fyrre (i.e. the same words as thirty and forty). ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinguishing-between-related-languages/633010/43 "2012-09-01T00:36:07Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Too cumbersome and runs into human short term memory limits of 7+/- 2 items. It is, however, the only way to be truly unambiguous. From numbers sounding similar (fifty/fifteen) to the problems of zeroes (forty nine - is that 49, 40 9 or 40 09), not saying each number individually causes far more problems. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinguishing-between-related-languages/633010/44 "2012-09-01T05:30:03Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > It is, however, the only way to be truly unambiguous. From numbers sounding similar (fifty/fifteen) to the problems of zeroes (forty nine - is that 49, 40 9 or 40 09), not saying each number individually causes far more problems. Doesn’t make it magically “correct”, but that’s a further derail. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinguishing-between-related-languages/633010/45 "2012-09-01T12:37:49Z")
> [@naita](#): > > The “new way” is compulsory in school books and government run media. I’m 37 and mix old and new, and I think I use the old way more, but that might be personal bias. I’m deliberately trying to stick to the old way because I disagree with reforming language to make it easier to understand phone numbers read out loud. (The reform was requested by the national telephone company.) This kind of thing actually strikes me as typical of the Norwegian language: Compulsive variation. Why have just one way of saying numbers, when you can have two? Norwegian has a lot of free variation, and as mentioned, we have two written standards, bokmål and nynorsk (although, in fairness, nynorsk is really only used by about ten people\* on the west coast, plus the government and the national TV and radio channels, who are required to use a certain amount of it). Of course, in real life, nobody in Norway speaks “standard” Norwegian anyway, everybody actually speaks any one of a number of dialects, which can vary considerably in accent, grammar, syntax and vocabulary (bokmål closely resembles the dialect spoken the Oslo area, but even they are certainly not the same thing). So, when I refer to the “Norwegian language”, I’m really always thinking of this protean, wobbly thing. I think this is one reason why Norwegians more readily understand and accept Swedish than vice-versa\*\*: We’re used to hearing a lot of variation from the outset. This especially goes if you live in Oslo, where people come to work or study from all over the country, as well as from Sweden (not to mention the large numbers of immigrants from places like Pakistan and Poland). It must be a pain if you’re a foreigner, though. (\*By which I mean about 10% of the population.) (\*\*Another reason is of course the huge amounts of Swedish TV we watch as kids. :D) ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinguishing-between-related-languages/633010/46 "2012-09-02T18:52:16Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > the huge amounts of Swedish TV we watch as kids. IME, that’s not an issue after satellite TV. Before satellite and cable, quite a few of those living in Eastern Norway watched Swedish TV regularly. Now, not so much. I have a distinct impression that today’s children have bigger problems understanding Swedish than the parental generation has. Cite: The fact that classic Swedish children’s TV shows on DVD - like Pippi Långstrump and Emil i Lönneberga - are dubbed to Norwegian these days :smack: ---
**Author:** ![stevenova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@stevenova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stevenova)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinguishing-between-related-languages/633010/47 "2012-09-02T18:56:40Z")
Don’t think you can distinguish between Hebrew, Yiddish and Aramaic (ie ketubah type aramaic) without knowing the languages since they use the same alphabets. I’m sure most people when they see Yiddish think it’s hebrew. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinguishing-between-related-languages/633010/48 "2012-09-02T19:33:45Z")
> [@Norse](#): > > Cite: The fact that classic Swedish children’s TV shows on DVD - like Pippi Långstrump and Emil i Lönneberga - are dubbed to Norwegian these days :smack: Is that really true? Jeez, that makes me sad. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinguishing-between-related-languages/633010/49 "2012-09-02T19:57:59Z")
> [@stevenova](#): > > Don’t think you can distinguish between Hebrew, Yiddish and Aramaic (ie ketubah type aramaic) without knowing the languages since they use the same alphabets. > > I’m sure most people when they see Yiddish think it’s hebrew. Vowel markers could likely be used to distinguish between Yiddish and Hebrew. ---
**Author:** ![stevenova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@stevenova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stevenova)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinguishing-between-related-languages/633010/50 "2012-09-02T20:02:28Z")
> [@cckerberos](#): > > Vowel markers could likely be used to distinguish between Yiddish and Hebrew. Some hebrew books use vowels. I even saw a restaurant with vowels on Ben Yehuda street. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinguishing-between-related-languages/633010/51 "2012-09-02T20:09:07Z")
> [@stevenova](#): > > Don’t think you can distinguish between Hebrew, Yiddish and Aramaic (ie ketubah type aramaic) without knowing the languages since they use the same alphabets. > > I’m sure most people when they see Yiddish think it’s hebrew. If I was given two passages, one being Hebrew and one being Yiddish, I pick the one with more longer words to be Yiddish. Germans love their compound words, and much of Yiddish vocabulary is German. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinguishing-between-related-languages/633010/52 "2012-09-03T17:42:10Z")
> [@stevenova](#): > > Some hebrew books use vowels. I even saw a restaurant with vowels on Ben Yehuda street. Sure, but Hebrew with vowel markers looks nothing like Yiddish with vowel markers. Check out the Omniglot pages for [Yiddish](http://www.omniglot.com/writing/yiddish.htm) and [Hebrew](http://www.omniglot.com/writing/hebrew.htm), which have the same text in both languages. I think you’ll agree that the different use of vowel markers make them visually distinctive. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinguishing-between-related-languages/633010/53 "2012-09-04T06:55:56Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > … (although, in fairness, nynorsk is really only used by about ten people\* on the west coast …) A friend of mine in Bergen noted a while ago, with some sadness, that his old school had switched to bokmål. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinguishing-between-related-languages/633010/54 "2012-09-04T15:38:00Z")
> [@stevenova](#): > > Some hebrew books use vowels. I even saw a restaurant with vowels on Ben Yehuda street. Poems also. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distinguishing-between-related-languages/633010.md?page=2)