This is what makes language learning so exciting - Children and Books PodCast

00:00:00: Music.

00:00:05: Hello and welcome to the children and books podcast.

00:00:09: Today on the Hula Martinez with us he's an expert for Slavic philology.

00:00:19: And I'm really happy that all and it writes like you with that.

00:00:24: Well I may be interested in what's coming up

00:00:30: because this is my first podcast that I participated in so your race learn a few new things in your life.

00:00:39: Yeah you will learn the new think of a podcast and we will learn a bit of the Slavic languages maybe

00:00:49: learning something to Islamic Philip philologist is that how you were

00:00:58: scrape yourself

00:01:01: can you explain to us what that actually means well philology means the love of words which mean that I like such as the study

00:01:17: of everything that has to do with language so it's mainly to things it's literature and it is language

00:01:24: I mean we all speak a language or maybe more than one and we often do not realise how complicated this is.

00:01:35: Is a scholar I'm interested in making things complicated

00:01:40: language really works which is not an easy task because you use a language can you

00:01:55: take none with no or few mistakes

00:01:59: does Aldi sworkz that you don't make any mistakes you don't really know it comes automatically it what we do is actually look at those automatic reaction and try to find out how do they come about

00:02:15: why do you see the thing in such a Segway and why can't you see in another way.

00:02:22: It's basically what philology is on the linguistic side

00:02:29: also it is interested in what has been said and especially has been written that is in literature.

00:02:39: What is of course we'd be interested in what

00:02:45: is being said and what is being recorded so I will pop it works because I've never

00:02:58: been interested in podcast so I might just do that provided I get to recording

00:03:06: set a new area of study for you how interesting.

00:03:15: Yes and and how is it when you look on the floor lottery was it to help for you to learn

00:03:23: a couple of lingua just because I know you really know where Lotto or some Islamic languages was it important to be on their students ID to.

00:03:34: Well I mean.

00:03:37: When I grew up speaking no Slovak language at all and now I speak some of them I understand.

00:03:46: The almost all of them and that of course you cannot do by just sleeping you have to learn them

00:03:54: after having learnt to a 3 languages number for 5 and 6.

00:04:02: On rather easily.

00:04:04: No because they're all related in some way even though each has developed his own well

00:04:13: set of rules and its own vocabulary and so on but still there quite a few a common points in which makes it easier

00:04:28: to learn and to understand him but it makes it more difficult to speak them properly.

00:04:36: Because yours have influences from the other languages it's just like when we speak English I'm sure there

00:04:45: Rachel will realise well this is not a proper word this is not the word I

00:04:52: would use in such a context so and this might be because German influences our English.

00:04:59: Yeah yeah so that's just a problem of interference

00:05:05: which is the nasty side of speaking several languages

00:05:12: yeah that's just the way it is interesting I actually grew up with to slide languages and then in school I learnt Russian as well.

00:05:25: Optical

00:05:27: in our school we could we could choose friends or a Russian but I already knew some slight language Slavic languages sold was quite easy for me to learn Russian on that letter.

00:05:38: And also help me not with that and now I can understand other it's like language is so someone is talking for example Polish

00:05:47: I understand a lot of words in it I don't understand what they say interesting with our books we just had this is new series where we are

00:06:01: a mixing a German for example polar.

00:06:04: So alone is good learn more efficiently a different way and I was wondering.

00:06:12: What do you think all and how is are the Slavic languages and the speakers evolving right now is is there is something happening or other more speaker and left speaker stand for.

00:06:27: It's hard to see it depends on how many children are born with more but that's probably not what you were interested in it's a question how many people

00:06:41: learn slavonic languages or Slovak languages as a second or third language or whatever

00:06:48: and here I should see until probably

00:06:54: 1989 when the east the

00:07:00: the Eastern blockers that used to be called just disintegrated until then of course Russian was the first official language to be learnt at school display

00:07:13: turn off this changed very fast English dub.

00:07:20: The place of Russian in most of those countries I'm in Poland Czechoslovakia steel or now the Czech Republic and Slovakia Republic

00:07:31: and so the languages have lost some

00:07:37: is there football at least in Central and East central Europe and in South East Europe

00:07:46: has still retained its position in the former Soviet Republics because I stand

00:07:53: biggest on and someone where it is still used by many people is one of their preferred language is it might be there in their English will

00:08:09: continuously make more inroads into this area and so

00:08:16: actually one would have to say that the main language

00:08:23: which is Russian has lost quite a lot of territory which may regret but it's effect.

00:08:32: The main language having lost some some territory or influence

00:08:39: do you think the minority Slavic languages are on the increase at the moment is there more interesting in reviving.

00:08:47: Please more ethnic Slavic languages.

00:08:53: Well and you probably have to distinguish between those languages that are official languages somewhere

00:09:01: state languages all my call them and the one said a real minority languages.

00:09:10: And those that are stayed languages but I think they are more or less stable they have their position some of them have even improved there

00:09:24: due to the fact that they stayed entered the European Union and this their language automatically became

00:09:33: one of the official languages of the European Union if you know how much

00:09:42: paper is produced by the European Union than you realise how much translations will have to be made into Croatian into Polish in to check into

00:09:55: what did I forget slovena think.

00:10:00: No into Bulgarian of course I mean this of course it gives those languages some more weight

00:10:13: on a worldwide level is it

00:10:15: results of creates problems because these languages then create their own legal language

00:10:24: so just as they say you probably know that Rachel that in Brussels

00:10:31: English is Noel more less the dominating language within the European Union but this is not being with you speak and is not the English the British

00:10:43: the English speak it's not even the language do Americans speak but it's a EU English as a college

00:10:50: which is different and the same thing happens with for example Polish

00:10:56: legal language there in the language that are not used in Poland only used within the European Union

00:11:04: European Union creates a sort of language of its own

00:11:10: which is rather strange.

00:11:21: And does you necessarily have to be so precise and clear.

00:11:28: People to understand the laws of each country so that's.

00:11:34: Well yes in bed that is a problem but

00:11:39: problem existed before it's only clearing now since you have the European Union just one language that that is spoken in countries to German in the European Union

00:11:54: no it's your fish language in Germany and Austria

00:11:59: and they're legal terminology is in some cases quite different but it is also

00:12:08: are the official lineup artificial language in the north of Italy in the alto adige or south Tyrol as you calling and is also rich in Luxembourg

00:12:22: and one of the three official languages in Belgium.

00:12:26: And all these countries have different legal systems so the one term might mean one legal term might mean something in German

00:12:38: something different in Austria and something even more different in Belgium or in in Italy or in auction

00:12:53: a different meanings.

00:12:56: And let's come back to the slavonic languages I've got a very simple but maybe very difficult question do you have a favourite language

00:13:06: radio

00:13:11: I don't know I think the funniest or the most interesting the one in language for me is Bulgarian

00:13:21: because it is in many aspects it is not slavonic anymore because quite a few influences from non slavonic languages from it forms part of what they call the book on language Union.

00:13:39: These are different languages that influenced each other

00:13:44: which is Albanian it's Greek it's Romanian Bulgaria

00:13:49: Macedonian and they have a common developments that are not typical of the other slavonic languages so you went study what happens when language get into contact with other languages

00:14:04: which of course lubina you would know because you know how

00:14:12: strong the influence of German has been on Serbia

00:14:15: I mean not in written soaring because then you don't use any German words but in spoken sorbion they such a strong

00:14:23: German influence that some slaves think that is not really slavonic language any yes I think it is how it is yes or Rachel if you take the situation in Scotland

00:14:40: of course they're the English of Scotland is party been influenced by Celtic languages.

00:14:46: I don't know whether you speak any Celtic.

00:14:51: No I don't I don't but yes we have from we have the stocks language in in Scotland which is

00:15:02: what you would probably classed as more of a dialect but it is it is known as Scots and as as a language in itself and then we have Gaelic.

00:15:14: Different to the Irish Gaelic.

00:15:18: But very very similar and I think would you know share that what do you call it

00:15:24: neutral intelligent intelligibility as they are described the Slavic languages doing yeah yeah

00:15:33: read stranger just save on my desk book which is language in Ireland so no problems and they say that the influence of Gail

00:15:46: Irish on Irish English is much stronger than people usually suspect.

00:15:53: Just don't realise if it's not an Irish Gaelic word they do not realise for example that the structure of speaking

00:16:04: performing sentences and things like that of using metaphoric language

00:16:11: which seems to be very typical for Irish Gaelic influences their English.

00:16:18: Irish English does not only have a particular accent

00:16:22: but it also has what they call a flowery taste to it so yes I have pictures and things like that used to be their influence from Gate

00:16:41: I don't know because yeah

00:16:43: I'm sorry I would say this is a very good point at the end to say let's well what we are listening to us let's have a look

00:16:51: which taste has your language cry trains from another language just very interesting and we can record for hours just interesting.

00:17:08: Can I just say one last thing let me know because I'm saying has just made me kind of think about you

00:17:16: the saying around the the kind of flour in US in in the in the Irish language

00:17:22: but it's this richness of the nuance of these languages that makes them so alive

00:17:32: and in Poland full of beautiful description and.

00:17:39: So what what kind of saying is but there's an interconnectedness about it as well in the.

00:17:45: 1 entrances another you know which influences another and so yeah.

00:17:55: Process which is continually evolving.

00:17:59: Change that is you know which one of interconnectedness it's about.

00:18:06: Find the influences from other countries cultures other languages and I like yeah

00:18:15: you're quite right actually the interesting thing is this is exactly the same thing that you can say of borders usually we think orders separate

00:18:26: but quite on the contrary they are also linked because there's always

00:18:31: contact across borders unless of course you erect the wall then it's more difficult but filled and so this is not only with borders that Lincoln

00:18:45: the linking element it's also with languages we say the language barrier.

00:18:51: What is not a language barrier this barrier can be crossed and that's what.

00:18:58: Try to you now in his 20s.

00:19:07: This is a very very lovely and you're listening to us.

00:19:15: Boujee meaning.