0_Wizard
I like learning about the German language and talking with Germans
no_passages_used
no_passages_used
no_passages_used
no_passages_used
German language
German ( ) is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and (co-) official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the major languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide and the most widely spoken native language in the European Union.
German Americans
German Americans () are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 44 million in 2016, German Americans are the largest of the ancestry groups reported by the US Census Bureau in its American Community Survey. The group accounts for about one third of the total ethnic German population in the world. None of the German states had American colonies. In the 1670s, the first significant groups of German immigrants arrived in the British colonies, settling primarily in Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia. Immigration continued in very large numbers during the 19th century, with eight million arrivals from Germany.
Germans
Germans () are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe, who share a common German ancestry, culture and history. German is the shared mother tongue of a substantial majority of ethnic Germans. The English term "Germans" has historically referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages. Before the collapse of communism and the reunification of Germany in 1990, Germans constituted the largest "divided" nation in Europe by far. Ever since the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation within the Holy Roman Empire, German society has been characterized by a Catholic-Protestant divide.
German Brazilians
German Brazilians (German: "Deutschbrasilianer", Riograndenser Hunsrückisch: "Deitschbrasiliooner", ) refers to Brazilian people of ethnic German ancestry or origin. German Brazilians live mostly in the country's South Region, with lesser but still significant degree in the Southeast Region. German dialects together make up the second most spoken first language in Brazil after Portuguese. A few Brazilian municipalities have Brazilian Hunsrückisch and Germanic East Pomeranian as co-official with Portuguese. They are located in Southern Brazil and Espírito Santo. In the year 2000 Brazilian census 12 million people in Brazil claimed to be of German descent.
Geographical distribution of German speakers
In addition to the German-speaking area ("") in Europe, German-speaking minorities are present in many countries and on all six inhabited continents. Mostly depending on the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties with a disputed status as separate languages (e.g., Low German/Plautdietsch,), it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language, 10-25 million as a second language, and 75–100 million as a foreign language. This would imply approximately 175-220 million German speakers worldwide. The German language is spoken in a number of countries and territories in Europe, where it is used both as an official language and as a minority language in various countries.
Germanisation
Germanisation (also spelled Germanization) is the spread of the German language, people and culture or policies which introduced these changes. It was a central plank of German conservative thinking in the 19th and 20th centuries, at a period when conservatism and nationalism went hand-in-hand. In linguistics, Germanisation also occurs when a word from the German language is adopted into a foreign language. Under the policies of states such as Teutonic Order state (who arrived from the Holy Roman Empire), Austria, the German Empire, and Nazi Germany, non-Germans were often banned from use of their language, the state discriminated their traditions and culture.
Sudeten Germans
German Bohemians and German Moravians (), also known as the Sudeten Germans () in the early 20th century, were ethnic Germans living in the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Margraviate of Moravia (parts of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown) both of which came under jurisdiction of the state of Czechoslovakia in the aftermath of the dissolution of Austria-Hungary after World War I and the subsequent failure to create German Austria. Before 1945, Czechoslovakia was inhabited by over three million such German Bohemians and German Moravians, comprising about 23 percent of the population of the whole republic and about 29.5 percent of the population of Bohemia and Moravia.
1_Apprentice
Sounds interesting. How are you learning the language?
0_Wizard
I had some exposure early in life when the language development process starts, but I lost it when I was 8. I'm picking it back up by talking to other Germans
Language development is a process starting early in human life.
partner_Language_development_0
Language development
partner_4_Language_development
Child development
Child development entails the biological, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the end of adolescence, as the individual progresses from dependency to increasing autonomy. It is a continuous process with a predictable sequence, yet having a unique course for every child. It does not progress at the same rate and each stage is affected by the preceding developmental experiences. Because these developmental changes may be strongly influenced by genetic factors and events during prenatal life, genetics and prenatal development are usually included as part of the study of child development.
Language development
Language development is a process starting early in human life. Infants start without knowing a language, yet by 10 months, babies can distinguish speech sounds and engage in babbling. Some research has shown that the earliest learning begins in utero when the fetus starts to recognize the sounds and speech patterns of its mother's voice and differentiate them from other sounds after birth. Usually, productive language is considered to begin with a stage of preverbal communication in which infants use gestures and vocalizations to make their intents known to others. According to a general principle of development, new forms then take over old functions, so that children learn words to express the same communicative functions they had already expressed by proverbial means.
Simultaneous bilingualism
Simultaneous bilingualism is a form of bilingualism that takes place when a child becomes bilingual by learning two languages from birth. According to Annick De Houwer, in an article in "The Handbook of Child Language", simultaneous bilingualism takes place in "children who are regularly addressed in two spoken languages from before the age of two and who continue to be regularly addressed in those languages up until the final stages" of language development. Both languages are acquired as first languages. This is in contrast to sequential bilingualism, in which the second language is learned not as a native language but a foreign language.
Baby sign language
Baby sign language is the use of manual signing allowing infants and toddlers to communicate emotions, desires, and objects prior to spoken language development. With guidance and encouragement signing develops from a natural stage in infants development known as gesture. These gestures are taught in conjunction with speech to hearing children, and are not the same as a sign language. Some common benefits that have been found through the use of baby sign programs include an increased parent-child bond and communication, decreased frustration, and improved self-esteem for both the parent and child.
Language acquisition
Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words and sentences to communicate. Language acquisition is one of the quintessential human traits, because non-humans do not communicate by using language. Language acquisition usually refers to first-language acquisition, which studies infants' acquisition of their native language. This is distinguished from "second-language acquisition", which deals with the acquisition (in both children and adults) of additional languages. Linguists who are interested in child language acquisition for many years question how language is acquired, lidz et al.
Hearing loss
Hearing loss, also known as hearing impairment, is a partial or total inability to hear. A deaf person has little to no hearing. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children hearing problems can affect the ability to learn spoken language and in adults it can cause work related difficulties. In some people, particularly older people, hearing loss can result in loneliness. Hearing loss can be temporary or permanent. Hearing loss may be caused by a number of factors, including: genetics, ageing, exposure to noise, some infections, birth complications, trauma to the ear, and certain medications or toxins.
Second language development
Second language development is a view on second language acquisition. It is contrasted with second language acqusition by emphasising that language learning is an infinite process with no end state. Researchers who view language learning as a second language development mostly apply Dynamic systems theory to explicate changes in the development. Dynamic systems theory stems from applied mathematics but the introduction of dynamic systems theory to study development in social sciences can be attributed to Thelen who applied it to study motor development. She explicated the A-not-B error from a Dynamic systems theory perspective.
1_Apprentice
Do you have a sizable German community in your area? Maybe a German bar?
0_Wizard
Yes I live in Switzerland where it is an official language
It is the most widely spoken and (co-) official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein.
chosen_German_language_0
German language
chosen_topic_0_German_language
Romansh language
Romansh (also spelled Romansch, Rumantsch, or Romanche; Romansh: , "rumàntsch", or ) is a Romance language spoken predominantly in the southeastern Swiss canton of Grisons (Graubünden), where it has official status alongside German and Italian. It is used as the medium of instruction in schools in Romansh-speaking areas. Romansh has also been recognized as a national language of Switzerland since 1938, and as an official language since 1996, along with German, French and Italian. It is sometimes grouped by linguists with Ladin and Friulian as a Rhaeto-Romance language, though this is disputed. Romansh is a descendant of the spoken Latin language of the Roman Empire, which by the 5th century AD replaced the Celtic and Raetic languages previously spoken in the area.
Languages in censuses
Many countries and national censuses currently enumerate or have previously enumerated their populations by languages, native language, home language, level of knowing language or a combination of these characteristics. Pashto and Dari (Persian) are the official languages of Afghanistan; bilingualism is very common. Both are Indo-European languages from the Iranian languages sub-family. Dari has always been the prestige language and a lingua franca for inter-ethnic communication. It is the native tongue of the Tajiks, Hazaras, Aimaks, and Kizilbash. Pashto is the native tongue of the Pashtuns, although many Pashtuns often use Dari and some non-Pashtuns are fluent in Pashto.
National language
A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with people and the territory they occupy. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the territory of a country may be referred to informally or designated in legislation as national languages of the country. National or official languages are mentioned in over 150 world constitutions. C.M.B. Brann, with particular reference to India, suggests that there are "four quite distinctive meanings" for national language in a polity: The last is usually given the title of official language.
Geographical distribution of French speakers
This article details the geographical distribution of speakers of the French language, regardless of the legislative status within the countries where it is spoken. French-based creoles are considered separate languages for the purpose of this article. French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the language of European courts and diplomacy. The importance of French began to wane in the early 20th century, when the rise of the English-speaking United States to superpower status eroded its place as the language of trade, science and diplomacy.
Official language
An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a country's official language refers to the language used within government (e.g., courts, parliament, administration). Since "the means of expression of a people cannot be changed by any law", the term "official language" does not typically refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government. Worldwide, 178 countries have at least one official language, and 101 of these countries recognise more than one language. Many of the world's constitutions mention one or more official or national languages.
Charter of the French Language
The Charter of the French Language (), also known as Bill 101 ("Law 101 or "), is a 1977 law in the province of Quebec in Canada defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the official language of Quebec. It is the central legislative piece in Quebec's language policy. Proposed by Camille Laurin, the Minister of Cultural Development under the first Parti Québécois government of Premier René Lévesque, it was passed by the National Assembly, and granted Royal Assent by Lieutenant Governor Hugues Lapointe on August 26, 1977. The Charter's provisions expanded upon the 1974 "Official Language Act" (Bill 22), which was enacted by the Lieutenant Governor-in-Parliament during the tenure of Premier Robert Bourassa's Liberal government to make French the official language of Quebec.
Languages of India
Languages spoken in India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-Aryan languages spoken by 75% of Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 20% of Indians. Other languages belong to the Austroasiatic, Sino-Tibetan, Tai-Kadai, and a few other minor language families and isolates. India (780) has the world's second highest number of languages, after Papua New Guinea (839). Article 343 of the Indian constitution states that the official language of the Union government shall become Hindi in Devanagari script instead of the extant English, but is superseded by English subsequently too as mentioned in section 3 of the same constitutional article that is put to effect by .
1_Apprentice
Wow. I would like to travel to Switzerland. I speak French, I think it is also spoken there, right?
0_Wizard
Yes, on the west side of the country.
no_passages_used
no_passages_used
no_passages_used
no_passages_used
West Side, Chicago
The West Side is one of the three major sections of the city of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, along with the North Side and the South Side. The West Side consists of communities that are of historical, cultural, and ideological importance to the history and development of Chicago. On the municipal flag of Chicago, the West Side is represented by the central white stripe. Often referenced by the media and residents as a largely poor, crime-ridden area of the city, the West Side has gone through many transitions in its ethnic and socioeconomic makeup due to its historic role as a gateway for immigrants and migrants as well as its role for funneling poorer residents away from the wealthier lakeside neighborhoods and central business district.
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band formed in London in 1968 by singer Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Peter Banks, keyboardist Tony Kaye, and drummer Bill Bruford. The band have undergone numerous formations throughout their history; nineteen musicians have been full-time members. Since June 2015, it has consisted of guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, keyboardist Geoff Downes, singer Jon Davison, and bassist Billy Sherwood, with no remaining founding members. Yes have explored several musical styles over the years, and are most notably regarded as progressive rock pioneers. Yes began in 1968, performing original songs and rearranged covers of rock, pop, blues and jazz songs, as evident on their first two albums.
Operation Barras
Operation Barras was a British Army operation that took place in Sierra Leone on 10 September 2000, during the late stages of that nation's civil war. The operation aimed to release five British soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment who had been held by a militia group known as the "West Side Boys". The soldiers were part of a patrol that was returning from a visit to Jordanian peacekeepers attached to the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) at Masiaka on 25 August 2000 when they turned off the main road and down a track towards the village of Magbeni. There the patrol was overwhelmed by a large number of heavily armed rebels, taken prisoner, and transported to Gberi Bana on the opposite side of Rokel Creek.
Quebec referendum, 1995
The 1995 Quebec referendum was the second referendum to ask voters in the Canadian French-speaking province of Quebec whether Quebec should proclaim national sovereignty and become an independent country, with the condition precedent of offering a political and economic agreement to Canada. The culmination of multiple years of debate and planning after the failure of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown constitutional accords, the referendum was launched solely by the provincial Parti Québécois government of Jacques Parizeau. Despite initial predictions of a heavy sovereignist defeat, an eventful and complex campaign followed, with the "Yes" side flourishing after being taken over by charismatic Bloc Québécois leader Lucien Bouchard.
Scottish independence referendum, 2014
A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom took place on 18 September 2014. The referendum question, which voters answered with "Yes" or "No", was "Should Scotland be an independent country?" The "No" side won, with 2,001,926 (55.3%) voting against independence and 1,617,989 (44.7%) voting in favour. The turnout of 84.6% was the highest recorded for an election or referendum in the United Kingdom since the introduction of universal suffrage. The Scottish Independence Referendum Act 2013, setting out the arrangements for the referendum, was passed by the Scottish Parliament in November 2013, following an agreement between the Scottish Government and the United Kingdom government.
Yes Minister
Yes Minister is a Political satire British sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn that was first transmitted on BBC Two from 1980 to 1984, split over three seven-episode series. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988. In total there were 38 episodes, of which all but one lasted half an hour. Almost all episodes ended with a variation of the title of the series spoken as the answer to a question posed by Hacker. Several episodes were adapted for BBC Radio, and a stage play was produced in 2010, the latter leading to a new television series on UKTV Gold in 2013. Set principally in the private office of a British Cabinet minister in the fictional Department of Administrative Affairs in Whitehall, "Yes Minister" follows the ministerial career of the Rt Hon Jim Hacker MP, played by Paul Eddington.
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side, sometimes abbreviated UWS, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 110th Street. The Upper West Side is sometimes also considered by the real estate industry to include the neighborhood of Morningside Heights. Like the Upper East Side, the Upper West Side is an affluent, primarily residential area with many of its residents working in commercial areas of Midtown and Lower Manhattan. It has the reputation of being New York City's cultural and intellectual hub, with Columbia University and Barnard College located at the north end of the neighborhood, and artistic workers, with Lincoln Center located at the south end.
1_Apprentice
What would be the largest city on the West side of the country?
0_Wizard
That would be the capitol, Geneva.
no_passages_used
no_passages_used
no_passages_used
no_passages_used
Capitol Records
Capitol Records (also referred to simply as Capitol and Hollywood and Vine) is an American major record label which operates as a division of the Capitol Music Group. The label was founded as the first West Coast-based record label in the United States in 1942 by industry insiders Johnny Mercer, Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallichs. In 1955, the label was acquired by the British music conglomerate EMI as its North American subsidiary. EMI was later acquired by Universal Music Group in 2012 and was merged with the company in 2013, making Capitol Records and the Capitol Music Group both a part of the Universal Music Group.
Geneva
Geneva (, , , , , ) is the second most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and is the most populous city of the Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situated where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Republic and Canton of Geneva. The municipality "(ville de Genève)" has a population () of , and the canton (which is essentially the city and its inner-ring suburbs) has residents. In 2014, the compact "agglomération du Grand Genève" had 946,000 inhabitants in 212 communities in both Switzerland and France. Within Swiss territory, the commuter area named ""Métropole lémanique"" contains a population of 1.26 million.
Fictional world of The Hunger Games
"The Hunger Games" universe is a fictional world appearing in "The Hunger Games" trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. It consists primarily of the fictional nation of Panem, its Capitol where the totalitarian government resides, and the outlying districts, numbered 1 to 12, each with a different economy. In addition, there is the secretive District 13, where a rebel force is building strength. The Hunger Games themselves are an annual event in which children from the districts, selected through a process called "reaping", are forced to participate in a battle to the death. The universe also contains fictional flora and fauna, such as the Mockingjay, a bird whose mimicry is used as a plot device, and after whom the third book in the series is named.
History of Geneva
The History of Geneva dates from before the Roman occupation in the second century BC. Now the principal French-speaking city of Switzerland, Geneva was an independent city state from the Middle Ages until the end of the 18th century. John Calvin was the Protestant leader of the city in the 16th century. Geneva first appears in history as an Allobrogian border town, fortified against the Celtic Helvetii tribe, which the Romans took in 121 BC. In 58 BC, Caesar, Roman governor of Gaul, destroyed the Rhône bridge at Geneva and built a 19-mile earthwork from Lake Geneva to the Jura Mountains in order to block the migration of the Helvetii, who "attempted, sometimes by day, more often by night, to break through, either by joining boats together and making a number of rafts ("ratis"), or by fording the Rhône where the depth of the stream was least" (De Bello Gallico, I, 8).
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol Building, is the home of the United States Congress, and the seat of the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government. It sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Though not at the geographic center of the Federal District, the Capitol forms the origin point for the District's street-numbering system and the District's four quadrants. The original building was completed in 1800 and was subsequently expanded, particularly with the addition of the massive dome, and expanded chambers for the bicameral legislature, the House of Representatives in the south wing and the Senate in the north wing.
List of The Hunger Games characters
The following is a list of characters in "The Hunger Games" trilogy, a series of young adult science fiction novels by Suzanne Collins that were later adapted into a series of four feature films. The actors who portray these characters are given in List of The Hunger Games cast members. Katniss Everdeen is the protagonist and narrator of the series. She is 16 years old at the beginning of the first book and is quiet, independent, and fierce. She has long dark hair, olive skin, and gray eyes, which are given as characteristic of residents of the coal mining region of District 12 known as "the Seam".
Pennsylvania State Capitol
The Pennsylvania State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and is in downtown Harrisburg. It was designed by architect, Joseph Miller Huston in 1902 in a Beaux-Arts style with decorative Renaissance themes throughout. The capitol houses the legislative chambers for the Pennsylvania General Assembly, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the Harrisburg chambers for the Supreme and Superior Courts of Pennsylvania, as well as the offices of the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor. It is also the main building of the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex.