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What’s with this “Wren” thing?
The oldest extant version of the fable
we
are presenting here appeared in 1913 in the first volume of a two-volume anthology
of Low
Saxon folktales (Plattdeutsche
Volksmärchen “Low German Folktales”)
collected by Wilhelm Wisser (1843–1935). Read
more ...
y
name is Tomoki Minohara, 25 years old. I was born and live in Nagasaki, a prefecture
on the island of Kyushu, in the southwestern part of Japan. The history of Nagasaki
aroused my curiosity about foreign languages, in particular of Dutch.
During the isolationist era (1641–1853) Nagasaki was the only city which traded
with European countries. My city was the center of “Holland Study” (Rangaku) and knowledge
of Dutch spread in Japan. For this reason, I have a special interest in Dutch.
Orandazaka
(“Dutch Slope”)
in Nagasaki
I’m also curious about minority languages and
dialects. During my language course at the university in France, I stayed at
a host family with a student
from Flanders. In those days I did not know Dutch but I had some general
knowledge about the linguistic situation in Belgium, so he often explained
to me the
differences between Dutch and Flemish. It was enjoyable for me to listen
to his telephone
conversations with his family in Flemish (one dialect of his region). It
was a wonderful experience and that made me decide to learn Dutch.
I have a strong passion for languages. From 1996 until today I have studied
mainly the Romance languages. I speak Italian, French, Spanish, Galician, Portuguese
and can read Catalan. I have knowledge of Corsican, Occitan, Latin and so on.
Some years ago, I compiled a list of the English words derived from Latin and
Greek (etymology and the comparison between English and the Romance languages).
In 2003 I started learning Dutch and Frisian at the same time. Before discovering
this site I learned the basic of some languages on the Internet—German, Low
German (Low Saxon of Germany), Luxembourgish, Stellingwerf Low Saxon, and Afrikaans.
I’m glad to have opportunities to use these languages.
Frontpage
y
name is Tomoki Minohara, 25 years old. I was born and live in Nagasaki, a prefecture
on the island of Kyushu, in the southwestern part of Japan. The history of Nagasaki
aroused my curiosity about foreign languages, in particular of Dutch.
