You Switch Countries....NOW!

[Eastoff]

I'm just not familiar with Switzerland. What are some attractions there? What language do they speak (Swedish isn't a language is it?)?

they speak swedish in sweden. In Switzerland they speak german, french, italian, ancient roman, and probably english now.

 

[Buzz Killington]

Itsn't Switzerland just a bunch of ski resorts and Rolex stores?

 

[MARIS61]

Canada, for the clean environment, great hunting and fishing, non-aggressive government, higher standard of living, and excellent healthcare system.

 

[Buzz Killington]

Canada, for the clean environment, great hunting and fishing, non-aggressive government, higher standard of living, and excellent healthcare system.

Plus, you can always just leech off the awesomeness of the USA!

 

[MrJayremmie]

Australia or England.

 

[Colonel Ronan]

Itsn't Switzerland just a bunch of ski resorts and Rolex stores?

And banks...

I'm just not familiar with Switzerland. What are some attractions there? What language do they speak (Swedish isn't a language is it?)?

Epic fail.

 

[J_Ray]

Epic fail.

haha I was just looking into the study abroad program to try to find out the language they speak. For reason I thought Switzerland was Finland, thats right next to Sweden douche

 

[The_Lillard_King]

On a twist:

If you had all the money you ever needed, would you live in the US.

Personally, I would not.

 

[Colonel Ronan]

haha I was just looking into the study abroad program to try to find out the language they speak. For reason I thought Switzerland was Finland, thats right next to Sweden douche

Haha, I'm just messin' with ya. <3

 

[Shapecity]

haha I was just looking into the study abroad program to try to find out the language they speak. For reason I thought Switzerland was Finland, thats right next to Sweden douche

They speak several languages because Switzerland borders several countries. French, German, Italian, and everyone can speak English. You wouldn't encounter any language barrier if you visited.

 

[andalusian]

Norway, in high school we got a foreign exchange student from Norway. She was so beautiful that all the normal girls in my school looked just alright after she got there. She told me that in her home school she was average looking.........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Norway has the strangest speech pattern I have ever heard. You know how when you are surprised you make a noise by drawing your breath in - like a "Uhhh" in reverse with the air drawn into your mouth?

Apparently they use as "yes" or "ok" there. I was talking to someone at the car rental agency and she did it to agree with me - and it surprised the heck out of me - did not know why she was so upset and startled.

As we went north we found out that around mid-country it changes to "Uhhh"-ahah and up north it becomes "Uhhh"-Yo. Mind bending, I tell you.

Very pretty country - but too cold for me.

I need someplace nice and warm with a great beach.

A Greek island is cool - but maybe the Island Lamu, near Kenya - is the place for me.

 

[Mediocre Man]

My top 5, in somewhat of an order

1. Switzerland
2. Norway
3. Iceland
4. Germany
5. Bora Bora



Hmm, what is missing from all of the top places to live in the world??????

 

[Buzz Killington]

My top 5, in somewhat of an order

1. Switzerland
2. Norway
3. Iceland
4. Germany
5. Bora Bora



Hmm, what is missing from all of the top places to live in the world??????

mexicans?

 

[The_Lillard_King]

mexicans?

I was thinking Asians

 

[Colonel Ronan]

Where's all the Fiji love?

 

[maxiep]

haha I was just looking into the study abroad program to try to find out the language they speak. For reason I thought Switzerland was Finland, thats right next to Sweden douche

They speak Finnish, Swedish and English in Finland. Stick to the latter two; Finnish is a language that bears no relation to anything you've ever heard.

 

[maxiep]

On a twist:

If you had all the money you ever needed, would you live in the US.

Personally, I would not.

Man, I would. The only difference is that I'd live in Portland year 'round instead of splitting time in Denver.

 

[Eastoff]

I was thinking Asians

you really don't think any asian country would be good to live in?

 

[The_Lillard_King]

you really don't think any asian country would be good to live in?

I didn't mean that.

MM asked what was missing and BK said mexicans . . . I joked saying asians.

 

[Ed O]

Australia for me. I like the accent and get along well with every Aussie I've met (although I haven't visited; maybe all of the assholes never travel) and the beaches look fantastic.

Ed O.

 

[MARIS61]

On a twist:

If you had all the money you ever needed, would you live in the US.

Personally, I would not.

If money was important to me, I would have abandoned the US 30 years ago.

Far easier to get rich somewhere else. Reagan all but killed the American Dream. Our current American version of capitalist society is designed to widen the gap between the ultra-rich and the ultra-poor, and will eventually eliminate the middle class altogether.

 

[ehizzy3]

north korea

 

[Minstrel]

They speak Finnish, Swedish and English in Finland. Stick to the latter two; Finnish is a language that bears no relation to anything you've ever heard.

Amusing bit of trivia: JRR Tolkien (a linguist in addition to his more famous author gig) mentioned that he based the Elvish language, in Lord of the Rings, on Finnish.

Finnish really does have a very different sound from other Indo-European languages.

 

[Eastoff]

Amusing bit of trivia: JRR Tolkien (a linguist in addition to his more famous author gig) mentioned that he based the Elvish language, in Lord of the Rings, on Finnish.

Finnish really does have a very different sound from other Indo-European languages.

I may anger the local linguistic god, but I heard that Ancient Greek is very similar to Sanskrit.

 

[andalusian]

I may anger the local linguistic god, but I heard that Ancient Greek is very similar to Sanskrit.

I am going to do a thread merge here and anger the local linguistic devil - and notice that in Swahili the nickname of the Boeing 747 is used for "hello".

 

[Minstrel]

I may anger the local linguistic god, but I heard that Ancient Greek is very similar to Sanskrit.

I'm no linguistic god, but I know ancient Greek and Sanskrit are both Indo-European, so it wouldn't be surprising if they had a lot of similarities since they have related roots.

 

[maxiep]

Amusing bit of trivia: JRR Tolkien (a linguist in addition to his more famous author gig) mentioned that he based the Elvish language, in Lord of the Rings, on Finnish.

Finnish really does have a very different sound from other Indo-European languages.

That is cool trivia! I believe it's closest relative is some dialect in Eastern Turkey. No one can figure out how it got there.

 

[TradeNurkicNow]

That is cool trivia! I believe it's closest relative is some dialect in Eastern Turkey. No one can figure out how it got there.

Local linguistic god, here.

The reason that Finnish sounds so different, is because it is not Indo-European. Finnish is part of different language families depending on who you ask. The most commonly accepted family is Uralic. Although, there is a large part of linguistic typologists that put it into the Ural-Altaic family, which includes Finnish, Mongolian, Turkish, Korean and Japanese, among many other languages spreading across central and east Asia. Finnish is the oddest member, geographically speaking.

 

[Minstrel]

Local linguistic god, here.

The reason that Finnish sounds so different, is because it is not Indo-European. Finnish is part of different language families depending on who you ask. The most commonly accepted family is Uralic. Although, there is a large part of linguistic typologists that put it into the Ural-Altaic family, which includes Finnish, Mongolian, Turkish, Korean and Japanese, among many other languages spreading across central and east Asia. Finnish is the oddest member, geographically speaking.

Yeah, I typed what I meant badly. I didn't mean to say Finnish was Indo-European (I actually had no idea what family it was part of, but didn't think Indo-European). I meant to say it doesn't sound like the Indo-European languages many of us are used to.

I've read that Finnish and Japanese have a lot of similarities, which is really very odd. Do you know how such far-flung cultures, geographically-speaking, could come to have languages that share so much in common?

 

[TradeNurkicNow]

Yeah, I typed what I meant badly. I didn't mean to say Finnish was Indo-European (I actually had no idea what family it was part of, but didn't think Indo-European). I meant to say it doesn't sound like the Indo-European languages many of us are used to.

I've read that Finnish and Japanese have a lot of similarities, which is really very odd. Do you know how such far-flung cultures, geographically-speaking, could come to have languages that share so much in common?

It's a point of debate among historical linguists. Some say there was a Proto-Altaic language that existed in prehistory which spread from Finland to Mongolia, and others say that Finnish only "looks" like an Altaic language and that it's only pure coincidence. I'm no language typologist, so I don't really have an informed opinion on the subject.