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Learning Shetlandic


Gillemath
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I already speak Norwegian well(ish), and I'm learning Icelandic... so it would make sence to learn Shetlandic alongside Icelandic, a kind of personal journey to realising the link between the languages, and also I love the Shetlandic folklore song, and it's basically a very very pretty language.

 

There's a decent amount of stuff on the internet, the differing spelling systems confuse me however, are there are course like books which I can use, or any books in fact?

 

 

kind regards; tusand takk

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John J. Graham's Shetland Dictonary and "Grammar and Usage of the Shetland Dialect" which he also co-wrote with T. A. Robertson would probably be as good a starting point as any. Graham's version of "Shetland" is as she is spoke in the central Mainland, Robertson's contribution will be west Mainland influenced.

 

Most of the differences in spelling come down to the different localised pronounciations, there is no definitive "Shetland" so in learning it you would either have to decide on learning that of one specific locality, or a "generic" version which is similar to all, but not exactly any of them per se.

 

Probably the best illustration of the different pronounciations and hence spellings is how Lerwick is said. Depending where the speaker comes from in Shetland it may be "Lerik", "Lerook", or "Leirweek", and probably others.

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Guest Anonymous
:D

Det er fint at du kan snakke norsk :D

I'm a Norwegian living with a Shetlander, and I find a lot of similarities between the languages....

.....a little knowlege about old norse helps :wink:

Spaekin sharn helps as weel. :wink: :lol:

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Yes, at the moment there is no standard spelling and it's basically all spelled phonetically using the english alphabet because most Shetlanders don't know the difference. As as side note, it irks me that words of norse origin are spelled in this way but again it just highlights the lack of knowledge that most Shetlanders have about their history and heritage.

 

This website might also interest you,

 

http://norn-english.webs.com/apps/forums/

 

And this,

 

 

Good luck!

 

:D

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The spelling of it was never necessary until Shetlink came along, unless of course a person was of a literary bent and had aspirations to become an author.

 

Maybe Shetlink should organise a course to learn wis whit aw da unkan letters up abun yunder ir, seein is hits dir faut we're needin ta ken dem noo. :lol: :wink:

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