Thread: Which language is the most similar to English?

Is it Frisian?

I don't know if this is the "official" answer, but have a look at this poem:

You can read this poem, as is, without changing a thing (except your accent) in both English and Afrikaans.

And the great thing is that roughly 85-90% of the meaning of the poem will also stay the same.

Groovy no?

EDIT: It occurs to me I should give the Afrikaans translation, so you can see where the differences lie.

MY STORIES BEGIN AS LETTERS

My pen is my wonderland

Becomes water in my hand

In my pen is wonder ink

Stories sing. Stories sink.

My stories walk. My stories stop

My pen is my wonder mop

Drink letters. Drink my ink

My pen is blind. My stories shine.

So actually, only three words that have a different meaning in Afrikaans.

Source: https://www.quora.com/Which-language...lar-to-English


Neteller here: www.ituglobalfx.com.ng

Apparently it is Frisian which is spoken on the Frisian islands off the coast of Holland and Germany.
Next comes Dutch which is similar in vocabulary and is the closest of the major languages.