Interesting....
I spent a couple of weeks in and around Gothenburg and thought it had a Dutch "flavor". Many of the shop names seemed a strange blend of Dutch and Swedish. I chalked up to my own ignorance, or perhaps Hanseatic influence.
I used to work with a Dutch guy who said that he was at some sort of North Sea confab, and when people spoke in their national languages they couldn't understand one another but when they spoke their local dialects, they found them mutually intelligible. Who knows?
I also spent about 16 months in Swabia and the image of Gustavus Adolfus is not so rosy there, being as he killed about half its inhabitants during the Thirty Years War. It's a near miracle that G. A. didn't kill Kepler in Prague before he discovered Kepler's Laws. Most people don't appreciate that Kepler's greatest discoveries coincide with a period of intense hardship in that part of central Europe.
"Interesting....
I spent a couple of weeks in and around Gothenburg and thought it had a Dutch "flavor". Many of the shop names seemed a strange blend of Dutch and Swedish. I chalked up to my own ignorance, or perhaps Hanseatic influence.
I used to work with a Dutch guy who said that he was at some sort of North Sea confab, and when people spoke in their national languages they couldn't understand one another but when they spoke their local dialects, they found them mutually intelligible. Who knows?
I also spent about 16 months in Swabia and the image of Gustavus Adolfus is not so rosy there, being as he killed about half its inhabitants during the Thirty Years War. It's a near miracle that G. A. didn't kill Kepler in Prague before he discovered Kepler's Laws. Most people don't appreciate that Kepler's greatest discoveries coincide with a period of intense hardship in that part of central Europe."
There are two ethnic group that has influenced Gothenburg more than any others (including the Muslims):
The Dutch and the Scotch.
The early 17th century city plan is dutch (and in fact more or less the same as that one of Jakarta, Indonesia, - if I'm not mistaken - another city planned by the Dutch).
The Scotch founded some of our earliest industries and also several schools, libraries and other public institutions.
Concerning Kepler, please read these words concerning his colleague Brahe, one of the greatest minds in the world of astronomy ever:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahe
As a European, I fully understand that several parts of Europe do not wish to celebrate the memory of Gustavus Adolphus.
War is war.
Wounds can heal, although they leave scars.
Cheers to you, Friend!
"I also spent about 16 months in Swabia and the image of Gustavus Adolfus is not so rosy there."
I suppose that my family from northern Germany is lucky not to have been wiped out by my family from Sweden.
I understand that Frisian comes very close to being understood by English and Dutch speakers. Its not widely spoken any longer.