But apparently no one is sure what to call it.
Rumor has it the Royal Family has hired a committee of bonobos and orangutans to help out.
[Hat tip: Chandan Narayan]
[Update -- Lane Greene writes:
I *love* that Danish video, because my girlfriend's Danish, and I'm trying to learn it. Grammar is straighforward, even easy, and since I know German I can guess lots of words. But the pronunciation really is impossible. It sounds to me like they are having a big joke on us; the made-up Danish in the video is exactly what real Danish sounds like to me. I think that, based on what I know at the moment, I can understand Swedish more easily. Also, fun fact (in case you didn't get this one): the complexity of the Danish counting system is mentioned (the guy with the bike just hands over a large wad of money, since he doesn't understand how much he owes), but not explained. Here's a bit more.
http://www.olestig.dk/dansk/numbers.html
I don't know of any Western counting system so resolutely non-decimal.
]
Posted by Mark Liberman at June 1, 2007 01:05 PM