Dutch is spoken by the majority of people in the Netherlands and also in some parts of Belgium, Aruba, the Netherland Antilles and Suriname. In total, Dutch is spoken by 21 million people.
Standard Dutch is used and taught as the common language of all Dutch-speaking countries. However the Dutch language has a very large variety of dialects such as the Hollandish, Brabantish, Flemish and Zeelandic.
In general Dutch is considered a quite difficult language to study. To many, learning to read and write Dutch is not that hard but speaking it is near impossible. The pronunciation of words is sometimes completely different from how they are typed and the tonality also varies drastically. Tom Meyer, a Dutch radio commentator said about his own language: “Dutch isn’t a language; it’s a disease of the throat”. This may not sound exactly like an invitation to study Dutch!
Certainly Dutch foreign interpreters need to study hard but I believe there is a lot more to know about Dutch people and their culture on top of the language itself. Read more about Interpreting Agency.
A new improved edition of the book “The UnDutchables” by Colin White (British) and Laurie Boucke (American) gives a funny and yet quite true portrayal of the main Dutch stereotypes ranging from food, common habits, social life and of course the Dutch language. Very often foreigners’ eyes can perceive and better represent a country’s peculiarities and characteristics.
Dutch translation and Dutch interpreting services probably agree on Dutch vocabulary presenting a lot of false friends when it comes to translating into English. Some examples? Brief in Dutch sounds obviously like brief in English but actually means letter. The Dutch word fiets looks like the English feats but it turns out to mean bike.
When approaching the study of Dutch this is the reason why it is suggested that you learn a lot of vocabulary first rather than starting from the grammar, especially if your language of reference is English.
Having a good command of English may help a lot when learning Dutch; surprisingly Dutch and English are very similar languages and if you study Dutch in the Netherlands you won’t have any problems in communicating in English with Dutch people. The Dutch generally do not expect foreigners to know their language; they learn and are usually good at speaking other languages, particularly English,mainly because Dutch and English sound systems are similar, so Dutch learners tend not to have significant problems perceiving or producing oral English. Read more about Interpreting Agency.
Standard Dutch is used and taught as the common language of all Dutch-speaking countries. However the Dutch language has a very large variety of dialects such as the Hollandish, Brabantish, Flemish and Zeelandic.
In general Dutch is considered a quite difficult language to study. To many, learning to read and write Dutch is not that hard but speaking it is near impossible. The pronunciation of words is sometimes completely different from how they are typed and the tonality also varies drastically. Tom Meyer, a Dutch radio commentator said about his own language: “Dutch isn’t a language; it’s a disease of the throat”. This may not sound exactly like an invitation to study Dutch!
Certainly Dutch foreign interpreters need to study hard but I believe there is a lot more to know about Dutch people and their culture on top of the language itself. Read more about Interpreting Agency.
A new improved edition of the book “The UnDutchables” by Colin White (British) and Laurie Boucke (American) gives a funny and yet quite true portrayal of the main Dutch stereotypes ranging from food, common habits, social life and of course the Dutch language. Very often foreigners’ eyes can perceive and better represent a country’s peculiarities and characteristics.
Dutch translation and Dutch interpreting services probably agree on Dutch vocabulary presenting a lot of false friends when it comes to translating into English. Some examples? Brief in Dutch sounds obviously like brief in English but actually means letter. The Dutch word fiets looks like the English feats but it turns out to mean bike.
When approaching the study of Dutch this is the reason why it is suggested that you learn a lot of vocabulary first rather than starting from the grammar, especially if your language of reference is English.
Having a good command of English may help a lot when learning Dutch; surprisingly Dutch and English are very similar languages and if you study Dutch in the Netherlands you won’t have any problems in communicating in English with Dutch people. The Dutch generally do not expect foreigners to know their language; they learn and are usually good at speaking other languages, particularly English,mainly because Dutch and English sound systems are similar, so Dutch learners tend not to have significant problems perceiving or producing oral English. Read more about Interpreting Agency.
Why isn’t it that easy the other way around then? Ah, the mystery of languages!
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