Comments on: Speak Dutch!

By: Villa te koop Moraira

Villa te koop Moraira — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:20:29 +0000

Good afternoon,

I am a Dutch, A proud dutch, but I cannot speak even a single word, maybe because I always lived too far away from there? But this makes me sad when I have no way to communicate with people back home in the same language they speak, though I am struggling to learn online, reading blogs and other resources

Thank you for reminding me about my country, our language, history and all

Thank you

Katie

By: Leanne

Leanne — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 13:46:42 +0000

I do speak and write Dutch fluently but have been living in the UK for some time so now my accent is a very strong English one whilst speaking Dutch.

I had the same experience when I moved over.
I was 14 in a Dutch school and even after a year I had perfected the language people still spoke back to me in English
After about 4 years I hated it so I remember one time I went to a restaurant. I ordered some food and the person spoke back in English so I thought enough is enough I spoke English very fast the person went straight back to Dutch
This is what you need to do especially if you can pull off a Scottish voice as even I don’t understand that!

I’m moving back to Amsterdam next year so I’m just going to speak English and work for an English company really don’t want to go through it all again!

By: Edith

Edith — Tue, 09 May 2006 21:51:53 +0000

Wat een leuke site! Ik ben blij dat iemand dat vreselijke Dunglish eindelijk eens aan de kaak stelt. Ik heb op zich niets tegen het gebruik van leenwoorden, maar de opmars van het Dunglish heeft ervoor gezorgd dat veel mensen dit pidgin als correct Engels zijn gaan beschouwen. Vooral het foute gebruik van de tussenstreepjes (Engels: hyphens) is af en toe om gek van te worden.

In Amerika kennen ze het fenomeen ‘Spanglish’ (een kruising tussen Engels en Spaans), maar Dunglish is veel verraderlijker omdat Nederlanders het ook echt in hun Engels verwerken. Spanglish is veel meer verbasterd Engels (lonche = lunch en brequecito = small break, je hoort daar de Engelse klanken in terug) en volgens mij beseffen de Hispanics dat ook wel.

By: Natashka

Natashka — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 11:23:38 +0000

Thanks, it got away, I’ll correct it! Hairsplitting is in the Van Dale. I use the expression “splitting hairs” myself.

By: Jan

Jan — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 10:15:02 +0000

Nog wat meer ‘nitpicking’: ‘Morrocan’ moet natuurlijk ‘Moroccan’ zijn. Of niet?
En is ‘hairsplitting’ (haarkloverij) ook Dunglish, of bestaat dat echt in het Engels?

By: Natashka

Natashka — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 09:52:18 +0000

Thanks for your explanation!

I know I cannot write it properly

As for nitpicking, the Dutch government denied me the Dutch lessons usually offered to foreigners because I could not prove I was going to stay here for more than a year. I could take writing lessons or I could listen to people like you. I prefer the latter.

By: delphicat

delphicat — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 09:42:06 +0000

Normally I don’t nitpick about foreigners making errors in Dutch, but as the subject is trying to learn it…. here I go. You can’t say “Van me mag je lekker Frans gaan leren…”. You moved the “van me” phrase to the beginning of the sentence, to give it emphasis. If you give a phrase with “me” in it emphasis, you should change “me” to “mij”. You can only use “me” in a phrase if it has no particular emphasis.

By: Els

Els — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 19:46:51 +0000

By: Natashka

Natashka — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 12:17:28 +0000

Ze zou het vast niet begrijpen

By: Els

Els — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 12:13:14 +0000

Laat Verdonk het niet horen!