Dunglish

This is what I’m going to call a hat trick: this mess gets posted here, on Taalpuristen (the language purists) and if all goes well, SOS (the people who point out the bad use of spaces in Dutch words).

Although my foreign eye spotted some bad Dutch spelling, I’ll stick to what I know.

A few highlights

1) Fashion merk = fashion brand. Bastardize it!

2) ‘Biologische food and drinks’ (organic food and drinks). I often see ‘biologisch’ translated as ‘biological’ which is totally wrong. And the Dutch actually do have proper words for food and drink, contrary to popular belief.

I’m leaving the rest up for grabs, but I do have a question for my Dutch friends: can a fashion brand open its doors? A company can open its doors, but a brand?

And does it really matter given this mess?

(Photo: Martijn)

Although I’ve reached this conclusion for years along with many other people, I recently read that the use of English in the Netherlands is elitist. Addressing the Dutch market in English somehow makes advertising less national and more international, although in many cases, it would be better to go local (i.e. use local jargon, dialect and recognisable idiom) than turn it into Dunglish.

Another weird compromise between the local feel (Dutch) and the international feel (English) is the tendency to bastardize words, a linguistic mashup that can be funny and witty, but usually comes accross as trying to dumb things down by giving a glimpse of the international without wanting to alienate the intended audience. Many of my friends would take this moment to rant about the poor quality of Dutch education and blame Calvinism for ‘not being allowed to stand out from the crowd’ for fear that God will bust a big dyke somewhere.

A proper comparaison could be the way Americans use French or Italian to indicate something charming, romantic or sexy. The same words used in Canada could work in Italian, but not in French since it is much more normal to see things in French there. The use of Spanish in the southern United States already has a totally different connotation than it would in, say, my triptych of choice, Amsterdam, Brussels or Paris.

If the bottom line goal is to get attention, this is the linguistic version of the too short t-shirt that shows your belly button: you do see more skin, but 90% it’s a muffin top.

(Photos: Bas)

It’s a funny, well made advert, but yeah, it’s too bad for the English idiom.

English Rocker: Is it alright like this?
Dutch temp guy: For this time, I’ll see it through the fingers, eh.

I’m not sure if they used Dunglish on purpose, but my gut says they did, probably because although it’s mostly in English, it is aimed at a Dutch audience. And English is the language of the elite, not the help. But the roles are reversed, yada yada yada.

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