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The Dutch Language
Dutch is a Germanic language and shares similarities with Frisian, German and English, for instance, English includes some loanwords from Dutch, such as "yatch" or "cookie".History of the language
Belgium and Netherlands have a common official language which is called Standard Dutch or Standard Netherlands. The term acquired its modern meaning only in the 17th century, when Netherlands became independent and intensified its cultural contacts with other countries. Before this period, Dutch was a general term which designated any area where German was spoken. Modern Dutch derives directly from the dialect of Antperw, from which in the 16th century begun the process of standardization of the language. The following step was the translation of the Bible to Dutch: to make the text understandable by the greatest number of people, it was written in a common language. Later, the urban dialects of Holland, together with some influence of Low Saxon dialects influenced the first form of Dutch.Dialects
Flemish, which is the collective term to call the Dutch dialects spoken in Belgium, is the most important variation of Standard Dutch. Flemish has been defined as a "softer" form of Dutch, as it uses archaic words and sounds less harsh and guttural.The other main dialects of Flanders are West-Vlaams, OOst-Wlaams, Antweros and Limburg. The colloquial form of some of these dialects includes French words, i.e. "vork" (standard Dutch) has been substituted by "fourchette", which in old French meant "fork".
Other variations from Standard Dutch concern pronunciation and phonetics, i.e. in West-Vaalms there is virtually no difference between the "soft g" and the "h" sounds.
Some dialects, such as Limburgs or Low Saxon, are considered separated languages and are attributed the status of "area language" ("streektaal"); other dialcets are not understood by some Standard-Dutch speakers.
Grammar
Dutch is a continental West Germanic language characterised by a sophisticate word order and a bizarre tendency to glue nouns one with the other-which results in surprisingly long set of words. Just to have an idea..de randjongerenhangplekkenbeleidsambtenarensalarisbesprekingsafspraken: the agreements for the negotiations concerning the salary of public servants who decide on the policy for areas where unemployed youth is allowed to hang out.
This word does exist in Dutch, but if you don't believe it, here you have another example:
hottentottententententoonstellingsmakersopleidingsprogramma: the curriculum of an education teaching the makers of exhibitions about the tents of the Hottentots.
It might surprise you, but all this is grammatically correct, even if in real language such long constructions are often avoided (usually the number of subsequent words is limited to two or three).
Dutch grammar has gone through a process of simplification over the last one-hundred years: case-inflection for nouns and adjectives doesn't exist anymore and the use of cases is now limited to pronouns. What is more, in Dutch there are only two inflections as for nouns and adjectives, that can be either common gender or neuter.
This can create difficulties for a beginner which has English or a romance language (i.e. French or Italian) as his mother tongue, since in this languages nouns inflect according to the concepts of masculine and femenine.
Slang
After having bored you with grammar, let's have a brief look at Dutch slang.To be successful with youngsters (especially with students), use the following phrases:
- knor: someone who gets everything wrong, always says the wrong things at the wrong moments, and is therefore considered a social failure. Example: 'John is een suffe knor!' means as much as 'John is a boring, uninteresting person'.
- brugpieper: a pupil in the lowest class of a lyceum. The word is used by pupils in the higher classes. It is a composition of "brugklas" (bridge-class; the first class being a "bridge" to different types of secondary education) and "pieper" (pipit, young chicken).
In the next section, you will find some useful expression very appropriate if you want to "offend" somebody.
If you tell that one of your friends is a "Johny", it means you think he is "a non-intellectual male person" Also 'Johnny' or 'Sjonnie'. Often used in conjunction with its female equivalent 'Anita'.
- dombo: dumbo, idiot
- zeiker: Someone who complains about trivial matters of things that cannot be changed.
But only use them in case of emergency-i.e. if you definitely can't stand someone!