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Porthos
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 Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:32 pm Post subject: |
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Well, it is a very harsh and gutteral language when spoken. Pauline and I are entitled to our own opinions. Dat is beter? 
As far as Germanic languages go, I find English to be the most elegant and soft, followed by German, and Dutch is in last place as the most homely, with a very let's say, unique orthography.
My
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Deborah
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Joined: 22 Aug 2006
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Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
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| Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:08 am Post subject: |
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Sure. Or you can even say "It's terribly ugly," but then why be hypocritical and say "No offense"?
I hear this pattern so often that it makes me wonder just what people today mean by "No offense". |
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Porthos
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| Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:51 am Post subject: |
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As I was saying, this discussion reminded me of what my friend said the other day about Dutch while viewing the Dutch version of Wikipedia.
She laughed, and then said that it looked as if someone just closed their eyes and randomly typed a bunch of keys and called it a language.
With Dutch's unique orthography and especially with its double vowels, I could see why she would say that, and so in response, I started busting up.
Other friends of mine remarked that Dutch almost looks like a Kindergarten or "caveman" version of English.
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Fredrik
Langcaffeine Addict
Joined: 18 Sep 2006
Posts: 597
Location: Bergen, Hordaland, Norge/Noreg
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| Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Deborah wrote: | Sure. Or you can even say "It's terribly ugly," but then why be hypocritical and say "No offense"?
I hear this pattern so often that it makes me wonder just what people today mean by "No offense". |
LOL, I guess it has boiled down to mean "in my subjective opinion".
If you want to read a good sum-up of how (we) other speakers of Germanic languages feel about Dutch, read the Amsterdam chapter in Bill Bryson`s "Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe". I agree with him, it sounds so homely that you think you ought to understand it even when you clearly don`t!
And Paulinetje is right, the use of diminutives in Dutch is very endearing!
Because I recently saw a photograph were Anne Frank had written down her movie star dreams, I realized that Anne Frank`s Diary of course was originally written in Dutch! (And she has been voted the Greatest Netherlander ever, followed closely by Pim Fortuyn and Willem van Oranje.) The original title of her diary is "Het Achterhuis" (= The Backhouse). Just reading that title makes me go all Batavophile, as use of the word "achter" for "back" is strictly limited to ships (and asses) in Norwegian (similar to English "rear", although "after" etymologically is the corresponding English maritime term to Dutch "achter") , and I am once again charmed by the maritime links between Dutch and Norwegian.
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Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiß nichts von seiner eigenen. = Those who don't know foreign languages, know nothing of their own. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
Last edited by Fredrik on Sat Jan 20, 2007 6:22 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Icke
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Joined: 13 Oct 2006
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Location: Deutschland
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| Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 6:05 pm Post subject: |
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I also like the Dutch language, that's why I want to learn it in the future! It's real fun to read things written in Dutch and be able to understand nearly everything because of the similiarities between Dutch and German. But I fear I will have problems with the pronounciation... 
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Pauline
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| Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:52 am Post subject: |
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We can have a thread for learn dutch if you want ?
People can ask some questions, write some things in dutch etc.. Akoni and Jo can answer the questions. Sometimes if there're not dutch-speakers I will try to answer the questions. It will be like the thread we had on Antimoon before brennus deleted it  |
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Akoni
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Joined: 11 Oct 2006
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Location: Nederland
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| Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:37 pm Post subject: |
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Try to say this as fast as possible:
"De koetsier poetst de postkoets met postkoetspoets."
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André in Zuid-Afrika
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| Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 7:53 am Post subject: |
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| Akoni wrote: | Try to say this as fast as possible:
"De koetsier poetst de postkoets met postkoetspoets."
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Akoni
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| Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 6:31 pm Post subject: |
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another one (a bit easier:smt003):
"De kat krabt de krullen van de trap."
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André in Zuid-Afrika
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| Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Akoni wrote: |
another one (a bit easier:smt003):
"De kat krabt de krullen van de trap." |
Hm, yes, this one is easier! The first one can become quite... uncouth in Afrikaans, more so, I think, than in Dutch!
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Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie. |
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Porthos
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Joined: 30 Sep 2006
Posts: 1787
Location: Californië, Verenigde Staten
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| Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 5:21 am Post subject: |
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So Pauline, or anyone else, do you have any more paragraphs that are very similar to English which I can try to decipher?
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André in Zuid-Afrika
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Joined: 19 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:05 pm Post subject: |
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Porthos, for your enjoyment....
Afrikaans Dutch German English
ag(t) acht acht eight
aksie actie/aktie Aktion action
bed bed Bett bed
dankie dank je/dank u danke thank you
eggenoot echtgenoot Ehegatte spouse
goeienaand goedenavond guten Abend good evening
lughawe luchthaven vliegveld Flughafen airport
my mijn mein my
maak maken machen make
nege negen neun nine
oes oogst Ernte harvest
oop open offen open
oormôre overmorgen übermorgen the day after tomorrow
reën regen regen rain
saam samen zusammen together (
ses zes sechs six
sewe zeven sieben seven
skool school Schule school
sleg slecht schlecht bad
vir voor für for
voël vogel Vogel bird
vry vrij frei free
vyf vijf fünf five
waarskynlik waarschijnlijk wahrscheinlich likely
welkom welkom willkommen welcome
winter winter Winter winter
ys ijs Eis ice
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