Being around Dutch people feels like I've had a stroke. All the sounds are right but they don't combine to make comprehensible language - except sometimes half an English or German sentence pops out unexpectedly.
Dutch, English and German share the same ancestor but are unique languages. Dutch people speak better English than German on the whole, except for older people.
In fact, many English words originate directly from Dutch, such as dock, deck, freight, boss, cookie, coleslaw, sleigh, yacht, skipper and so on. Mainly because the Dutch were very active as sea traders and colonists.
The Dutch mock the German language similarly to how the Germans mock the Dutch language, emphasizing how harsh it sounds, how loud and incomprehensible some Germans talk and how the Germans invent their own long words for everything even if there's already a perfectly usable English word for it.
Can relate but it's not a surprise, all three languages derive from Germanic and many words in English have originated or are borrowed from Dutch or German.
12 replies
Being around Dutch people feels like I've had a stroke. All the sounds are right but they don't combine to make comprehensible language - except sometimes half an English or German sentence pops out unexpectedly.
To me it's the opposite, it's all the wrong sounds but I end up understanding way too much of it.
Interesting perspective. I speak English primarily, and I wonder if you speak mostly German.
Maybe Dutch is German with an American-English accent?
Dutch, English and German share the same ancestor but are unique languages. Dutch people speak better English than German on the whole, except for older people.
In fact, many English words originate directly from Dutch, such as dock, deck, freight, boss, cookie, coleslaw, sleigh, yacht, skipper and so on. Mainly because the Dutch were very active as sea traders and colonists.
The Dutch mock the German language similarly to how the Germans mock the Dutch language, emphasizing how harsh it sounds, how loud and incomprehensible some Germans talk and how the Germans invent their own long words for everything even if there's already a perfectly usable English word for it.
Ik voel me aangevallen
"I feel attacked"? voel = fühl and aangevallen = angefallen/angegriffen is how i would translate it by gut feeling. Am i right?
Klopt! Right on the money. :-)
Dutch to me sounds like combining equal parts of English, German, and Swedish Chef
Can relate but it's not a surprise, all three languages derive from Germanic and many words in English have originated or are borrowed from Dutch or German.
With a splash of swearing with diseases
Ik find het geweldig.
Dutch feels like a disgusting mockery of a language