About Dutch

Hi everybody

My native language is French , I speak currently French Spanish any problem and English but I need practice more for became better. I study italian but I would like after that study dutch but I know absoluly nothing this language. I know just dutch is mixture between english and german after I have reed article on internet. So what’s the best for me start learn german before dutch or dutch after german ?

i would say at first German

@ Junair : Hi well interested can you give some explications why first german ?

Well, I would also say learn German first because I like it and anyway it seems like it would be easier (even though technically I say it’s harder from your linguistic background) since there’s more German content on the internet.

However.
If you really love Dutch and are motivated to learn it, why not?

I think you are right because dutch has many letters same by two sometimes three but I think this same in german ?

Well because it’s interesting learn others languages when you move somewhere speak language any problem the must and writte this just genial.

I move in antwerp part Belgium for basketball everybody speak dutch french is banned this part of Belgium.

But I think start with german

Well you’re pretty close to Germany geographically.

Maybe learning German will motivate you to take some trips there.

Yes currently learn italian When I start speak and writte normaly , start learn german I think this the best if I want learn dutch after.

@ Prince: In your place I would start with Dutch first, because it’s easier for someone who knows already English. The grammar is a little bit easier, too. I think it makes more sense to start with the less difficult language. If you’d like, I can give you a great many of useful links for dutch learners (maybe some of them could one day serve as an import source for Lingq). As a native speaker of German, I can certainly help you with this language, too.

@ il _melomane : thanks for you opinion , in general I use lingq just for read and not more. But here I see he has don’t dutch so you ressources are very well for me this just with pleasure have links. No problem

Living in Antwerp, I know that speaking French is NOT very much appreciated here. I suggest that learning Dutch would be interesting, if you often travel to Flanders or the Netherlands. In your case I’d start with Dutch. If you want to learn German afterwards, I’d recommend you to learn Dutch from Belgium (Flemish). This is so because it’s much easier to shift from Flemish pronunciation to German pronunciation (without any problems), than to go from German pronunciation to Dutch/Flemish pronunciation.

I have experienced that it’s way more difficult to get rid of this Dutch (meaning Dutch from the Netherlands) accent, while learning any other foreign language. Here in Antwerp are many Dutch people, and without any problems I can identify all of them while speaking Dutch/English/German/French. Hmmmmm… Difficult to explain!! Come and see it yourself in Antwerp, I’d say :stuck_out_tongue:

@ vincentd : Good night , first thanks for you advice and sincerity.

I know french is not very appreciated in parte Flemish because he has reportage pass télévision about fight politics between french beligum and flemish lol :S I really interested by dutch for many reasons , because I have friend grow up here but she has come back in Belgium right now , she from Gent exactly and when are birthday arrive she invite me , She don’t speak much french so we speak in english but problem I speak very quickly ( problably because I speak spanish x) ) so I need be more slowly.

2 ) When I was more young girl flemish in my bus start speak to me in french with any accent I am very surprise and very frusted (lol) and when she speak with friends at her coming here visit my city I would like always she saying and I would like communicate with she but I can’t .

  1. When move in bellewarde everybody speak flemish / english and it’s cool speak local language country anyway I have accent french lol the most important everybody understood me.

I like challenge , because I don’t know absoluly this language , need more time for study maybe pass 4 hours listenning at 6 hours lol existe good serie flemmish and Radio too ? if you have with pleasure I take

I don’t know you know www.livemocha.com ? website has 32 languages you can writte and exercice voice propose dutch from netherlands. Do you know website when I can learn dutch Flemish ?

The flemish don’t understand well sometimes , Dutch from Netherlands ? same problem in french between french in France and french from Quebec.

French is very easy identify because the sound out of mouth in general lol. ( Everybody says that and this absoluly true ! ) English speak with the noise ( lol ) German and dutch I don’t know =S

Hello Prince!

I will publish the links in a new thread!

I read your question whether Flemish people understand Dutch from the Netherlans, well I (being from the Netherlands) can say that people in the Netherlands do understand Flemish and I know from personal experience that Flemish people understand Dutch from the Netherlands. The difference between the two is that (correct me if I’m wrong) Flemish people put more French in their sentences and pronunciation, while we in the Netherlands use more English in our pronunciation.

For instance in the words “tanken” and “plannen”. In the Netherlands we pronounce “tank” and “plan” the same way they do in England. In Belgium they say it, well… (difficult to explain), more gentle. They pronounce the “a” as in the French word “langue”.

I don’t think it’s accurate to say that Nederlands uses ‘English pronunciation’ or ‘less French’. Actually, a recent study shows that overall, the Dutch of the Netherlands uses more French than Flemish. English and Dutch are both part of the The pronunciation of Dutch has variation, that’s to be expected. There are many ways of saying ‘a’ in English, and many different ways of saying it in English English. The r of Flemish is surely introduced from French but supposedly one of the German r’s is also (it has several realisations). The Flemish prefers softer guttural sounds and long vowels in the place of some Nederlands diphthongs. Though, moving outside of the standard languages, there’s a great deal of variation.

It’s funny that the Dutch ‘tanken’ and ‘plannen’ don’t rhyme with the way I, an Australian, say ‘tank’ and ‘plan’. :smiley:

Of course the Dutch pronunciation is very different from the English pronunciation (American, British, Australian, etc.). But in Dutch there are a lot of loanwords from the English language that are pronounced differently in Flemish Dutch and Netherlands Dutch. In my opinion, in Belgium they are more integrated into the Dutch language, while we in the Netherlands like to leave them more “original”. I don’t prefer one over the other, they’re both original and provide more diversity in our language, which I think is a good thing. Now for the language enthusiasts, here some examples of the English language integrated into the Dutch language:

  • relaxen - to relax
  • plannen - to plan
  • surfen - to surf

And vice versa:

  • iceberg - ijsberg
  • sleigh - slee
  • Santa Claus - sinterklaas
  • to smuggle - smokkelen
  • bread - brood

And what about these names from New York City, Brooklyn and Harlem are both Dutch cities: Breukelen and Haarlem. ;D

Yacht, stoop (American English), bow (of a ship - naval terms are commonly from Dutch), cookie, biscuit, etc.

There’s a nice long list.

Yes indeed, I was surprised myself. But these are one of the things that make languages interesting! ;D