Sunday, March 5All That Matters

How is Dutch even a real language?


How is Dutch even a real language?



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28 Comments

  • jomarthecat

    I speak norwegian and english, and can understand german if it is spoken slowly(can read it).

    Going to the Netherlands is fun, reading dutch is like a riddle where sentences have been chopped to bits, the various bits translated to those three languages and then stitched together again.

  • Urmambulant

    In older English, that’d be what, dagelice æfġepricede wortesap. Or would, if the Norman interference would’ve occurred earlier. I have no idea what’s the original germanic word for price.

    Dutch and Frisian are actually pretty damn close to English. It just looks like they aren’t because English innovated to shit after 1100 or so. Without the French and the danelag, English would probably look like some conservative version of both. Kinda like German, but with less choking and spitting.

  • Darthplagueis13

    I mean, it’s not actually that dissimular from english.

    I don’t speak dutch, just german, but presumably:

    A day is probably a dag in dutch. Daily then is something like dagelijk. And the se is just a grammatical suffix.

    Prijs probably means the same as price. So afgeprijsde presumably means “off-priced”, or discounted.

    Sap in dutch is most certainly related to the german “Saft” and just means juice. And wortel appears to be related to “Wurzel” and therefore means root.

  • AlunScotland

    I mean, English has a whole bunch of words that look like the alphabet sneezed:

    knockout
    exoskeleton
    cryptococcosis
    polysyllabically

  • IndyCarFAN27

    I love Dutch and it’s zaniness. The vowels are colourful like Portuguese and than the G makes a random throat clearing sound. It’s a cool language and I intend on learning it someday.

    Dutch ‘G’ go brrrr

  • Nyathra

    I feel bad for the Dutch. I don’t speak a word of their language, yet I understand every part of that sentence as a Swede. You mess with one Germanic, you mess with us all!

  • ThatGuy_S

    Konijn tegen de bakker: heb je wortels?
    Bakker: nee wij verkopen brood
    Volgende dag
    Konijn: heb je wortels!?
    Bakker: rot op
    Volgende dag
    Konijn: heb je wortels?
    Bakker: nog een keer en ik sla die tanden uit je bek!
    Volgende dag:
    Konijn: heb je wortels?
    Bakker: $&!!”$ konijn (stompt konijn in gezicht, tanden vliegen door de bakkerij)
    Volgende dag
    Konijn: heb je wortelsap?

  • XDnB_Panda

    the same way welsh is. ”ble alla i ddod o hyd i ddŵr?” is ”where can i find water?”. you just ram your face into a keyboard and sometimes you get something eligible

    ”Hoffwn i ddysgu saesneg, ond dwi’n sownd gyda’r llanast yma.” is ”I would like to learn english, but I am stuck with this mess.”

  • artparade

    also that isn’t a correct translation, it should be.

    “dagelijks afgeprijsde wortelsap”

    source: live in Belgium

  • Shinigami_Sadies

    Dagelijks is the correct word, Daegelijcxe is not a Dutch word.

    Korting = Sale/Discound is more communally used in the stores.

    I am English, learning Dutch as my BF is Dutch. Dutch makes a lot more sense than English does. A lot of the long words are just smaller words put together and explain what the word is.
    For example:
    Winkelwagen = Shopping cart.
    Wikel = Shope
    Wagen = Cart
    Was the longest word I could pull out my brain right now.

    Wortel = Carrot
    Sap = Juice

  • Kind_Substance_2865

    Just about every word in that sentence has cognates to English.
    Dag = day.
    -lijk = -ly.
    prijs = price, therefore afgeprijsde = off-priced, ie discounted.
    wortel, meaning carrot, is a cognate to English “root” via “wrot”. Carrots are a root vegetable.
    sap has a similar meaning in English.
    When broken down, it all makes sense.

    Hearing Dutch spoken, on the other hand, does sound like someone gargling carrot juice.

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