Live casinos THAT SPEAK Dutch

The Dutch Language

It is noteworthy that the literary, educational and linguistic development of Dutch in the Netherlands, Belgium and Surinam, is coordinated by one body called the Dutch Language Union.

Origin and History

The history of the Dutch language can be traced back to around 450 to 500 AD. The language then went through many transformations over the years. The development of Dutch can be classified into three main phases, namely the Old Dutch, the Middle Dutch and the Modern Dutch. Old Dutch was prevalent between 450 AD and 1150 AD. The transition to Middle Dutch happened gradually and the Modern Dutch was born around the year 1500 AD. The transition between the phases was, naturally, very gradual.

Dutch is a Germanic language and draws its origins from the source of all Germanic languages, Proto Germanic. The English, at first used to call all Germanic languages Dutch, but as time passed, a differentiation was made between the people of Germany and their rivals, the citizens of the Netherlands. The word Netherlands can be broken up into Neder, meaning low and “neath” and land, meaning the same word. Maybe this is also due to the fact that the all of the Netherlands is below sea level

Dialects and Regional variations

The Dutch language has dialects whose differences are marked and distinct. As in most languages, these dialects are region specific. Comparing Flemish, the variant of Dutch spoken in Belgium, to that spoken in the Netherlands, one can make out that the Flemish version is softer and less guttural than the dialect spoken in the Netherlands. Flemish has over the years, also incorporated a bit of French into itself. As far as the Netherlands is concerned, the dialects pertain to specific regions like, for example, Standard Dutch is spoken in Groningen and Drents in Drenthe

Grammar and Structure of Dutch

Dutch is very similar to German in sentence construction and, in this respect is different from English. To cite a small example, to say "She will come tomorrow," the construction in German or Dutch would be "She will tomorrow come." Originally Dutch had three genders, but masculine and feminine merged and now there are only two genders with neuter maintaining its status. Another unique feature is the joining together of words to form long words.

With the merging of the masculine and feminine genders, Dutch has been simplified compared to what it was a century ago. Remarkable is the fact that cases are used only for pronouns and not for nouns. Adjectives are inflected, with neuter nouns in singular and the others with an “e” at the end.

Sentences

een mooi huis (a beautiful house)

het mooie huis (the beautiful house)

een mooie vrouw (a beautiful woman)

The uniqueness of Dutch

Dutch is written using the Latin alphabet. A unique feature of Dutch is that in many words, vowels and consonants are joined, something that we English will not accept. For example, the word voorraaddoos, meaning supply box, has five consecutive double letters. Another unique feature is the joining of words, which I have already explained in an earlier part of this paper

Global and Commercial appeal of Dutch

Dutch is taught as a foreign language in areas adjoining the Netherlands and Belgium. In Surinam, study of Dutch is a compulsory in educational institutions. Dutch is also taught in Indonesia. Dutch is taught in more than 200 universities around the globe. However, apart from the regions where the Dutch influence is prevalent, the teaching of Dutch is not very common. Considering these factors, teachers of Dutch are in demand in regions where it is spoken. In other regions, learning of Dutch can be effectively put to use in situations where interpreters and translators are required.