English vs Dutch | Can I understand Dutch as a Native English Speaker?

[@theooppie9615]

Nice video, greetings from The Netherlands 🙂

[@collectioneur]

Dutch learners always complain about the ‘g’ and ‘ch’ sounds but actually the hardest sounds to learn are the vowels like ‘aa’, ‘uu’, ‘ei/ij’, ‘eu’ and especially ‘ui’…

[@VerdaAFK]

Yeah, I think I’ve got the g, ch, and sch sounds down for the most part, but combining them smoothly is still a bit tricky. As for the aa, uu, and other sounds, I feel fairly confident, especially since Russian has a similar sound to the Dutch ‘вы.’ Also, I did beatboxing as a kid/teen, a bit random, I know, but it helped me learn how to control my vocal cords and mouth better than your typical native English speaker. I think that’ll help with the trickier vowel sounds!

[@B0K1T0]

Lol a British friend once spent a whole evening trying to pronounce my name "Huib". She did find a way in the end though 😃 But for most of my foreign friends I'll just be something like Haub 🥲I gave up trying to produce a steady English "th" long ago though, so I don't blame them ;)

[@woutvanostaden1299]

I have tutored Dutch for over 300 lessons on Italki and indeed the majority of mistakes do stem from the vowels. Varying from misidentification (I mean there's at least 2 ways that English speakers say ass, where the version that sounds like the e in step would be the wrong association), bad vowel combinations (ie like zien = to see does make the ee sound. The key to learning the Dutch vowels are the single/short vowels. These vowels are all short and sharp. A = are, e = step, i = t, o = or, u = duh, uh, thinking emoji sound 😂😅. Then you move onto the non complex vowels. These are all looong and sooooft! aa = ah at the dentist, ee = say, ie = to see, oo = exagerated "mooove out of the way" and uu is really hard to find something similar for, but if you just use the Dutch u and make it long and soft with the lips in a more tighter smaller circle and poking out just a bit more forward, you should get close enough. Then the hardest part to explain through typing are the compound diphthongs. 😅 Let's start with eu = Dutch u+j (hmm so uh + the very very first part of "you gotta..."), next is ui = Dutch eu and as you are transitioning between uh to j you constrict you your lips into a smaller circle and push them forward like you are trying to give/ask for a kiss, ei and ij (they are the same sound in Dutch but are separate for other reasons) = are like the i in "I like you" but with a grin from ear to ear 😊 it's a very happy vowel so show us your smile, ou and au (which has me usually introduce myself as WOW+T since this works well when spoken) = outside, long vowels + i are pronounced as long vowels + j this goes for ooi and aai, lastly there are the 2 +w in nieuws/meaning and pronounced as news, nieuwsgierig meaning curious literally translated as news greedy and there is eeuw/century and pronounced as Dutch i + w. Think of the + w part like the added w sound in cue. And that should be most) the final thing that goes wrong rather often are the 3+ vowel rules. If you learn all of these well enough you'll tackle like 80% of the struggles that others have with the language. The 3+ vowel rules are that if a, o, i of u are at the end of a word they are long vowels, if you see vowel + consonent + vowel then the first vowel is long (these 2 rules both pertain to long vowels so could be kind of seen as a single rule. Can you figure out biologie, economie?), next rule, if you see vowel + consonent + consonent + vowel then the first vowel is short and the last is that in certain places the Dutch e is pronounced as a Dutch u.😅 (hard to explain but it's present in the infinitive form of verbs "lopen", nouns "kinderen" has it on both e's, names and prefixes and suffixes etc. Just pratice with a Dutch person) I hope this helps. 😊

[@kingfrediivideoclips8840]

I can tell you why the Dutch word "fiets" (bike) is different from all other languages: Fiets was originally a brand name. There was a mr Fiets who invented the model that is popular today: the one with a chain bedween the pedals and the rear wheel.

[@VerdaAFK]

Ah, kind of like how we call any heavy duty tape "duct tape" in English, even though it originally started as a brand.

[@Thuras]

Very well done.. Surprised how easily you got it. not every word was correct, but your context interpretation was spot on!

[@VerdaAFK]

Thank you! I think it’s because some words are similar enough for me to understand a bit, and from there, I can piece together the rest of the sentence or context. I’ve also noticed that the sentence structure was consistent, which maked it easier to guess the meaning of certain words. I've now started learning Dutch , and I'm having a great time with it!

[@dutchman7623]

You did very well and probably have a good feel for languages. If you get the sound shifts between English and Dutch, the two are very similar. Example a Dutch d usually is a th in English, so dit > this, dat > that, de > the, leder > leather A Dutch z is an English s, so zee > sea, zat > sat, zand > sand, zo > so Same with w and wh, wat > what. Ending aar is ere, waar > where, and daar > there Get all twenty shifts and you understand Dutch, except for the many false friends.

[@VerdaAFK]

Thanks for the tip! I noticed some of these while watching the video , like de > the, dat > that, waar > where, wat > what, zee > sea, and zand > sand. The sentence structure and similarities to English really make them stand out. Knowing this will definitely make reading a lot easier, so I really appreciate it! It’s cool how similar Dutch and English can feel once you start spotting these patterns.

[@yvonnecampbell7036]

@@VerdaAFK True :) School, gras, kop, mok, teen, vinger, neus, oor ect ect....

[@virtualfroggy]

As a northern brit who has been learning dutch for a year (I am now around B1 niveau) I absolutely love content of people learning/speaking dutch as a foreigner. If you do more content like this, I'll be watching it ALL - I have an obsession with this kind of stuff. Also, you should definitely find some music/tv series that are in Dutch and you can enjoy, that accelerated my level very fast. These sentences are super simple, and Kim speaks much slower and clearer than any other dutch person, so its understandable that you could understand them easily - I dont mean this to reduce how cool it is that you did well! But when you get deep into it, you will want to rip your hair out when trying to understand/produce more complex dutch sentences. Veel succes met je leren van het Nederlands!

[@VerdaAFK]

Thanks so much for the support! Congrats on reaching B1-that’s amazing! I'm currently looking into finding some Dutch documentaries and possibly getting a VPN. As I’m sure you’re aware, finding Dutch-dubbed content is quite the challenge here in the UK. I’m thinking of doing monthly updates on my Dutch progress-could be fun to look back on and see my prgress. I thought about doing the same for my Russian but decided against it. Still, it seems like a great way to track progress over time! Veel succes with your Dutch too!

[@Steyvan]

​@@VerdaAFKI am a native Dutch speaker. Maybe we could talk Dutch on the phone once a week if you want?😊

[@virtualfroggy]

@@VerdaAFK if you have Disney+, theres some good kids shows on there that are dubbed into Dutch, but subtitles are usually wrong. Dutch netflix has some pretty good movies that are ofc entirely in Dutch, so a VPN would definitely be helpful. also, for me, the dutch G got pretty easy after a week of practice, but the ui and eu are where the difficulty is at

[@marymulan2659]

A very kind message. Little tip from a native speaker: Your last sentence is grammaticaly correct, but sounds kind of unnatural/archaic. You can say: Succes met je studie van het Nederlands Or you can drop 'je' and say: Succes met het leren van het Nederlands. Greetings

[@virtualfroggy]

​@@marymulan2659 heel erg bedankt voor de correctie! ik denk dat ik soms echt 'niet vloeiend' of misschien 'onnatuurlijk' nederlands spreek. snap je wat ik bedoel? ik denk dat ik begrijpelijk genoeg kan zijn, maar met een 'odd' toon of zinstructuur ook schrijf ik vaak 'het' in plaats van 'de' en 'de' in plaats van 'het' op een dag zal ik deze dingen herinneren. elke dag is een dag van leren

[@Mode-Selektor]

Don't try to surprise your friends. Use them to learn! They are such a great resource to help you learn.

[@VerdaAFK]

I’m really just trying to surprise one of my friends and their family. I will, however, be learning and speaking with my other Dutch friends. It actually reminds me of when I visited my Dutch friend’s grandparents for the second time years ago, just a few months after meeting my friend. They asked, “Does he speak Dutch yet?” And there I was, just standing there like, Not yet... 😅

[@palantir135]

Hond = hound, dog. Fiets, rijwiel = bicycle. Zoet = sweet. Zout = salt Well, if w, the dutch can learn English - we’re the best non native English speakers in the world - surely you can learn Dutch.

[@VerdaAFK]

Ah, zoet and zout mean sweet and salt. I was thinking along the lines of smooth and crunchy because I understood it was peanut butter, and the only real difference for peanut butter is usually whether it’s smooth or crunchy. I think over time, I will get better at Dutch. But you have to remember, people in the Netherlands are exposed to English from a very young age, at least that's my understanding. Whereas in the UK, we don’t really learn languages much at all, and if we do, many schools don’t do a very thorough job of it.

[@palantir135]

@ yes, English lessons start already in primary school and is one of the compulsory final exam subjects in middle school. Also all movies have subtitles so we hear English while reading the translation. In middle school we also learned French and German but those languages were only compulsory for whom choose the alpha direction of exam subjects. You may think that dutch uses a difficult to pronounce harsh G, but that harsh G is only spoken in the western and central regions of the country. The southern provinces uses a soft and much easier to pronounce G. Succes with learning dutch.

[@EJannings]

"Of" in Dutch means "or". So "wol of katoen of leer" means "wool or cotton, or leather".

[@VerdaAFK]

Ah, thanks for the explanation! I think knowing of means or in dutch, I would have been able to make out that wol of katoen meant wool or cotton. I don't think I'd be able to understand leer though.😅

[@EJannings]

@@VerdaAFK I can understand that. The old Dutch word for "leather" was "leder". That's far more similar. It is still occasionally used.

[@VerdaAFK]

Yeah leder is definately much more understandable. I had so much fun with this test that I've begun learning Dutch! I'm already on day 2, and I’m excited to see how quickly I can start understanding more.

[@EJannings]

@@VerdaAFK Good luck!

[@pleheh]

​@@EJanningsleder is indeed a little more archaic. And leder is also used in german to describe leather.

[@Centurion101B3C]

My advice as a Dutchman is: Take formal lessons instead of these kindergarten guessing games.

[@VerdaAFK]

This was just for fun since I saw it pop up, but I have started my Dutch learning journey.

[@michaelmckelvey5122]

No, it is worth while seeing how close any two languages are in relationship to one another.

[@azurechen123]

People forget that some people are just having fun and dont plan to be fluent

[@yvonnecampbell7036]

@@VerdaAFK I think you did great, actually ;) By the way, Zoet en Zout means Sweet and Salty.

[@saskiapanter]

Jeetje, meteen weer zo lekker negatief....😮 Laat hem toch lekker dit doen.

[@Dutch1961]

Of course you know what a "hond" is. You just don't realise. Hond = hound = dog

[@VerdaAFK]

In the moment, I didn’t quite piece it together, as I was pretty confused by that one until Kim mentioned 'sand' and 'sea.' Without that, I’d have really struggled. While editing the video, though, I did notice she said 'vacation' and 'dog,' along with a few other words I didn’t catch the first time.

[@RichardHoogstad]

I always find it entertaining when someone is willing to learn Dutch which in comparison to French, German, Spanish and Portuguese isn't that widely used around the world. Hope you get far and it should be a lot easier than Russian due some shared vocabulary. Veel plezier

[@VerdaAFK]

I wish I’d started sooner too! I have a good Dutch friend I’ve visited a few times in the Netherlands. I tried learning Dutch around 8 years ago, but it felt impossible back then. Perhaps learning Russian has helped me to understand/learn other languages easier. I also always felt a bit embarrassed speaking English with locals when I was the one visiting their country, so learning Dutch now feels even more meaningful.

[@RichardHoogstad]

@@VerdaAFK It can be intimidating to talk to locals, to only way to get over it by doing it a lot. What helped me learning Spanish and Portuguese is using Chatbots since there is no need to feel embarrassed talking to AI.

[@VerdaAFK]

@@RichardHoogstad That's true, I'll give it a try talking with some ai.

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

Yes you can, if you use your brain... English is a Dutch dialect, mixed with bad French.. Forget the French words, use the Anglo-Saxon words, and you are practically there..

[@lbergen001]

You definitely have talent for learning Dutch 👍👍Many words in both languages are similar and even more words if you include the sound shifts in both languages. I.e. V and B, like "I haVe = ik heB". But there is so much more.

[@VerdaAFK]

Thanks you! In my short time learning Dutch, it’s been really rewarding as the progress feels much quicker compared to learning Russian. It’s also a big motivation knowing I’ll be able to use it when I visit the Netherlands again!

[@GrinderDevil]

You know the text at the top, i'm pretty sure the contestants don't get that. It's edited in afterwards i think, maybe next time try blocking that part.

[@VerdaAFK]

Yeah you're right, I don't think they did. I went into the video blind so I didn't quite know what to expect. Maybe next time I'll watch the start just to know what to expect and adjust accordingly. It is worth noting that I did understand what Kim said without the text, but visually seeing the text allowed me to recognise sentence structure more easily and learn what certain words meant such as, Het > the, it, and op > on. I hope you enjoyed watching my attempt to understand Dutch regardless!

[@anniek4681]

Katoen is Cotton. Leer is Leather. But you were pretty good at understanding the discriptions. Kleding is Clothing. Kledingstuk is peice of clothing. Pinda is a peanut. And yes i am impressed of how much you understood.

[@VerdaAFK]

Thanks! If I’d realised of meant or, I probably would’ve figured out katoen. I just didn’t put the pieces together at the time. Some words are really close to English, but I’ve found that paying attention to repeated sentence structures helped me understand the context better, and not just relying on recognising individual words.

[@anniek4681]

@@VerdaAFK True, context is everything. We have a word that's totaly depending on context. That is the word "weer" It can mean "again" or "weather" depending on context. The word "bergen" is also one of those context dependend words. That one has even more than 2 meanings. "Mountains", "a lot" and "to store"(storage)

[@ncoppens]

Dude, you are very good at this! Nederland = The name of our country in Dutch Nederlander = Dutch person Nederlands = Dutch Het is typisch Nederlands = It is typically Dutch (It is a typically Dutch thing) Fiets = bike Fietsen = riding a bike (of course with so many bikes we need one word for riding a bike) Fietsje = a small bike (je at the the end of a word most of the time means it is small. Kind = child, kindje is a small child)

[@vanderquast]

As for us Dutch people English is easy to learn, why should it be difficult for English people to learn Dutch?

[@collectioneur]

Because we’re used to learning other languages and anglophiles aren’t…

[@michaelmckelvey5122]

The point is, that English is a worldwide spoken language and Dutch has only some 22 million native speakers. Who is going to learn Dutch just to visit Amsterdam for a long weekend?

[@collectioneur]

@@michaelmckelvey5122 I know some Japanese who are learning Hungarian just because it is one of the hardest languages in Europe…

[@ansibarius4633]

Probably in part because Dutch is morphologically more conservative than English. Dutch has retained its verb endings, has different definite articles for masculine/feminine vs. neuter nouns, the gender of which must be learned by heart, and has inversion of word order in dependent clauses, to name a few examples. German is even 'worse' in this respect.

[@PrinceWalacra]

@@michaelmckelvey5122 and that makes you a bad language learner?

[@marmac83]

Man, I understood so much of this

[@erichlf]

Ja, omdat de zinnen simple zijn.

[@tuinbuddy3385]

What I like about Dutch: it is a very democratic language. You can make your own words, by combining two or more words On a level I don t know any other language does. Another thing is "je" after a word and you have the small, little version.

[@Steyvan]

You had almost every sentence right

[@VerdaAFK]

I think there are a lot of similarities, but of course, in reality, if someone were to speak to me with more complex sentences or at a normal speed, I'd have a much harder time understanding in-person conversations.

[@georgezee5173]

As a Spanish-speaker it just blew my mind that Dutch also use the letter G to spell a hard H sound like we do when it's followed by E. I'm talking about the words "Sommige" and "leggen". Usually languages use the letter G to represent either a soft G sound (like in "get") or the J sound (like in "gel"). In Spanish the G before E and I actually represents a strong H sound, very similar to the German CH.

[@lissandrafreljord7913]

And it's what makes Spanish and Dutch sound harsh at times. Sounds like they're trying to spit a tonsil stone stuck in their throat.

[@dgraveth]

The g in dutch is more comparable with the Spanish jota. In Spain you pronounce it like west and north side of the Netherlands and in the south and east it’s more like in South American Spanish and ch g are more or less the same

[@VerdaAFK]

Learning how to pronounce the letter "G" in Dutch words is definitely going to take up 50% of my learning time, I just know it 😅

[@georgezee5173]

@@dgraveth I later noticed some other word starting with a "gaa-" also using a hard H sound too. So, was Barcelona coach Van Gaal's name always pronounced like Spanish "fon jaal" 😆 Also, what you mention about the H sound being harder in the north of the Netherlands and softer in the south... That's actually what happens in Spain. In the south of the country (mainly in Andalusia) and the Canary Islands their "jota" is softer, more in line with how it's pronounced in Latin American Spanish (which also varies depending of the country).

[@dgraveth]

@georgezee5173 fon jaal 😂 that is phonetically pretty close

[@mennoydema5222]

Wow, good job, especially with #3 you almost got all of it

[@VerdaAFK]

Thanks! I'm now learning Dutch.

[@OlafvanEss]

well Dutch and English both have similar heritage, old-english comes closer to old-Dutch compared to modern (anglo-saxon) English and modern Dutch. even Frissian (2nd official language in the Netherlands) is more similar to English (anglo-frissian)

[@VerdaAFK]

I just recorded a little test for Frisian! A few years back, I tried reading it but couldn’t make sense of it. After a few days of learning Dutch recently, I did some research and realised how much Frisian has been influenced by Dutch, which I didn’t consider before. Doing the test now, my limited Dutch actually helped me understand Frisian a lot more. The video should be out soon, I hope you enjoy it if you catch it!

[@jodocusonbenul]

You might want to try the same experiment with Frisian, as this is said to be way closer to English.

[@VerdaAFK]

I’ve heard of Frisian and checked it out before, but honestly, it feels really different from English to me. With Dutch, I can understand quite a bit even without knowing the language, but Frisian? It’s almost impossible for me to understand, both spoken and written. Maybe that’s just me though.

[@SlashProducts]

@@VerdaAFK Low Saxon/Low German could also be interesting to look at if you haven't already. Some dialects of Low Saxon are still quite similar to English

[@lightworker2956]

Great job, you did very well.

[@VerdaAFK]

Thank you!

[@jeaninep5870]

Kledingstuk translates to clothing piece

[@ThW5]

You didn't get "hond" being similar to "hound"?

[@VerdaAFK]

I was so confused by that one until Kim mentioned sand and sea! Looking back now, she probably said something like with your dog or walk with yourr dog, but I completely missed it at the time.

[@Student-cs2ws]

Did you know that it’s not only hounds and wolves that are howling in the Netherlands? Dutch babies howl as well. Only we write it as ‘huilen’. And there are much more words that are being used in several contexts, which makes the meaning of some words highly flexible. English can have a fight over a gold mine. “Is that your mine? No, that mine is mine.” But Dutch tends to stretch a little further than “mijn mijn.” In Dutch the words for ‘lake’, ‘more’, and ‘anymore’ are all ‘meer’. So if Italy would have one lake more than Germany but would lose one more due to drought… Tja, dan heeft Italië geen “meer meer meer.” Yeah, then Italy has no “lake more anymore.” So do not get distracted by the hard pronunciation of our language, but study it until you get to the core where you will find a sort of abstractness in which words sometimes can only have meaning within their context. Something that is well suited for practicing poetry.

[@gerhard6105]

Good you want to learn Dutch. It is very similar to English. About 1500 words used in English originate from Dutch. Let's start with cooky/koekje/(koekie). Same pronunciation (sp). Good/goed, hound/hond, wind, water, ice/ijs (sp), door/deur, cap/kap, to cap/kappen, grass/gras, snow/sneeuw, sand/zand, cat/kat, clock/klok, we, he/hij, she/ze, is, what/wat, for/voor (sp), the/de,words/woorden, correct, myself/mezelf,was, go/ga, boat/boot (sp), mast, Anker, ankle/enkel (sp),foot/voet (sp), arm, ook/boek (sp), plus, cable/kabel, pot, fork/vork, hand, light/licht,lamp, plinth/plint, card/kaart, pen, bell/bel (sp), in, out/uit, wheel/wiel, paper/papier, carton/carton,to lick/likken, kiss/kus, to gue/tong, ship/schip, hall/Hal, trumpet/trumpet,hedge/heg, stone/Steen, shoe/Schoen,frame, standard/standard, cross/kruis, street/Straat, wall/wal, fish/vis, moon/man, sun/zon, kraan/crane, vase/vaas, etcetera......

[@VerdaAFK]

​@@Student-cs2ws I think I need to lie down. 😅 I understand it, but that doesn't mean my head isn’t hurting any less! 🥲

[@VerdaAFK]

@@gerhard6105 This reminds me, I was watching someone on KZbin a couple of days ago teaching Dutch words to English speakers, and he couldn't help but laugh while pronouncing some of the words that have exactly the same pronunciation as in English. 😂

[@michaelmckelvey5122]

It makes learning Dutch now even harder as there is little motivation in the U.K. There was a G.C.S.E. Dutch exam as well as an A level but it was all just abolished a few years ago. Examination bodies wanted to dump off these less well-known language exams and languages such as Turkish and Farsi were saved by other examination bodies but alas, no such luck for Dutch, which just fell 'by the wayside.' I took the Institute of Linguists level 2 in written Dutch many years ago and then, towards the end of its life, the G.C.S.E. Dutch examination in the hope that if at least one more candidate takes it, it might help to save it but unfortunately, no! As it was, I had to take the train all the way to Bristol to take the examination. I have since googled and found that there is a Dutch school in Oxford that offers language proficiency examinations in the Dutch language. I suppose that today, my G.C.S.E. in Dutch is quite a rarity.

[@Twip_sings]

Hi! I am Dutch and wonder if you'd benefit having a native speaker that can help you with learning the language. I would love helping you with that if you're interrested. :)

[@VerdaAFK]

That sounds like an interesting idea that I'd be interesting in.

[@romibeerta3606]

English and Dutch are both a Anglosaxon language, they have a lot of similarities

[@VerdaAFK]

That's true! I've noticed a lot of similarities too-sometimes it's just a matter of switching one letter here and there, and it ends up being almost identical to English.

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

liggen - lay, hond...guess the animal....

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

pin dah - pea - nut,,,ge-maakt - made

[@VerdaAFK]

Thanks for all of these!

[@Tjalie-j6i]

And just a rondom Polish guy in there, hahaha 😆. West Germanic languages have very little in common with Slavic languages 😆. Unless he's East-Prussian (now part of Poland 🇵🇱) and leaning Germanic languages, he's not going to do well here, i suspect. Anyway, great video, Groet uit Nederland 🫡🇳🇱.

[@VerdaAFK]

Haha, the Polish guy definitely adds an interesting twist! 😄 I was actually surprised he understood more than Mat (the American). Maybe he's had more exposure to Dutch or German. I didn't realise this video would get so much attention! I was just recording for fun, but I'll definitely have to step up the quality next time and shave my hobo beard. 😄 Thanks for watching, and groetjes terug uit Engeland!

[@MarceldeJong]

It’s his channel

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

het = it , kleed = cloth , of = or

[@drekruizinga8696]

Fisian Dutch is close to Old English

[@VerdaAFK]

I just recorded a similar video on Frisian! I tried reading it a few years back with no luck, but after starting Dutch last week, I learned how much Dutch influences the Frisian language. I gave Frisian another shot recently, and my basic Dutch actually helped a lot. The video’s coming soon!

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

Het = it.... just like in old english.. that - dat

[@verdantes695]

heey is your name verda! first time seeing an other person that named Verda other than me

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

er op - there up (on it)

[@Dutch-linux]

Yes you are pretty close ... I have seen worse so you done ok... but hoe heet je is what is your name !!

[@VerdaAFK]

Dankjewel, nee Verda is mijn online naam, het is mijn Nederlandse vrienden 2nd naam. Mijn naam is Louis IRL. Hopefully this is understandable, I have been studying Dutch since the video, though my vocab is limited. What I'm trying to say is, thank you. No, Verda is my online name, it's part of my Dutch friend's second name. My name is Louis in real life.

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

met - with/on