Hyde flippo taught the german language for 28 years at high school and college levels and published several books on the german language and culture. The difference between dutch and german is mostly the same as the difference. There is a ready historical explanation for the difference in terminology. It presents a fresh description of the language, concentrating on the real patterns of use in modern dutch. Dutch is more or less situated between germanic english and german. Yes, the grammar and vocabulary are easier in dutch than in german, however i. Another remarkable difference is that apart from topicalization in english only a subclass of. One of the main differences between english and german is noun genders. Dutch and german languages have almost same letters with pronunciation that is. Comparison of difficulty of different languages jakub marian. Over 100,000 german translations of english words and phrases. Donaldson and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at.
Even though some of the sounds seem unfamiliar, it still has a wonderful melody to it. German grammar has some striking differences to english grammar. Dutch is a west germanic language spoken by around 24 million people as a first language. To understand the notion of aspect, notice the difference between i went. German grammar in english for international students. How to tell apart danish, german and dutch youtube. Their courses, however, are spent in watering deserts and savage countries, whose poverty or fierceness have kept strangers away.
Learning to make yourself understood in dutch or german is one. Mix with dutch speakers or immerse yourself in dutch audio books, internet radio, and dutch videos. One difference that newcomers to german notice rig. Ive answered this question before elsewhere on quora, but here goes.
A comprehensive grammar by bruce donaldson a complete reference guide to modern dutch grammar. Geographically the protowest germanic language centered around presentday northern germany and then spread to southwards as well as northwestwards and before going global with european colonization. Find out how to learn german using the fluent forever language learning method. This pdf can also be used as a reference and practice workbook for training german grammar by learners who already possess some knowledge of the german language. The dutch and english sounds systems are similar, so dutch learners tend to not have significant problems perceiving or producing oral english. There are some conspicuous similarities between the vocabularies of english and dutch, as well as between dutch and german. In that respect the history of dutch parallels that of english and german. First of all, we can quickly dispose of the pennsylvania dutch misnomer. As illustrated in the diagram above, dutch dut stands somewhere in the middle between english and german. Start with the complete german beginners course, then follow up with next steps german. There are smaller communities as well, in france and germany, as well as many former colonies of the dutch, that use it as a first language.
Changes from single to double letters are common when discussing dutch grammar, but they are entirely predictable once one knows how the spelling rules work. Essential dutch grammar dover language guides essential. But, this is simply not true, as dutch is actually kind of a lightgerman. Dutch is spoken as a mother tongue by about 23 million people in the netherlands, parts of belgium and in the former dutch colonies. The german language has both gender and cases how many genders does german have. Page 225 coanza, from the greatness of whose openings into the sea, and the rapidity of whose streams, we form an estimate of the great distance from whence they come. Grammar rules, similarities, and differences between english and dutch languages. In this video i compare two closely related languages.
Why the pennsylvania germans are often called dutch. What is the difference between deutsch language and german language. Roughly speaking, dutch lies somewhere between german and english germanic. Vowel length is indicated in dutch spelling using a combination of double vowels and double consonants.
Almost 23 million people speak dutch as their primary language, and another 5 million people use it as a second language. Pronunciation is also more straightforward than you might think and grammar is. A third volume practical exercises in german grammar is in preparation. It will be easy for you to remember that hand is hand in german and mano in spanish. Dutch is a fascinating and unique language, and you can find many good. Youll find that this little word makes all the difference.
Well with these helpful tips youll know every time. Of course, there are also words that exist in all three languages. Intermediate and advanced learners may want to try reading real german books. German is spoken by about 95 million people worldwide, and is the official language of germany, austria and parts of switzerland. The spelling is only one element that contributes to the lexical distance of languages. This linguistic closeness also means the grammar of dutch is similar to.
There are striking similarities between english and dutch vocabulary on the one hand and between german and dutch vocabulary on the other hand. Listen to some podcasts or audio books, read aloud and once that accent is in. I dont find it all that impressive that a dutch person should speak dutch, german, french, and english. The majority of them who feel they know many languages only know languages that have a lot of grammar and vocabulary similar to their own.
German grammar with rules and interactive exercises. Parallel text or bilingual book editions will show you the original and the. What is the difference between dutch and german answers. Countries that speak dutch as a native language are belgium, netherlands and suriname. The most notable difference between old and middle dutch is in a feature of speech known as vowel reduction. Given their germanic roots, dutch, german, and english bear some. When we think about the aspects like grammar and verb morphology, dutch is grammatically related to. Dutch is part of the germanic branch of the indoeuropean language family.
Our complete grammar explanations make learning german easy. Note that apart from somewhat regular conversations, i also learned my dutch from the same books that i usually use for other languages, as described and linked to on this sites language learning resources. If your native tongue is english or french, dutch just seems to be simpler. The language group is also referred to as the nordic languages, a direct translation of the most common term used among danish, faroese, icelandic, norwegian, and swedish scholars. This is because dutch has evolved to have a simpler grammar structure for a learner.
However, they have two grammatical genders dutch has three in some. From the sixteenth century onwards dictionaries, grammars and spelling books appeared. Only weeks before the last border controls between germany and the netherlands are to be lifted, chancellor helmut kohl came to the hague for. Because the two languages were once the same, the grammar of english and german is quite similar, even if we dont always recognize it so easily in english. This grammar is mostly descriptive if not strictly so and is intended to introduce the structure of the ge rman lang uage to interna tional students in the shortest possible time. Difference between dutch and german difference between. In one case dutch seems very alike german and in the other dutch seems very alike english. Now pronounce it further back in your throat, all while having a bit of a cold. Okay, important differences between dutch and german youd have to keep in mind.
What is the different between dutch and german language. There has been a long time rivalry between the dutch and the germans and a big part of it over language. Dutch is often called the bridge language between german and english. Like the german language, which has only of the words of english, the dutch language often features a single word where english might use two or.
But if you just started out, reading long chunks of german can be daunting at first. Another of the differences between dutch and english is the number of incredible long words in the dutch language. This is because hes receiving the book and so the word he changes form and. Learn what you want dutch study books flowently tutors. Dutch is closely linked to both german and english, and it is said that dutch is more or less between english and german.
English and german are way more similar than you might think. English, dutch and german words from a common root everyday dutch words basic vocabulary for conversation and reading. German and dutch are both from the germanic languages. Spelling and pronunciation, verbs, pronouns, nouns and articles, word order, and more. Because the two languages were once the same, the grammar of english and. I can see that dutch and german are greatly related and it isnt a giant leap of the imagination to see the relations between words. Download his ebook why you hate learning dutch and 7. Almost since its inception, modern generative grammar, in this respect at least inspired by structuralist ideas of. Whereas german has four cases dutch in theory has none left.
But of all parts of the world, america, as it exhibits the most lofty mountains, so also it. What is the difference between deutsch and dutch answers. There isnt any difference, german being the translation of deutsch. The difference between dutch and german is probably larger than the one between austrian and german only because teutonic german was created after luthers synthetic mixture of high and low german somewhere in the south half of the middle, which was closer to the language of vienna than to that of amsterdam. Although some features of german grammar, such as the formation of some of the verb forms, resemble those of english, german grammar differs from that of english in that it has, among other things, cases and gender in nouns and a strict verbsecond word order in main clauses. Youll also benefit from a thematic vocabulary book for specialized vocabulary. It is organized to promote a thorough understanding of dutch grammar and highlights dutchenglish parallels throughout the book. Reading german short stories or novels can be a great way to quickly expand your vocabulary and see all the fiddly bits of grammar in action. The dutch language is very similar to various west germanic languages, for instance, german and english. It is a recurring theme in all german online courses, but thats because it is the single greatest stumbling block to anyone studying german. Ever wondered if the language youre looking at online is dutch, german or danish. However for spoken dutch, a german native speaker needs to do some studying before being able to follow a conversation. Learn the most important rules and their exceptions and master verb conjugation in various tenses. Theres a difference between dutch and deutsch, but there didnt used to be.
Signpost, april 2000 i have long sought a book which was able to clearly, though not necessarily. I was on holidays with austrian friends in holland and we took the train and piece of cake they said but impossible to understand the dutch announcements lol anyway, german has a lot of difficult grammar and dutch is very much straightforward as long as you are dutch. The close contact of the related languages led to a great streamlining of english grammar, hammering out many irregularities english has far fewer exceptions than dutch and german. German and dutch, including vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. English and german both belong to the germanic branch of the indoeuropean language family. Intermediate dutch is designed for learners who have achieved a basic proficiency and wish to refine their knowledge of grammatical structures this workbook, along with its companion volume basic dutch, provides clear and concise summaries of the essential points of dutch grammar as well as opportunities to practice using the structures of the language. Why english speakers have a oneup when learning dutch. The term is more properly pennsylvania german because the socalled pennsylvania dutch have nothing to do with holland. Are dutch and german as similar as spanish and portuguese. German and dutch belong to the west germanic language family, a family that also includes english, afrikaans, yiddish, frisian amongst others. Based on the premise that systematic study of grammar is a shortcut to language learning, essential dutch grammar helps you acquire fluency by emphasizing the strong similarities between english and dutch, and by concentrating on essentials. Theres very little difference between the two phrases except for a couple of. In this article, youll discover why learning german is actually easy than you might. Most dutch people can understand german but the reverse is not true.
In german, nouns are either masculine, feminine or neutral. What have emperors, kings, traders, invasions and wars got to do with learning the difference between all the german cases. To get beginners up and running, here are five german grammar rules that are worth learning. It is, therefore, closely related to english, german and the scandinavian languages. In german g is like in english go never like in general but in dutch its. Learning grammar rules in dutch will only make things more difficult. It took my german friend 3 months of intensive studying to become practically fluent though still having a german accent in dutch. Dutch between german and english dutch language blog. The differences and similarities between english and dutch. Dutch is kinda like halfway between english and german, but a bit heavier on the german side. Theres different vocabulary, a different alphabet, different grammar, different pronunciations, different sentence structures. How to tell apart danish, german and dutch history with.