The language they speak in Holland? The national language of the Netherlands

Any tourist who is going to the Country of tulips and windmills, thinks involuntarily about the language they speak in Holland. Should learn at least a few expressions to communicate as required in a cafe, shop, hotel? Or is it better to take a phrase? This question is especially of interest for those tourists who are planning a trip to the Dutch province. As is known, in small towns and villages not all people know English. Tourists who speak German or French, interested in whether you understand them in the Netherlands? Let us examine this question. In this article you will learn what is the official language in the Netherlands.

Statistics

Despite the fact that the small Kingdom of the Netherlands surrounded by large powers, it has retained its ancient and original language. Moreover, the Dutch significantly influenced the development of other dialects. Due to the fact that the locals in the XVI-XVIII centuries were consummate sailors, many words of this language became part of navigators terms. In the nineteenth century, Holland possessed many overseas territories. This caused not only lexical borrowings but also the emergence of new languages. For example, Afrikaans – a mix of Dutch, and languages living in South-Africa tribes. Thus, the question should be reformulated: it is not “the language they speak in Holland?” and “How many people in the world communicate in this dialect?”. It turns out, is much greater than the number of the inhabitants of this small country. Only in Europe more than 22 million people speak Dutch. It is the people of Belgium, Northern parts of France and Germany. And this language, though modified, own on Aruba, Antilles, Suriname, South Africa and Indonesia.

Recommended

Cross-domed Church. Features of origin

In this article we'll talk about where has its roots the Orthodox architecture of churches, what it stands for and on what principles, and also about how different types of temples is given.it is no secret that Christianity in Russia - not the native...

Baths of Cherepovets: a review

From year to year a visit to the baths and saunas has become increasingly popular as ideas for fun and useful pastime on the weekends. This is not surprising because in Russia a couple walked not only noblemen, but also the common people. Today the a...

The Moscow planetarium on Barrikadnaya

The Planetarium at Barrikadnaya in Moscow is one of the world's largest and oldest in Russia. This structure is included in the list of attractions of the capital. It should be said that to visit the planetarium on Barrikadnaya interesting not only f...

Dutch and Russian

Make No mistake: the locals are unlikely to understand media «the great and mighty language”. But, listening to the local dialect, Russian tourist no-no, and will catch a familiar word. And this applies not only to terms of navigation or hydrotechnical construction. Such simple and everyday words like “chair”, “corpse”, “pants”, “drain” came to us from Holland. Rather, we came together with merchants, engineers and sailors, who invited Peter And I. this proves the advantage we had in economic and technological development of the Netherlands. The language of the Country of windmills has been enriched by only one Russian word - “fool” (doerak).

Prevalence

More than 60 thousand citizens of France, residing in the North-West of their country, say Dutch native language. Also, it is free to talk to hundreds of thousands of Germans living in the lower reaches of the Rhine. Moreover, the national language of Holland is, concurrently, one of the official languages of the Kingdom of Belgium. By the way, Flemish is a little different: it has a borrowing from French, but no Frisian words. European students are obliged to learn in addition to native and even any language of the EU, often choose Dutch. It is taught in two hundred and fifty universities of the world. While the government and the people of the Netherlands are making great efforts to promote the Dutch language. And even put him in 1893 the monument. It is dedicated to the struggle for the right to officially speak Dutch in the Cape colony (then owned by Britain). Contemporary society “the Dutch language Union”, created by activists, sets the rules of spelling and pronunciation of words.

Communication with the German dialects

Many people who have been in Amsterdam or Utrecht, at the question of what language is spoken in the Netherlands, lightly say: in German. Yes, the local rumor comes into a rich family of German dialects. You can even say that the average German on 90% understand someone who speaks Dutch. To his ear it will sound a bit unusual in pronunciation, as if the source was choking on a fish bone, but I can't cough up. But most of the words he will understand. Dutch language like German sentence structure and thirst for long, complex names of nouns. This is due to a common Germanic origin of the two dialects. However, the tourists speak German, should not so much rely on your knowledge. In closely related languages there are words with same spelling and pronunciation but totally different meaning. For example, in the Netherlands it is often possible to see the inscription Huren on buildings. A plaque announces that the room is rented, and not something that there provide services to prostitutes, as it may seem neocolonialismo person.

English and French

The British words is also very much in the local dialect. This is due to the close cultural and historical ties with the island country of Holland. What language is spoken in the Northern part of the Netherlands, in Friesland? An ignorant person might seem that marvelous a mixture of English and Scandinavian. But it's not. This language called Frisian and has the status of a regional official in the North of the Kingdom. IfDutch is associated with the German grammatical structures, with an English dialect it is in common vocabulary. But from the French language took less borrowing. You could even say that the romance words – only a vestige of the era when Latin was the official language of the whole of Europe.

Origins

The history of the language begins in 450 years. It was then that the rumors of the locals began to roll in the direction of German dialects, increasingly farther from the Frankish General. “the Salic law" (legal document of the early middle ages) is a Prime example of drevnerusskogo language. As the entire German team, he has passed two stages of development. From 1150 to 1500 the language was enriched with French borrowings, since the region was part of the Duchy of Burgundy. The dialects of Brabant and Flanders became the basis for modern speech of the Netherlands. If you conduct a study, what language they speak in Holland, it would appear that this is – the dialects of two of its provinces. All the process of standardization of written and spoken language ended in 1637, when the translation of the Bible into the language understood by all the inhabitants of the region.

The Netherlands: what language is spoken with tourists?

Whether to rely on their own linguistic knowledge, intending to go to the Kingdom of the Netherlands? Yes, of course! Unlike other countries, where English is fluent only in the capital, and that educated young people in the Netherlands that's all right. The level of education, including linguistic, the country is quite high. In the Netherlands, speak the language of international communication even children of primary school age and pensioners and Housewives. So a tourist who knows English in this country is not lost. Especially in Friesland, 400 thousand inhabitants of which speak a dialect belonging to the British-Scandinavian group. The tourist who knows the German language will be even easier to reach an understanding with the Dutch.