5 ms·

I'm willing to bet that an American would understand the English spoken in Amsterdam better than that spoken in pubs or on playgrounds in Ireland.

by ssb1 5y ago

curation 5y ago
Having lived in the Netherlands (Eindhoven - not even Amsterdam) I can confirm that the English spoken there was superior to the English I was raised in in rural Ontario where my teachers said "warshing" instead of washing. The Dutch have an incredibly faculty for language and I admire it.
- consp 5y ago
  I will have to mention that this varies all over, especially the bit older generation (not exclusively though) also has some weird quirks language wise. So while they might speak and understand the English language quite well the are some parts missing. As an example I like to mention the phrasing of Bolkenstein (a Dutch National/EU politician) of economic handouts to people as "Golden showers". So while proficiency might be high, it's not always ... perfect.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - Digit-Al 5y ago
    To be fair, we in the UK often talk about the government giving us a golden shower as well. We do phrase it "slightly" differently though :-/
    - midasuni 5y ago
      America calls it “trickle down”, but the principles the same
      - repsilat 5y ago
        I guess if you mean "money is a small amount of liquid" then the analogy is fair? Otherwise the terms are very different -- handouts are not called "trickle down" in the US. The principle is not the same, it is literally the opposite. "Trickle down" in the US is a term used to disparage the idea that a strong economy benefits the poor even in the absence of explicit redistribution.
  - radiator 5y ago
    I for one don't see the problem in this particular case. To say that giving everyone money is like a golden shower, is an apt simile in my opinion.
    - ido 5y ago
      In the off chance this is not a joke: in colloquial English this means they are pissing on you (golden being the color of urine).
  - ben_w 5y ago
    Even among native speakers, there are often inter-generational shifts: to my father’s generation (1939) “gay” meant “festive, joyous” rather than a sexual preference; my mother used the term “glory hole” to mean “a cupboard used for storage”[0]; and her mother used “Irish” as an insult, and lived just long enough for “wireless” to start to refer to WiFi instead of longwave radio. [0] admittedly she was starting to develop signs of Alzheimer’s at the point she called it that around me, but that was a legitimate use of the phrase when she was young.
- 123pie123 5y ago
  I'm from the UK and whilst working with a handful of dutch, I was blown away not only by their extremely good english but also their ability to understand and the subitle aspects of english - eg comedy/ sarcasium/ passive aggresstion etc..
  - ido 5y ago
    Dutch is probably the closest language to English that isn’t a dialect of English.
    - sumedh 5y ago
      > Dutch is probably the closest language to English that isn’t a dialect of English. I still remember hearing two Dutch guys speak in Dutch, I thought there were speaking in English but then I realised I dont understand what they are saying.
    - Y_Y 5y ago
      That's an important point. Note that depending on definitions you might say (West) Frisian of Lowlands Scots claims this title.
    - dfawcus 5y ago
      No, that would have to be Scots. Especially compared to the region versions of English spoken in Northern England. It should not be too surprising, given that Scots in large part derived from Northumbrian Old English, with various admixtures including from Scandinavia. The versions of English spoken in Northern England also had a large input from Norse due to the Dane Law period, and that is part of what drove the change to modern English. That said, in viewing un-dubbed (but subtitled) Dutch, Belgium, and Swedish TV programs, I have been surprised by the amount I get the gist of directly from the speech. Generally from the core Germanic portion of the languages. Belgium was also interesting due to the occasional mix of stock French phrases and words. There were a non trivial quantity of 'English' words used, and usually for identical meaning, or a similar gloss.
      - 5y ago
WaxProlix 5y ago
What about in office spaces?
Kaius 5y ago
Would that American be from inner city Baltimore? Or from a fishing boat off the coast of Louisiana? Or from the Ozarks perhaps?

I'm willing to bet that an American would understand the English spoken in Amsterdam better than that spoken in pubs or on playgrounds in Ireland.

by ssb1 5y ago

I'm willing to bet that an American would understand the English spoken in Amsterdam better than that spoken in pubs or on playgrounds in Ireland.

curation 5y ago

Having lived in the Netherlands (Eindhoven - not even Amsterdam) I can confirm that the English spoken there was superior to the English I was raised in in rural Ontario where my teachers said "warshing" instead of washing. The Dutch have an incredibly faculty for language and I admire it.

consp 5y ago
I will have to mention that this varies all over, especially the bit older generation (not exclusively though) also has some weird quirks language wise. So while they might speak and understand the English language quite well the are some parts missing. As an example I like to mention the phrasing of Bolkenstein (a Dutch National/EU politician) of economic handouts to people as "Golden showers". So while proficiency might be high, it's not always ... perfect.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- Digit-Al 5y ago
  To be fair, we in the UK often talk about the government giving us a golden shower as well. We do phrase it "slightly" differently though :-/
  - midasuni 5y ago
    America calls it “trickle down”, but the principles the same
    - repsilat 5y ago
      I guess if you mean "money is a small amount of liquid" then the analogy is fair? Otherwise the terms are very different -- handouts are not called "trickle down" in the US. The principle is not the same, it is literally the opposite. "Trickle down" in the US is a term used to disparage the idea that a strong economy benefits the poor even in the absence of explicit redistribution.
- radiator 5y ago
  I for one don't see the problem in this particular case. To say that giving everyone money is like a golden shower, is an apt simile in my opinion.
  - ido 5y ago
    In the off chance this is not a joke: in colloquial English this means they are pissing on you (golden being the color of urine).
- ben_w 5y ago
  Even among native speakers, there are often inter-generational shifts: to my father’s generation (1939) “gay” meant “festive, joyous” rather than a sexual preference; my mother used the term “glory hole” to mean “a cupboard used for storage”[0]; and her mother used “Irish” as an insult, and lived just long enough for “wireless” to start to refer to WiFi instead of longwave radio. [0] admittedly she was starting to develop signs of Alzheimer’s at the point she called it that around me, but that was a legitimate use of the phrase when she was young.
123pie123 5y ago
I'm from the UK and whilst working with a handful of dutch, I was blown away not only by their extremely good english but also their ability to understand and the subitle aspects of english - eg comedy/ sarcasium/ passive aggresstion etc..
- ido 5y ago
  Dutch is probably the closest language to English that isn’t a dialect of English.
  - sumedh 5y ago
    > Dutch is probably the closest language to English that isn’t a dialect of English. I still remember hearing two Dutch guys speak in Dutch, I thought there were speaking in English but then I realised I dont understand what they are saying.
  - Y_Y 5y ago
    That's an important point. Note that depending on definitions you might say (West) Frisian of Lowlands Scots claims this title.
  - dfawcus 5y ago
    No, that would have to be Scots. Especially compared to the region versions of English spoken in Northern England. It should not be too surprising, given that Scots in large part derived from Northumbrian Old English, with various admixtures including from Scandinavia. The versions of English spoken in Northern England also had a large input from Norse due to the Dane Law period, and that is part of what drove the change to modern English. That said, in viewing un-dubbed (but subtitled) Dutch, Belgium, and Swedish TV programs, I have been surprised by the amount I get the gist of directly from the speech. Generally from the core Germanic portion of the languages. Belgium was also interesting due to the occasional mix of stock French phrases and words. There were a non trivial quantity of 'English' words used, and usually for identical meaning, or a similar gloss.
    - 5y ago

WaxProlix 5y ago

What about in office spaces?

Kaius 5y ago

Would that American be from inner city Baltimore? Or from a fishing boat off the coast of Louisiana? Or from the Ozarks perhaps?