The Dutch language - Dutchboy- JournalHome.com

9/22/2007 - The Dutch language

I have already devoted some entries to the English language, and the American variety, and wasn't always positive. Fairness dictates that I should also write something about my own language, which is of course Dutch. Now, I don't want you to order a Dutch language course right after you've read this. Dutch isn't spoken that widely, so it's a waste of time really. Just read this, knowing that you're at least not ignorant of it.

Dutch is a phony language actually. It was devised in the 18th century if I'm correct. In those days different dialects were spoken across the Netherlands. Dialects which a lot of times were unintelligble for people from other parts of the country. The solution was to create a new language based on these dialects. Dialects spoken in the regions Holland and Brabant were sort of merged together and a whole new grammar was created.

To be honest, I didn't even know about the phony nature of my language until recently, but now that I know, a lot of things have started to make sense. I mean, a lot of people are just completely unable to speak my language correctly; the mistakes they make are founded in local dialect.

One of the main things that suddenly started to make sense to me was the fact that every so many years entirely new spelling rules are introduced. You don't do that if you have a natural language. Those evolve naturally. Changes in ours have to be guided by rule changes.

Also, every interesting expression there is, comes from regional dialects. I have had Dutch language teachers, who would simply say that a popular expression used by a kid wasn't correct Dutch. Well, in his dialect it was correct, and that's what is natural to us. Not the language that professors and school teachers devised for us.

Also, I listened to a discussion on the radio recently. There is a counter movement going on, you know, which should bring Dutch closer to the dialects it aimed to replace. If dialect words are used by the media enough, they become correct Dutch words automatically, and soon after this was said, an angry woman called in, swearing and cursing at this rape of our language, and how it should be kept pure.

Also, the fact that this language of ours is founded on Holland and Brabant dialects has led to the fact that we now have three official languages. Dialects in other parts of the country are so different from the Dutch language that they have fought hard political battles to get recognition. Frisian, spoken in the province of Fryslan was the first to get such recognition, followed by Lower Saxon, spoken throughout the east of this country.

The provinces of Limburg and Zealand are still fighting to get their dialects recognized as an official language. If Frisian and Lower Saxon are languages, the dialects in these provinces, which are equally different from the Dutch language, deserve this recognition too.

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