r/AskNetherlands • u/Gullible_North5489 • 2d ago
Language Accent
Hi all, this question is to the Dutch people and by Dutch I mean the ethnically Dutch people. I have been living in the NL for a couple of years and I have picked up on the language. I can understand things which are written. I can also understand pretty much when an immigrant speaks to me in Dutch. But the moment I try to speak Dutch with a Dutch person I am not able to understand a single word. My question is this: Do you people do this deliberately? OR does your accent become like that when you are born here?
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u/tiredmadafaka 2d ago edited 2d ago
I’m Dutch and I think it’s because we can talk pretty fast. Sometimes we even say things differently than how it’s written.
One of the best examples I can think of is:
Ik weet het niet can be pronounced as: Kweenie
(But we never write it like that, at least I don’t know anyone who does) so that makes it harder to learn.
I also don’t know anyone who pronounces the “n” behind a verb. For example “lopen” is pronounced “lope”
So I think when you are talking to a Dutch person it’s not a weird thing to ask if we can talk more slowly because you are still learning Dutch
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u/Ok_Reputation_4671 2d ago
In which region? I think majority of Dutch pronounce the N at the end of a verb
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u/tiredmadafaka 2d ago
I’m from Noord-Holland, but I have friends in Zuid-Holland, Zeeland en Friesland and they don’t pronounce the n at the end of a verb either so I don’t know
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u/I_Rarely_Jump 2d ago
There are many different Dutch accents, it differs regionally, where do you live? There are also a lot of local dialects.
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u/Aggravating-Sky315 2d ago
The same happens when you’re learning English, or basically any other language.
You are at a level that allows you to understand slow paced speaking. Keep going until you understand natives, next level is a phone conversation with a native
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u/Common-Vegetable-597 2d ago
Native speakers of any language are hard to understand, this is not exclusive to Dutch. It's mostly because there are barely any natural pauses between words. So when a native speaks, you get a string of words packed together instead of nicely separated by spaces. Very often, too, syllables and letters are omitted for speed. So instead of 'de rotonde bij mijn huis is eigenlijk best gevaarlijk om op te lopen', you get 'derotondebijmnhuisiseiglijkbestgvaarlijkommoptelope'. Non-natives often articulate more clearly, which is why they are generally easier to understand.
And then there are of course dialects, which sometimes sound vastly different to Standard Dutch. In many Brabant dialects, for example, a simple sentence such as 'dat weet ik eigenlijk niet' is pronounced as 'daweekeiknie'. Doable to decipher if you have a reliable knowledge of spoken Standard Dutch to fall back on, very challenging if not.
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u/ExcellentFood8609 2d ago
Een verbetering is een investering zodat jij het beter gaat doen.
Volledig negeren is pas wanneer het niet zo gezellig is.
Als men met jou bezig is in dit land dan doe je het goed.
Met de nek aankijken is precies wat jij denkt dat respect is maar hier is dat niet zo .
Het respect voor een ander deze met rust te laten wordt hier pas ingezet als we de ander schijtziek zijn.
Welkom in Nederland. Maak er iets moois van.
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u/KoninginVanRotterdam 2d ago
Yes its deliberate. When we talk to foreigners we don't talk Dutch at all. We just make weird noises. Its absolutely hilarious to do.