WHAT ARE INTERESTING LANGUAGE FACTS ABOUT THE DUTCH LANGUAGE?

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WHAT ARE INTERESTING LANGUAGE FACTS ABOUT THE
DUTCH LANGUAGE
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Many debates go into the topic of diversity. Some
people will tell you that bringing different
cultures together is not a good idea. They think
that people shouldnt settle down in different
countries and try to merge their culture with the
local customs. Such people think that diversity
in culture will lead to the death of some
customs. But in truth, cultures evolve all the
time, with or without outside influence. So, it
is very likely that a custom may stop being
important to its people after a few years for no
reason at all. It is futile to blame people for
influencing a culture. If anything, it is the
culture of the immigrants that is at risk when
they move to a different country. They are the
ones who have to adjust in a new society. Only
a few countries in the world understand the value
of diversity. They know that when people of
different cultures come together, they make
something beautiful, and not destroy the existing
systems. It is also worth mentioning that
immigrants work pretty hard at their jobs because
they have to prove themselves and as a result
help the economy of the country where they are
staying. The countries that understand how
important immigrants are a few. But there are
many places on earth that proves that people of
different nationalities can co-exist peacefully.
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There are various countries that have a
heterogenous population and still, they keep
achieving countless success on the international
front. Such countries understand that their
strength is the diversity in their population,
instead of thinking of it as a weakness. There
are also cities in various countries that are
home to people of various nationalities. That
happens when a city is full of job opportunities
and attracts young people from all over the
world. People belonging to over 200 different
nationalities live in Amsterdam, the capital of
the Netherlands. It is important to note that the
Netherlands was fourth on the World Happiness
Report of 2013. So, diversity has not taken away
anything from this European state.
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The Dutch Language
Not many speakers of the tongue know this, but
Dutch is a very close relative of English. With
24 million native speakers, it is the third most
spoken Germanic Language. It enjoys official
status in the Netherlands and Belgium, being one
of the three official languages in the latter. It
also shares a close bond with German. Dutchs
similarity with English and German may not be
obvious to an inexperienced person but a linguist
can easily see the close connection between the
three. Dutch vocabulary also shares similarities
with the Scandinavian tongues. But despite being
close to so many languages, Dutch is not mutually
intelligible with any of them. Linguists believe
that English, Dutch, and German share a common
ancestor with the Scandinavian tongues, but no
definite information is available about those
origins. However, the similar features of these
tongues do prove the theory of a common ancestor.
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What Are Interesting Language Facts about Dutch?

• Dutch is not an easy language to learn. There are
  way too many complex rules of this tongue that
  makes it hard for the students to comprehend it.
  Learning it completely is a feat that only the
  motivated ones can accomplish because many give
  up along the way. But for an English speaker, the
  task might be a little easier due to the close
  relationship between the two. Here are a few
  facts that prove the strangeness of Dutch
• Similar Words
• English has taken a lot of words from its cousin.
  So, if you are learning Dutch, you will see
  plenty of words that are already a part of your
  vocabulary. The spellings will be a bit different
  in both tongues but the pronunciation and meaning
  will be the same. For instance, a banana is
  called banaan and an apple is called appel in
  Dutch. The spelling differences dont matter much
  because you can look at the word and guess the
  meaning easily.

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• Regulated
• Like Spanish, Dutch is also a regulated language,
  which means it cant go through changes every
  other day. The Dutch Language Union takes upon
  itself the task of promoting and standardizing
  the tongue. They also promote their culture
  around the world. Spellings and meanings of Dutch
  words are also regulated by the union. This has
  made it easier for the speakers of this language
  to avoid any confusions.
• Compound Words
• Probably the scariest aspect of this tongue is
  its ability to make compound words. The people of
  the Netherlands can make words as long as they
  want all thanks to the option of matching them
  together. Although the longest Dutch word in the
  dictionary has 35 letters, there are words
  related to bureaucracy that are longer than that.
  Obviously, such long words are also not easy to
  pronounce and can confuse a student of the
  language a lot.

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• Consonants
• Another scary part of Dutch is its love of
  consonants. There are words in the tongue with
  consonant clusters that can be pretty difficult
  to pronounce. Some non-native speakers take
  months to get around to these words. This aspect
  will be more surprising for English speakers who
  are not used to saying words made up solely of
  consonants.
• Dutch is a very unique Germanic tongue which also
  has a daughter language in the form of Afrikaans.
  The two are mutually intelligible. So, there is
  no reason why you shouldnt learn this unique
  language.

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