In this instalment I would like to write about making Dutch sentences out of English words.
When you learn a foreign language, it is not easy to quickly master the grammar. A lot of Denglish (English spoken by the Dutch) is caused by the fact that the Dutch tend to translate their thoughts into English word for word. Like: That can well and this is not to do. In reality they are talking Dutch, but they are replacing the Dutch words by English ones. Sometimes this is quite possible, but often this is not completely right and more often even downright wrong. I will give you some examples of the latter, including what should have been said:
In this instalment I would like to write about what we call in Dutch: false friends.
A false friend is a word from a foreign language that lookes very similar to a Dutch word, but that has a totally different meaning. Such false friends exist between most languages. The African mooi does not as in the Dutch language mean beautiful, but fine or jolly. The Danish flink does not mean energetic or efficient but nice. The German bellen does not mean ringing the bell but barking and the French vent does not mean fellow but wind. Also between English and Dutch there are quite some false friends. And if you use them in a conversation, it is possible that you may be saying hilarious things without knowing it:
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } I would like to write about translations of Dutch into English that appear to be right … but happen to be wrong. Because, nearly right is also wrong.
Is your English translation a shot in the rose, or do you miss the plank? Unfortunately, nearly good is not good enough. So when a female deputy minister says: ‘I am having my first period’, she is not saying: ‘this is my first term in office’ but she tells she is menstruating. That is disgustable! With a fault translation you can fast constatate a large consternation.
You have now been able to read and comment on two instalments that I have written on the subject of Denglish, which is the bizarre English as spoken by the Dutch. In this third instalment I would like to explain that it is not only you and I who are making these lovely mistakes. During the many years that I collected the blunders made by people whose English was not always up to scratch, I especially noticed the mistakes made by many well known Dutch hotemetotes, when making speeches. Many of them are reflected in my bookies I always get my sin and We always get our sin too.
Of course, I am asked frequently by ladies and gentlemen of the press if I can name the names of the most famous public hotemetotes that I mention. But I do not want to embarrass these prime ministers, ministers, deputy ministers, burgomasters and other important public officers. But some of their outspeakings are already in the public domain, so I suppose that you may already know who said them. Therefore, I would like to do a little quiz and see who of you readers knows the most of these public figures. The first one of you who has them all right, will receive a signed and personally dedicated copy of my latest book We always get our sin too.
The most beautiful clumsy English was used by the late ‘Cultural Queen’ of the Netherlands : Annie M.G. Schmidt, a famous writer of childrens literature.
On page 383 of the biography Anna written by Annejet van der Zijl, Annie tells about some communication problems she had with a journalist from York.
“… I wanted to add : ‘My books are spread all over the world’ But I said ‘My books are destroyed all over the world’ [...] And this guy said: ‘Why, why was this?’
I kept on blundering. This guy asked – in a rather condescending tone : ‘What would you know about Andersen?’ And then I wanted to say: I was raised with H.C. Andersen, but I said ‘I’m fed up with H.C.Andersen’. Horrible. The situation got worse and worse.
Many Dutch people don’t turn their hand around for it. They just translate Dutch expressions letterly into English and they are surprised if their English speaking listeners do not understand a rate of it. They say: ‘I am sitting here for beacon and beans’ and ‘We should not throw away the baby with the bad water’.
Some expressions are not meant to be literal, but figurative. When a Dutchman says: make that the cat wise, he does not advise someone to go and talk to his cat, but he implies that he does not believe you. Many expressions used by the Dutch do not exist in English. The English have other expressions for that situation, like: and pigs fly and go tell it to the marines.
When, while trying to describe the amount of people present I told my collegae dining hall girls in Oxford ‘you could walk over the heads’ they stared at me with blank, slightly polite faces.
And when the students asked me to ‘please come over some time’ I very soon found out it meant ‘please don’t!’ The differences in culture between Dutch and English people are beyond understanding.
That same spring I fell in the river Thames with my bike. While climbing up the hill where my college was situated, a female student walked up with me. My skirt was still heavy with water, my legs were scratched and I had lost my clogs so I walked bare foot. She chatted away how I liked to be in England and Oxford, did I like my job, what did I do at home etc. At the end of our walk I told her what had happened.
She smiled at me, friendly, and said: ‘Yes, I thought you looked a bit funny!’
Even if you know English from house out or if – after studying I always get my sin – you inmiddles know sure that you speak such good English, you may still fall plat on your back due to cultural differences. Because when an Englishman says: ‘Interesting’, he actually does not agree with you at all. And that is me what. When the Chinese say: ‘Maybe’, they actually mean: ‘No.’ So we can be short and bondy: start studying the various cultures if you do not want to get in the war.
Because, even when you speak a faultless English, this does not imply that other people also speaking English understand you. People using the English language may come from various countries and cultural regions. They can be from the U.K. or from the U.S.A., but they can also be Chinese or Japanese. In conversation, people who speak the same language – English – do not necessarily understand each other. What they say may have completely different meanings. This could lead to severe misunderstandings.
Denglish
Welcome to the NRC blog ‘Denglish’. On this page Maarten H. Rijkens, the best selling author of ‘I always get my sin’ and ‘We always get our sin too’ shares examples of linguistic blunders and miscommunications that occur in international dialogue. We encourage readers to participate by telling their stories and anecdotes.
