An administrative centipede 🐛 Hinekken? Heniken? 🍺 "Niksen" is the best thing ever 😎
Welcome to the latest instalment of English and the Dutch, the newsletter with tips and tricks, fun facts, new translations and other good stuff about how Dutch speakers speak English. In your inbox every second Wednesday. (Or, whoops, Thursday… My two-year-old is ill at home, so newsletter-writing is a little more complicated than usual!)
The newsletter is written by me, Heddwen Newton. I also own the website www.hoezegjeinhetEngels.nl. If you are wondering where you signed up for this newsletter - that’s probably where you signed up for this newsletter.
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This is me at the Onze Taal-congres last Saturday. To everybody who signed up there: welcome! I was planning to write something about the game I cajoled (= overhalen, inpalmen) people into playing, which was called “Speel je mee? Steenkolenengels, ja of nee?” But that will have to wait until next time, when I don’t have a two-year-old wanting to re-enact her doctor’s visit with me every ten minutes. (She’s fine, by the way, just contagious, unfortunately, which means she isn’t going to daycare again any time soon.)
A big thank you to the three people who came to my table just to tell me how much they like this newsletter/ my website. You made my day!
And another big thank you to the wonderful lady who came to my table and said very loudly how much she LIKED MY NEWSLETTER and that if she wasn’t already subscribed she would SUBSCRIBE RIGHT NOW which, amazingly, led to the lady standing next to her to subscribe. I was thrilled to bits that somebody actually did this, and even more thrilled that it actually worked! (For anybody who is confused, I asked people to do this in my previous newsletter.)
My thanks also goes out to my good friend Evelyne who came along as moral support and to promote her scholarly platform about Dutch literature Leest. If you like Dutch literature, do take a look.
Anyway, on with the show. No quiz this week, I’m afraid, due to that same two-year-old. It will be back in two weeks with bells on! (= met toeters en bellen/ vol enthousiasme)
Dutch/English in the news
BBC travel learns about niksen
Olga Mecking, an expat living in the Netherlands, explains all about niksen and her love for the Netherlands in this long-form article.
Reading time: 7 minutes / BBC travel
Flemish nationalists aren’t happy with plan for more English in Brussels
A proposal from the Flemish liberals aiming to turn English into the third administrative language in the country’s capital is sparking criticism from Flanders’ nationalist party, New Flemish Alliance.
Reading time: 2 minutes / Politico.eu
Global College Eindhoven is scrambling for teachers
Global College Eindhoven, a.k.a. the schakelklas, provides education and Dutch lessons for non-Dutch speaking teenagers. The influx is so large that they are having to open a new location and are hiring non-qualified teachers. (Article in Dutch)
Reading time: 3 minutes / Eindhovens Dagblad
Have you seen any news about English among Dutch speakers, Dutch among English speakers, or other fun culture clashes? Let me know!
Recent translations
Jip-en-Janneketaal
I love this Dutch phrase for referring to easy-to-understand language. A great English phrase which might sometimes work as a translation is “to explain something like I’m five”. Just like the Dutch phrase, for some people this may imply condescension (= neerbuigendheid), but for most people it doesn’t.
Ramptoerist
To many, this may sound too much like Dunglish (= Dutch-English, steenkolenengels), but the translation of “ramptoerist” is simply “disaster tourist”.
American English has a term that doesn’t really fit, because it is not quite the same, but I went ahead and discussed it anyway because it is marvellous. That term is “rubbernecking”. It refers (among other things) to people who cause traffic jams because they want to get a good look at accidents. The way they turn their necks in order to gawk makes them look like rubber.
De kar trekken
I find “de kar trekken” tricky to translate when the speaker is annoyed. Without annoyance, the translation can simply be “to take the lead”. With annoyance, I think my best option is something like “this whole damn project has landed on my shoulders again. Thanks a bunch, guys.”
Administratieve duizendpoot
One of those articles where I speak at length about how NOT to translate this Dutch job-vacancy cliché. Don’t call people a centipede or an octopus, please. And I also take issue with “multitasking”. My favourite lofty translation is “multi-skilled administrative talent”, but honestly the simple “all-round administrative assistant” will usually do fine.
Wat de boer niet kent, dat eet hij niet
After all these years, I’m still surprised when English does not have a nice proverb for something that seems so basic in Dutch. “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” might fit the bill every now and then, but you will usually be stuck with something as prosaic as “he refuses to try new things”.
And finally…
For its 150-year anniversary, Heineken has launched an international ad campaign celebrating all the nicknames, mispronunciations, and alternative ways of drinking its beer.
The official line is this:
“While how we enjoy good times may have changed and may differ in each of the 192 countries we are sold in, the need for good times remains the same and consistent, just like our beer. So, this campaign is a celebration of that universally shared experience, and the joy quality socialising and human connection can have for people, one way or another.”
(What they mean, of course, is: “We don’t care what you do with it, as long as you give us your money.”)
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