Which hand gesture should you avoid at all costs in the UK? 😮 Americans loving our fietscultuur 🚲
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 English, written for Dutch speakers. In your inbox every second Wednesday.
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. And if you have not yet signed up for this newsletter, you can do so right here:
Quiz
Can you spot the mistake in the sentence below?
You will loose all your money if you invest in that company.
What does the Dutch person mean, and what does the English speaker hear?
If you're really motivated for that particular study, you should give it a go.
I can’t hear the music from the box.
A Dutch city-scape on a plate, credit to Fabian Berg. What does the English idiom “to have a lot on your plate” mean?
Answers below!
Fun fact
Dutch speakers count from one to five on their fingers starting from their thumb, but when they want to show the number two to someone else, they do not include their thumb. This is odd when you compare it to Brits and Germans, who are more consistent. More about this here.
(And yes, that is my hand. Please feel free to share this picture on social media. Better still, forward this newsletter to your friends! It took me ages to make, it would be great to see some return on investment 😉)
Dutch/English in the news
De Fiets is Niets - Dutch bicycle history on podcast 99 Percent Invisible
Easily the bit of Dutch culture across the border that I am most excited about for this newsletter: the popular podcast 99 Percent Invisible ran an episode on the reasons cycling is so nice in the Netherlands. No, it is not just the absence of hills. The programme clearly shows how important grassroots campaigning has been for the prominence of the bicycle in Dutch traffic.
World War II in the Netherlands, as written by the people who lived through it
Nina Siegal writes about European art, culture and history for The New York Times from Amsterdam. She wrote a book about Dutch diaries from the second world war, in this article she writes about the book and the choices she made when writing it.
Football coach Erik ten Hag translates “van achteren kijk je de koe in de kont” literally during an interview
He used the word “arse” and I think this journalist’s write-up is quite generous, considering. (For my English-speaking readers: it means ‘hindsight is 20-20’, I’ll write an article about it soon.)
Gezelligheid explained for Americans
New-York-based journalist Tim Brinkhof explains “gezelligheid” to Americans
Greater Manchester (UK) gets a Dutch pancake restaurant
Dutch descendants bring iconic tulip fields to America
Flemish people called on to bury their underpants in their gardens (yes, really)
Interview
Communication skills trainer Katie Challans: “I can tell a Dutch person from a Belgian person by their body language.”
Based in Brussels, Katie Challans does not only teach communication skills to native speakers, but also to Dutch speakers from Belgium and the Netherlands.
We talked about the differences between Dutch people and Flemish people, and Katie gave lots of tips. Native speakers sniggering (= stiekem lachen) behind the Dutch speaker’s back, but being too polite to say anything to their face, was a big theme!
Here are two tips from the 22 (!) that she gave:
Only use words that you personally understand
If you are presenting from a report or other written source, do not use any words from that source that you do not 100% understand yourself. Find a way to say it with other words.
Avoid long sentences.
I often notice that Dutch speakers have trouble with the English word order. This gets worse as sentences get longer. My advice therefore is to avoid long sentences, even if these are sentences that were written down in a report that was checked or translated by a native speaker. These sentences are not your own, they are typically very formal and shouldn’t be used in a presentation.
New translations
I post a new translation on hoezegjeinhetEngels.nl every day. For this newsletter, I have selected a few recent ones that I am proud of.
Gunnen
I re-published this one after making a few additions.
A really tricky one, the most beautiful translation is “don’t bedrudge someone something” (= misgun het ze niet). For example “don’t begrudge him his sorrow” for “je moet hem zijn verdriet gunnen”.
However, this hardly ever works. You usually end up with something far more prosaic (= doodgewoon), like “such a nice guy, he deserves his success”.
Ergens voor gaan zitten
This one might cause a stir, because while writing this article I decided that in Dutch, you don’t have to literally sit down if you are going to ergens voor gaan zitten. To my mind, it is much more about really taking the time for something, or about buckling down and doing the work.
Je kunt het zo gek niet bedenken
I was shocked by how many online translations I found that went something like *you cannot think of anything so crazy*. There is no completely satisfactory translation, but “you name it, (we’ve got it/ we offer it/ I’ve tried it etc)” usually works.
Zitvlees
Another one of those where I am happier with the picture I found to illustrate the word than with my translations. Saying that, though, a well-padded posterior is one of my favourites. “Geen zitvlees hebben” is much easier to translate: ants in the pants!
For other translations these past few weeks, I got to work on my Belgian Dutch and translated “gejost/ gesjareld”, I struggled with “gouden tip” (any help appreciated!), and I discovered that “een addertje onder het gras” is actually a false friend; the translation is NOT “a snake in the grass”!
Quiz answers
You will loose all your money if you invest in that company.
Should be: You will lose all your money if you invest in that company.
“Loose” is the spelling for “los”
My button is loose - mijn knoop zit los
“Lose” is the spelling for “verliezen”
I always lose - ik verlies altijd
People make this mistake all the time, including native speakers.
There are two reasons (I think).
The first has to do with final devoicing: Dutch people don’t hear the difference when they are reading what they are writing in their heads. For me, as a native speaker, “lose” sounds like “loo-zzz” and “loose” sounds like “loo-sss”. For Dutch speakers, both words sound like “loo-sss”, and the spelling becomes a bit of a coin toss (= muntje opwerpen, dus 50% kans).
However, native speakers make this spelling mistake too. Their problem is not the ending of the word, but the middle. Most English words that end in “ose” have a different o-sound: prose, expose, those, close. To spell the word “lose”, it makes much more sense to have a double o, like “moon” or “brood”.
I think it is very likely that Dutch people also make the spelling mistake because they see “loose” to mean “lose” on the internet all. the. time.
If you're really motivated for that particular study, you should give it a go.
The Dutch person means “studie”, but should have said “If you're really motivated for that particular degree programme, you should give it a go.”
The English speaker hears “Als je echt gemotiveerd bent voor dat specifieke onderzoek, dan moet je proberen participant te worden.” More here.
I can’t hear the music from the box.
The Dutch person means “I can’t hear the music from the speaker”
The English speaker hears “Ik kan de muziek uit die doos niet horen”. More here.
What does the English idiom “to have a lot on your plate” mean?
I can’t come to that meeting, I have too much on my plate right now.
= teveel (stressvol) werk te doen
Sorry, I’m late again, I have a lot on my plate right now
= veel werk, veel stress, veel aan mijn hoofd
I’m sorry I’m being such a bad listener, I just have a lot on my plate right now.
= veel zorgen, veel aan mijn hoofd
And finally…
Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso is about an American-football trainer asked to coach a European-football club in the UK. Recent episode “Sunflowers” (Season 3 episode 6) was set in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a trailer online.
Instead, here is a compilation of fictional Dutch football player “Jan Maas” played by David Elsendoorn. (One great thing about this show: Dutch people are actually played by Dutch people.)
The characteristic that makes Jan Maas funny in this comedy? He is incredibly direct 😆
What did you think of this newsletter?
Or just reply to this email and tell me anything you like!
It is quite difficult getting more subscribers, so if this newsletter included anything of value to you, you would do me a great favour by forwarding it on to friends who might be interested, or mentioning it on social media.
I love your newsletter!
I'm Dutch, living in Belgium, used to work for an American company back in The Netherlands and now write/make my own artistic Blog (BeaG's Blog) in both Dutch and English. But no matter how much practice I've had, there is always more to learn. Thank you for helping me with that! And in such a fun way!