You have probably seen the debate between Clinton and Trump last Monday. It was watched by more than 80 million people, not counting people following it online. That is a vast amount! It also did not go unnoticed in other parts of the world, and also news outlets in the Netherlands reports on the important election – one outlet, de Volkskrant, even went as far as releasing a Donald Trump Votewiser. What is that? Find out here!
Caricature of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump (Image by DonkeyHotey at Flickr.com under license CC BY SA 2.0)
Stemwijzer
In the Netherlands, elections are usually paired with a stemwijzer, which is a combination of the words stemmen (to vote) and wijzen (to point towards). So a stemwijzer points you towards the party or candidate you should vote for. This works by answering a list of questions about political points. The party that you agree with most could then be the party you vote for. Quite useful!
Now, de Volkskrant (the People’s Paper, which is a literal translation that they also give in the Votewiser) built one for Donald Trump. Kinda. About the translation: Votewiser is just a play of words, where vote is translated properly, and wiser just sounds like wijzer pronounced in English. Maybe the paper also wants to imply that you will vote wiser after completing it!
Before you begin the Votewiser, you should know that it mocks Trump for his flip-flopping on positions and changing his mind all the time. Based on this, the Votewiser gives you 13 questions on which The Donald has changed his mind a few times. Try it on the website yourself, by clicking here. Disclaimer: These are the views of De Volkskrant, not mine or the ones of Transparent Language.
After answering the 13 questions, the Votewiser shows you “the Trump” of the average date of the dates when he said things corresponding most to the answers you gave. It also gives you quotes and sources of when Donald Trump gave the answer that you selected.
Dutch views on Clinton vs. Trump
Generally, Clinton is supported more in the Netherlands, and so in the Netherlands, this Votewiser is not very shocking: Trump is routinely made fun of. In the video above, somebody interviews some Dutch people and asks them who they would vote for: Trump or Clinton? Most choose Clinton, one woman even says: Ik denk dat alles beter is dan Donald Trump (I think that anything is better than Donald Trump) (at 1:22).
Did you do the Votewiser? If you want to share it, what was your result?
Hi! I am Sten, both Dutch and German. For many years, I've written for the German and the Dutch blogs with a passion for everything related to language and culture. It's fascinating to reflect on my own culture, and in the process allow our readers to learn more about it! Besides blogging, I am a German-Dutch-English translator, animator and filmmaker.
Comments:
Bill:
I liked the video, I could actually understand most of it.
Comments:
Bill:
I liked the video, I could actually understand most of it.
I did the votewiser, I’m Sept 15, 2012.