{"id":5599,"date":"2014-09-27T23:19:58","date_gmt":"2014-09-27T23:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=5599"},"modified":"2016-10-04T00:23:17","modified_gmt":"2016-10-04T00:23:17","slug":"german-dutch-in-the-mix-1-an-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/german-dutch-in-the-mix-1-an-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"German-Dutch in the mix"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Netherlands and Germany are two countries that could not oppose each other in certain ways: soccer, language, some cultural traits, morals, fashion styles\u2026 But they also find harmony. There are many activities that connect both countries. Not only economically. I grew up in a small German town on the Dutch border and went to school in the Netherlands every day. My mother is Dutch, my father is German, and I am\u2026 both. Which makes quite an interesting mix. When Germany plays the Netherlands in soccer, or they play in the same championship, I am often asked the question: what team do you support? To be very honest with you, I support the German team. For no sensible reason. I just do. Now that we are world champion, I guess I made the right choice!<\/p>\n

Also in language, I notice many differences – and similarities. Did you know, for example, that the German genitiv <\/em>is the same as the old Dutch genitiv<\/em>, that nobody uses anymore but everybody knows? It goes like this:<\/p>\n

NL: de heer des huizes;\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>

My room in the US!<\/p><\/div>\n

D: der Herr des Hauses<\/em>;<\/p>\n

E: the man of the house<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This holds true for all forms! Amazing, isn’t it?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I myself tend to make some strange mistakes when I speak either of the languages. In Dutch, I incorporate literally translated German words or sentence constructions, and in German I do the same. An example:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

NL: Ik heb het wel gedaan!<\/em><\/p>\n

D: Ich habe es wohl getan!<\/em><\/p>\n

E: I did do it!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Guess which one is wrong?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The German wohl <\/em>is wrong, but it does not sound very wrong to me, because I am used to the literal Dutch translation of wel <\/em>(which is wohl<\/em>). Wel <\/em>is just there for emphasis. And in German you should use a word like schon <\/em>or doch<\/em>, so to get a sentence like ich habe es schon getan!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is just an example of how German and Dutch culture intertwine in my life.<\/p>\n

Do you know matters that relate or connect to both German and Dutch? Do you know another language or country group that has such an intertwined relationship?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

The Netherlands and Germany are two countries that could not oppose each other in certain ways: soccer, language, some cultural traits, morals, fashion styles\u2026 But they also find harmony. There are many activities that connect both countries. Not only economically. I grew up in a small German town on the Dutch border and went to…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":5600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,11971],"tags":[358435],"class_list":["post-5599","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-grammar-language","tag-german-dutch"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t