Dutch people

wk   Tue Mar 24, 2009 4:06 am GMT
What do people from the Netherlands and Belgium think of the English language? How would you descibe its sound compared to Dutch? Does it seem like learning your own language because it is so similar? How easy is it to understand without study?
1   Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:11 am GMT
Dutch is more similar to German(especially to Low German) than to English.
that's just me   Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:35 am GMT
English and Dutch are not so similar......
El Comandante Che Guevara   Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:22 am GMT
Ayer me encontré de repente frente a un gran monolito de mármol que surgió de la tierra como un misil furioso. No pude hacer nada para comprenderlo, me quedé pasmado mirándolo y me sentí débil y jodido. Me senté en la pasta y dejé que se apoderara de mí la angustia y el odio. En las profundidades de mi alma empezaba a perfilarse una idea bastante traviesa. Me puse de pie de nuevo y me encaminé apresuradamente hacia la plaza central de la ciudad donde habría de producirse un suceso milenario. Allí, una vez calmado, saqué mi miembro abultado y me puse a orinar sobre las baldosas, cubriéndolas de un charco amarillo que iba creciendo a una velocidad vertiginosa. Así pasé todo el día y al volver a casa me sentía muy satisfecho y feliz.

Fin.
once more   Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:43 am GMT
Dutch and English are not mutually intelligible.
Dutch language was derived from Middle Low German Franconian dialects in XV-XVI centuries.English language was derived from AngloSaxon language and heavily influenced by Norman French in XII-XIV centuries.
Low German dialects of Lower Rhine (Kleve,Wesel,Duisburg areas in Germany) are most similar "languages" to Dutch. Low Saxon is similar to Dutch in less degree.
pédé   Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:59 am GMT
"Allí, una vez calmado, saqué mi miembro abultado y me puse a orinar sobre las baldosas, cubriéndolas de un charco amarillo que iba creciendo a una velocidad vertiginosa. Así pasé todo el día y al volver a casa me sentía muy satisfecho y feliz.

Y qué?? Alguién te la chupò después de orinar?? IoI
1   Tue Mar 24, 2009 11:19 am GMT
Most closely related language to English is Frisian (Frysk),but it is not mutually intelligible to English.
McPhipps   Tue Mar 24, 2009 11:28 am GMT
<<Most closely related language to English is Frisian (Frysk),but it is not mutually intelligible to English. >>

What about Scots? (assuming this is considered a separate language, and not just a dialect).
1   Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:26 pm GMT
Well,Scots has some borrowings of Dutch origin (English has too):
howff-hof-courtyard,pinkie- pink-little finger,bucht-sheepfold,cavie, kesart-cheese vat,haik,craig,cuit ,dowp,bonspell,scone-schoonbrood-quickbread and so on.
PARISIEN   Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:39 pm GMT
"Well,Scots has some borrowings of Dutch origin"

— or Continental German words that English dropped long ago.
Leasnam   Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:31 pm GMT
<<Dutch is more similar to German(especially to Low German) than to English. >>
<<English and Dutch are not so similar...... >>
<<Dutch and English are not mutually intelligible. >>

I do not know the reason why you vehemently oppose this opinion, but you do not speak for all English speakers (I'm not so sure you are even a native speaker of English). In any event, as a native English speaker, I do find Dutch very similar to English, much more so than German (is to English), and Dutch was the easiest of all foreign languages for me to learn--much easier than French or Spanish.
skippa   Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:38 pm GMT
French or Spanish are more difficult than Dutch grammatically and there's no doubt that English and Dutch are much more similar grammatically and phonetically.
Leasnam   Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:40 pm GMT
<<— or Continental German words that English dropped long ago. >>

Yes, like 'ken' ("know, make known" [cf. Dut kennen]), 'kithe' ("publish"), 'stound' ("a time, while" [cf German Stunde]), 'snell' ("quick, forceful" [German schnell]), 'maun'/'man' ("will, must"), etc.
Guest   Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:46 pm GMT
French or Spanish are more difficult than Dutch grammatically

That is absurd.
Guest   Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:57 pm GMT
<<That is absurd. >>

^THIS is absurd :\

Dutch IS easier by leaps and bounds *for a native English speaker*.