Dutch orthography

Skippy   Fri Feb 08, 2008 3:45 pm GMT
I speak German fairly well and now I wanted to start working on Dutch. I'm not sure if they have recently had a spelling reform similar to the one the German's recently had, but I wanted to know about their writing system. For example, do they pronounce "z" as /z/ or /ts/, does one pronounce the vowel "ij" like /aI/ or /eI/? Is "ue" pronounced /y/ or /wE/? What about "eu?"


And one last thing, does anyone know a site (or themselves know) what sounds in Dutch correspond to those in German (for example, 'ij' tends to be found where one would find 'ei' in German ex. "zijn" and "sein," etc.)

Thanks ya'll!
Guest   Fri Feb 08, 2008 4:13 pm GMT
Dutch "ij" is pronounced like Dutch "ei" or the sound of "ai/ay" in English "play" /eI/

A "z" in Dutch is like a "z" in English (like zebra/freeze; not like pizza)

"eu" is pronounced like French "eu" or German long "ö" but I find that it is a bit more rounded, more like an "o" than the German pronunciation (to my ears)

"ue" did you mean "ui"? I'm not familiar with "ue"
Skippy   Fri Feb 08, 2008 4:15 pm GMT
I suppose I meant 'ui.' lol sorry obviously I'm not familiar with it at all.
Makrasiroutioun   Fri Feb 08, 2008 4:19 pm GMT
PARISIEN   Fri Feb 08, 2008 4:58 pm GMT
<<Dutch "ij" is pronounced like German "ei">>

-- Not quite. The German "ei" is closer to Dutch "aai".
Dutch "ij" is best rendered in German writing with "äj"
Except when a word ends with "-lijk" (for instance "mogelijk" = möglich), in which case 'lijk' is just like a short 'lek'.

Dutch "ui" is an intermediate between the German sounds of "öj" and "eu" (Deutschland --> Duitsland)

Nun kannst du den Ortsnamen "IJmuiden" prima aussprechen :-)
Guest   Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:13 pm GMT
<<<<Dutch "ij" is pronounced like German "ei">>

WAIT A SECOND

my post was "Dutch "ij" is pronounced like ***Dutch*** "ei" or the sound of "ai/ay" in English "play" /eI/

YOU put in German, not me. I know they are not the same.

<<Except when a word ends with "-lijk" (for instance "mogelijk" = möglich), in which case 'lijk' is just like a short 'lek'.
>>

words ending in -lijk and -ig are pronounced as if the "i" were a short English (RP) "u" like in "cup":
-lijk sounds like -luck
-ig sounds like -ugh
Guest   Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:19 pm GMT
Dutch "ui" sounds like "öy" a sound not found in English.
An approximation is between our "ou" sound in 'house' and "ay" as in day (structure your mouth as if you were saying "ou" but actually say "ay")

Good Luck! and "Veel geluk"!
guest   Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:59 pm GMT
<<And one last thing, does anyone know a site (or themselves know) what sounds in Dutch correspond to those in German (for example, 'ij' tends to be found where one would find 'ei' in German ex. "zijn" and "sein," etc.)
>>

Usually ij corresponds to German ei
Dutch oo/ou to German o:/au (Dutch vrouw, boom; German Frau, Baum - "lady", "tree"['beam'])

like English, Dutch consonants do not show the High German sound shift (two:twee:zwei/zwo; make:maken:machen)

but like German, terminal -d is pronounced like -t; -b like -p, etc.
Initial and medial 'v' is voiced (a 'v' sound in Eng, not 'f' in German)
Xie   Mon Feb 11, 2008 4:31 pm GMT
>>Initial and medial 'v' is voiced (a 'v' sound in Eng, not 'f' in German)

In Dutch?
guest   Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:00 pm GMT
<<In Dutch?>>

Yes.

vijf is pronounced as /veIf/
schrijven as /sreI ve(n)/
Guest   Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:11 am GMT
I like Dutch ortograpy. I find it so cute because of the same consecutive vowels that occur in its many words like "Materiaal", "Speciaal", etc. Something that other languages lack.
JLK   Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:15 am GMT
Dutch ortography is stupid and ugly like this language itself. That's the reason why other languages don't have so many consecutive vowels.
L'italofilo   Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:21 am GMT
Dutch sounds & seems much worse & awkward than either English or German, in terms of pronunciation & spelling.
JLK   Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:25 am GMT
Dutch is a linguistic fart.
Guest   Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:26 am GMT
<< Dutch is a linguistic fart. >>

and Spanish is a linguistic sitnking and rotting shit.