Re: As if Genealogy isn't confusing enough

Skraedder wrote:
Steve Hayes wrote:
On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:59:47 +0100, Graeme <Graeme@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Before the mid-1920s documents in the South African archives were written in
Dutch and English, and only after that were they written in Afrikaans, which
more closely resembled the spoken language, showing that even when the written
language was the same, the accents were different.
Before I first visited the Netherlands I bought a book on the language, and
was quite surprised to learn that the Dutch word "uitsmijter" (ham and eggs -
literally bouncer) was pronounced like the English "out smiter".
Afrikaans doesn't have the term (at least not referring to ham and eggs), but
it would be pronounced quite differently from Dutch. "ui" is a diphthong, with
no equivalent sound in English, pronounced "ur-ee", and "smyter" would be
pronounced "smayter", not "smiter".

When I learnt Afrikaans in Cape Town back in the '60s I'm pretty sure such niceties were pretty much ignored. It would have been pronounced 'Ayt Smayter'.

Skraedder


I had a friend at school in GB in the 60s called van der Westhuizen, pronounced Westhayzen.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Not just computer language
    ... If the tourists to the Netherlands behave as you describe then that shows ... the language of this newsgroup is English. ... If so, did you learn Dutch? ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.vb)
  • Re: Bedrading elektrische stoel naast de bestuurder
    ... up Dutch and Deutsch?? ... The English probably stuck to that old term. ... The German and Dutch languages are clearly from the same roots. ... I used to know a Dutch/German couple who just spoke to each other in their own language. ...
    (alt.auto.mercedes)
  • Re: OT: Why welfare doesnt work!
    ... frightened of hiring adults who had had to drop out of work - for ... Full immersion is the only way to learn a language properly. ... I learned Dutch that way, ... respond in English for the first year we were there - and some still ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: Not just computer language
    ... this newsgroup has an international participantship. ... the language of this newsgroup is English. ... Seeing as how the medium of this newsgroup is written, I don't really care how fluent someone is or isn't, as the case may be, in spoken English. ... You say you would have made the effort to make yourself understood in Dutch. ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.vb)
  • Re: amazon to move to eire because of bliars education, education, education...
    ... I'm expecting him to make the effort of speaking my language. ... I do this too, and have to say that when you're on holiday, it's kind of embarressing speaking in English and not even attempting a word in the other country language, even if they do speak a little / better English then the English. ... Having said that, from my experience, the Belgians (in French or Dutch), Dutch, and Germans are not too fussed if you pronouce something wrong, or get the male / female of an object mixed up. ...
    (uk.politics.misc)
Loading