I was told that Dutch speak the best English in the world. Is there maybe truth in this? I have a hard time to believe to myself that this can be true, but was told many times this same thing. Could it be that they only speaks better than the Americans but not British people?
Do Dutch people speak the best English?
I'm afraid that you may be misinformed about that, Guest. Would you let me know your source for your information?
Some natives of GB will have to correct the errors in your post, though.
Perhaps some kind Dutch people or Swedes will pitch in and tidy up your post.
(Among non-native speakers, the Welsh are pretty good, then Dutch and Swedish people...)
My native tongue is American English, so I am unable to help you, lol.
All the best (especially with Dutch English, if that is what you will be learning)...
Some natives of GB will have to correct the errors in your post, though.
Perhaps some kind Dutch people or Swedes will pitch in and tidy up your post.
(Among non-native speakers, the Welsh are pretty good, then Dutch and Swedish people...)
My native tongue is American English, so I am unable to help you, lol.
All the best (especially with Dutch English, if that is what you will be learning)...
<< Could it be that they only speaks better than the Americans but not British people? >>
I think the idea that a country can't speak its own language well to be nonsensical. Since the United States is the home of US English, those born in the United States are the best at speaking US English, by definition. Whether US English makes for a good dialect of English is a rather separate (and, in my opinion, pointless and silly) question.
I have no comment on the topic itself, though. I don't knowingly run into many Dutch people online, and I don't know any in real life.
- Kef
I think the idea that a country can't speak its own language well to be nonsensical. Since the United States is the home of US English, those born in the United States are the best at speaking US English, by definition. Whether US English makes for a good dialect of English is a rather separate (and, in my opinion, pointless and silly) question.
I have no comment on the topic itself, though. I don't knowingly run into many Dutch people online, and I don't know any in real life.
- Kef
Eminem speaks English just as "good" as Tony Blair. Less formal but still English and still he perfectly has mastered his own dialect.
I have talked with only two Dutch people so far. They def spoke like a pro. I'll def take them as someone who speaks English quite well.
I have spoken with several Dutch people over the years. I spoke to one last week. His English was flawless. I also think many Swedes have wonderful skills, but they are not native speakers.
There are many little words that simply slip through the cracks. It's like that old movie "The Great Escape"... I haven't seen it all the way through, but I've caught the bit where Richard A. gets caught by the Nazis even though his "French" and "German" are "excellent"...
(For the record, I do NOT think his accent was close enough...)
Many Dutch, Scandinavian, and German people sound good, but would they know all the nuances and the little words that only native speakers really know?
A good accent and vocabulary will fool many people, but even the right pocket lint will not let you by people who are very sharp.
There are many little words that simply slip through the cracks. It's like that old movie "The Great Escape"... I haven't seen it all the way through, but I've caught the bit where Richard A. gets caught by the Nazis even though his "French" and "German" are "excellent"...
(For the record, I do NOT think his accent was close enough...)
Many Dutch, Scandinavian, and German people sound good, but would they know all the nuances and the little words that only native speakers really know?
A good accent and vocabulary will fool many people, but even the right pocket lint will not let you by people who are very sharp.
I think the idea that a country can't speak its own language well to be nonsensical. Since the United States is the home of US English, those born in the United States are the best at speaking US English, by definition. Whether US English makes for a good dialect of English is a rather separate (and, in my opinion, pointless and silly) question.
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I agree with furrykef!
For Dutch English, just listen to Dutch Radio International! The English the reporters speak is immediately non-native English accent!
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I agree with furrykef!
For Dutch English, just listen to Dutch Radio International! The English the reporters speak is immediately non-native English accent!
US English is my favourite. The US accent is so warm and friendly and lively!
<< Eminem speaks English just as "good" as Tony Blair. Less formal but still English and still he perfectly has mastered his own dialect. >>
Is this a satirical comment or a serious one? On these boards, sometimes it's hard to tell......
Is this a satirical comment or a serious one? On these boards, sometimes it's hard to tell......
At least, when I was in Rotterdam anybody whom I talk to, even hobos spoke good English
There is no doubt at all that English is far and away the most important, and widely spoken Language, in the Netherlands - after Dutch, of course. I think Dutch people start learning English soon after their umbilical cords have been snipped, and it's virtually universal there.
I've popped over to the Netherlands several times now (I mean - it contains Amsterdam, for goodness sake - only a very short flight across the North Sea, hadly any time to un-buckle your safety belt before it's time to do it up again) and I only met one single person who could not understand me too well when I tried to buy something in a type of store similar to our Dixons over here in the UK. Amazingly he was a young guy of about 20 and all he could say was "I get someone who speaks good English" and another guy came to help me. It was only when this guy, too, had to ask me to repeat myself a couple of times before I realised that the underlying problem was my Scottish accent.
Apart from that, I have never had any Language problems in the Netherlands, even with my accent, which isn't all that difficult to understand anyway as it's softer and less harsh than some Scottish accents I could mention.
I asked for directions in a store in Amsterdam and the lady who helped me out spoke with an almost perfect RP English English accent and when I asked her if she was British she said she had never been to England in her life. That's so hard to believe - come summertime in Scotland we see so many NL (Dutch) reg cars on the roads that you'd think halgf the Dutch population was over here at any one time. To this day I think she was taking the piss a wee bit!
On another occasion in Hoorn, overlooking the Zuider Zee, we got chatting with another Dutch lady whose English was spot on perfect - and, just as amazingly, she, too, said she had never been to the UK. It seems that listening to the BBC and tuning into UK-TV is widespread in the UK.
I did a short-term course at Leiden uni and it was conducted entirely in English. As a foreign visitor in NL you need no knowledge of Dutch at all - not even a smidgeon - as I said at the start, even the weeniest of kids can respond to you in English, and the vast majority of adults are virtually fluent in English.
It's always a thrill to know that Dutch people love coming to Scotland. They are more than welcome as I love the Dutch as much as they love the Scots.
I've popped over to the Netherlands several times now (I mean - it contains Amsterdam, for goodness sake - only a very short flight across the North Sea, hadly any time to un-buckle your safety belt before it's time to do it up again) and I only met one single person who could not understand me too well when I tried to buy something in a type of store similar to our Dixons over here in the UK. Amazingly he was a young guy of about 20 and all he could say was "I get someone who speaks good English" and another guy came to help me. It was only when this guy, too, had to ask me to repeat myself a couple of times before I realised that the underlying problem was my Scottish accent.
Apart from that, I have never had any Language problems in the Netherlands, even with my accent, which isn't all that difficult to understand anyway as it's softer and less harsh than some Scottish accents I could mention.
I asked for directions in a store in Amsterdam and the lady who helped me out spoke with an almost perfect RP English English accent and when I asked her if she was British she said she had never been to England in her life. That's so hard to believe - come summertime in Scotland we see so many NL (Dutch) reg cars on the roads that you'd think halgf the Dutch population was over here at any one time. To this day I think she was taking the piss a wee bit!
On another occasion in Hoorn, overlooking the Zuider Zee, we got chatting with another Dutch lady whose English was spot on perfect - and, just as amazingly, she, too, said she had never been to the UK. It seems that listening to the BBC and tuning into UK-TV is widespread in the UK.
I did a short-term course at Leiden uni and it was conducted entirely in English. As a foreign visitor in NL you need no knowledge of Dutch at all - not even a smidgeon - as I said at the start, even the weeniest of kids can respond to you in English, and the vast majority of adults are virtually fluent in English.
It's always a thrill to know that Dutch people love coming to Scotland. They are more than welcome as I love the Dutch as much as they love the Scots.
>>In my experience, the Dutch tend to have a very good accent in English, as do Swedes. How well they do with vocabulary, syntax, etc. depends on how much they put into it, but I remember someone saying on here a few months ago that the Dutch can get English TV shows, so that would definitely help.<<
At least in my experience as well, all the Germans that I have known have had quite good English as well, even though they generally also had at least slight German accents even if they had lived in the US for a very long period of time; the only exception to this is this one girl who had German parents who was born here and grew up when she was younger here but who ended up leaving the US and eventually moving to Germany, who practically lost her English (to the point that, when I ran into her several years ago, it was unintelligible).
What is more noticable is Germans who speak really marked Received Pronunciation, such as a particular manager-type person at my workplace, who speaks Received Pronunciation with a bit of a German accent. In such cases, it is the Received Pronunciation and not the German accent which sticks out. For instance, in this particular individual's case, I did not immediately realize that they were a non-native speaker of English but rather simply assumed they were English, despite the fact that I should have probably doubted such considering that the guy's first name is "Carsten". (I did not really notice his final devoicing, which is probably the strongest aspect of his German accent aside from his complete lack of slurring words together as the typical English-speaker would, much simply due to such being ignored by my own general phonetic perception of English.)
At least in my experience as well, all the Germans that I have known have had quite good English as well, even though they generally also had at least slight German accents even if they had lived in the US for a very long period of time; the only exception to this is this one girl who had German parents who was born here and grew up when she was younger here but who ended up leaving the US and eventually moving to Germany, who practically lost her English (to the point that, when I ran into her several years ago, it was unintelligible).
What is more noticable is Germans who speak really marked Received Pronunciation, such as a particular manager-type person at my workplace, who speaks Received Pronunciation with a bit of a German accent. In such cases, it is the Received Pronunciation and not the German accent which sticks out. For instance, in this particular individual's case, I did not immediately realize that they were a non-native speaker of English but rather simply assumed they were English, despite the fact that I should have probably doubted such considering that the guy's first name is "Carsten". (I did not really notice his final devoicing, which is probably the strongest aspect of his German accent aside from his complete lack of slurring words together as the typical English-speaker would, much simply due to such being ignored by my own general phonetic perception of English.)
Nope, Duch people have trouble with syllable-final voiced consonants, they tend to use voiceless consonants only, so they pronounce use (n). and to use (v) both with /s/ , and lose / loose (both with /s/), lice and lies (both with /s/), eyes and ice (both with /s). Final -s devoicing is regional in English (Chicago, Prince Edward Island) but not too standard/widely accepted.