German vs Dutch

BK   Tue Apr 20, 2010 10:17 pm GMT
German has got the biggest amount of Native speakers in Europe. So for me it's a very easy answer. Study German! If you are going to study Dutch you will have to go to Flanders (Belgium) because those dum cheeseheads in Holland will respond to you in English even if you speak good Dutch.
Justme   Tue Apr 20, 2010 10:47 pm GMT
Learn Dutch! IT is an fun and easy lenguage, it is just like English. Learning it will be like learning another dialects for you
Nederlands voorbeeld   Tue Apr 20, 2010 11:37 pm GMT
Wikipedia is een project van de Wikimedia Foundation, een in Florida gevestigde organisatie zonder winstoogmerk. Het doel van Wikipedia is om in elke taal een vrije (gratis) internetencyclopedie te creëren. Onder de paraplu van de Wikimedia Foundation bevinden zich diverse meertalige projecten waarvan Wikipedia het oudste, bekendste en meest succesvolle is. De naam Wikipedia is een samentrekking (portmanteau) van het uit het Hawaïaans afkomstige "wiki" en het Griekse "encyclopedia".

As any common person can clearly see, Dutch is more like English than like German.
BB   Tue Apr 20, 2010 11:47 pm GMT
Dutch is more like English. Yeaa it's exactly like English, you don't even need to study or speak it. Just speak English, they just love to kiss English and American arse in Holland.
Anderson   Wed Apr 21, 2010 12:10 am GMT
^And Australian.
Jordan   Wed Apr 21, 2010 3:35 am GMT
I agree with you guys about German. It's way more useful. I'll probably end up learning that.
Harold   Wed Apr 21, 2010 6:19 am GMT
You have three choices.

1) Speak Dutch with a perfect native accent:
The locals will pay no attention to you, will treat you without interest like an ordinary person.
2) Speak Dutch with an accent:
The locals will assume you're a non-English immigrant. Will take little interest in you apart from the obligatory politeness they will show you (to prove they're not racist). Other than that they will unconsciously avoid you (because it's natural to want to stick with your own kind, no matter how much the liberals deny it). However, the big plus is that you can do WHATEVER you want. Any time you do something unacceptable, just put it down to "cultural differences" and everyone will immediately forgive you. In fact, you've got a good chance of even getting THEM to do whatever YOU want. If you're sitting next to someone you can just say "do you mind not doing that, it's offensive in my culture" and usually they will be filled with shame and bend instantly. Anything to avoid confrontation.
3) Speak English:
They will treat you like a God. They will show great interest in you and fawn over you and all things American especially. However they won't be as permissive with you as for option (2), in fact, they may even be relatively harsh. The reason is that Anglo countries are the only ones left that the Dutch are allowed to be sceptical about and voice disapproval without immediately being accused of being racists, so you may well be in for a grilling on the War in Iraq or Guantanamo Bay. So, if you don't want to be hated and deemed a racist psychopath make sure to keep your opinion on abortion, climate change, Obama, etc, to yourself.


So, take your pick. It's up to you which of those is better.
fraz   Wed Apr 21, 2010 12:12 pm GMT
There are far more courses and learning materials available for German. Also many more speakers to practise with.

But it all depends on where you want to go.
Matematik   Wed Apr 21, 2010 2:07 pm GMT
What Harold says is so true, the Dutch are rediculously spineless, it's so pathetic and almost distasteful.

The Dutch "tolerant society", is basically a politically correct way of saying "spineless society".
Hah!   Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:09 pm GMT
Bollocks you bunch of spine-ist rightwing midgets, the Dutch have the biggest, longest, tallest spines in all of Europe.
Matematik   Thu Apr 22, 2010 9:01 pm GMT
<<the Dutch have the biggest, longest, tallest spines in all of Europe. >>

Prehaps that's why they snap so easily?
Franco   Thu Apr 22, 2010 10:17 pm GMT
Even if a Dutch spine snaps into a hundred, way more spine left over to both piss off self pitying rightwingers and yet let leash one of the biggest bloodiest arms industries on earth.
P.G.D.   Thu May 06, 2010 3:39 pm GMT
Forget about German or Dutch, learn Frisian.
P.G.D   Thu May 06, 2010 4:12 pm GMT
Yes because Frisian is spoken by wait for it 5 people!!! lol
green cheese   Thu May 06, 2010 5:03 pm GMT
Not strictly true: billions of people speak a pidjin Frisian called English.