The word Dutch today describes the people that live in the Netherlands, the official language of the Netherlands, and stuff that comes from the Netherlands. But there is one language that has the name Dutch, and yet is not really one. Sure, it is a Germanic language like Dutch is, but it is not intelligible … Continue reading The Dutch that isn’t
Dutch
Diaresis, tréma, Umlaut. Which is it?
Sometimes you would see two dots above some vowels, like Joyeux Noël (French for Merry Christmas), or naïve in, curiously, English. This diacritic can be found in alphabets from Albanian to Swedish. Normally represented by two dots above the letter where the sound is modified, or some other things, we also find a similar-looking sort … Continue reading Diaresis, tréma, Umlaut. Which is it?
Word Bites — Des milliers, des millions, des milliards
I remember a song by a French singer Jean-Louis Aubert titled "Milliers, Millions, Milliards", translated as "Thousands, Millions, Billions" in English. While a rather catchy song in its melody and lyrics, the title alone sort of hides a little linguistic curiosity. Let's explore another example, using a different language branch. In German, "million" is, well, … Continue reading Word Bites — Des milliers, des millions, des milliards
The variant of German not quite spoken in Germany now
When people talk about High and Low German, one might think that High German refers to the variant spoken in the northern parts of Germany, while Low German refers to the variant spoken in the southern parts. But as geography suggests, this is not the case. Low German is used to refer to the German … Continue reading The variant of German not quite spoken in Germany now
Word Bites — Why are people of the Netherlands called Dutch?
As we have covered before in the segment on the demonym "Soton" to refer to people in Southampton, there are many weird and interesting demonyms around the world. So today, we will take a look at an interesting etymology behind yet another demonym, this time, used to refer to residents residing in the Netherlands. Sometimes, … Continue reading Word Bites — Why are people of the Netherlands called Dutch?
Word Bites — From Ross to Pferd
There are odd etymologies in various languages, and here, I want to present one of them. One that is rather commonly used, identified, and known by all. That is the word "horse". Understandably, given that English is a Germanic language, we would expect to see a rather similar sounding translation for this word. Right? Well, … Continue reading Word Bites — From Ross to Pferd
A Non-Anglocentric Language Tier System?
1. How many languages do you know ? Okay, lemme define this question. To “know” a language, usually means to have the knowledge to speak, read, write, understand and communicate in a language. So yeah, as of now, I do know quite a bunch of languages to varying standards, like English, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, French, Japanese, […]
The Language Closet 