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Dutch profile | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Collaborative writing | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| daristani Senior Member United States Joined 6932 days ago 752 posts - 1661 votes  Studies: Uzbek | Message 9 of 40 29 September 2005 at 12:49pm | IP Logged |
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I find the line "Dutch is not a beautiful language" to be less than tactful. Different people have different standards in terms of what makes a language "beautiful", and so I think such a statement suggests an objectivity to such a judgement that is not really there. (Many people find Arabic to be less than beautiful, largely on account of those same "guttural" sounds that typify Dutch, but I find Arabic a delight to listen to. My wife disagrees vehemently, hence my skepticism that one can make such a bald statement regarding the beauty -- or lack thereof -- of Dutch, or, for that matter, any other language.)
Accordingly I would delete the sentence in question. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 6944 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 10 of 40 29 September 2005 at 1:05pm | IP Logged |
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I hate to ruffle Daristani's feathers, but I definitely don't find the sound of Dutch to be very appealing. I believe that Franoois' original statement of Dutch not being beautiful should also stay since it is merely his opinion on the language.
To look at the flip side, how should we react to the common belief that Italian is considered the most beautiful language in the world? Would this not hint at a subtle cultural arrogance implying that all other languages are inferior or uglier than Italian? I know that statements such as "Dutch is not a beautiful language" and "Italian is a beautiful language." are opinions anyway and one should not make much of such statements in either a positive or negative way. I agree that the beauty of a language is subjective. However I also respect other people's views on language whether they're positive or negative. For the record, I'm not a big fan of the Russian, English or Mandarin languages. However, such opinions don't mean that I also hold the personality of the speakers of these languages in contempt because of their language. The only time when I would have a problem is if we would start to unjustly denigrate the speakers or users of that language because of perceived flaws in character, physicality or spirituality. Edited by Chung on 29 September 2005 at 1:15pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Bart Triglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 6948 days ago 155 posts - 159 votes Speaks: Dutch*, French, English Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese, Swedish | Message 11 of 40 29 September 2005 at 1:34pm | IP Logged |
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I doubt the guttural sounds can be said to characterise the Dutch language as Dutch spoken by the Flemish doesn't have these sounds!
2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| orion Senior Member United States Joined 6809 days ago 622 posts - 678 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 12 of 40 23 November 2005 at 12:42am | IP Logged |
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What about learning materials? The only course I have looked at is Teach Yourself Dutch. I believe Pimsleur only has a 10 lesson set. IS there anything decent out there?
Also, do we need some sort of statement about how difficult it is to get a native speaker to actually speak Dutch to a learner? My experience has been that they immediately switch to English if they know you speak it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Bart Triglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 6948 days ago 155 posts - 159 votes Speaks: Dutch*, French, English Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese, Swedish | Message 13 of 40 23 November 2005 at 7:37am | IP Logged |
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If someone would ask me I would, but I would indeed speak to them in English at first.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ferdi Tetraglot Groupie Netherlands Joined 6863 days ago 41 posts - 41 votes Speaks: Turkish, Dutch*, English, German | Message 14 of 40 23 November 2005 at 1:33pm | IP Logged |
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Orion most Dutch speak good English , they don't know you learning Dutch , they just want to help you easy.
Flemish people speak with a really funny accent :d 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Bart Triglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 6948 days ago 155 posts - 159 votes Speaks: Dutch*, French, English Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese, Swedish | Message 15 of 40 23 November 2005 at 3:07pm | IP Logged |
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A funny accent in Dutch or in English?
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ferdi Tetraglot Groupie Netherlands Joined 6863 days ago 41 posts - 41 votes Speaks: Turkish, Dutch*, English, German | Message 16 of 40 23 November 2005 at 4:10pm | IP Logged |
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in Dutch;)
1 person has voted this message useful |
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