‘Tell me, are Dutch and Flemish the same language or not?’, ‘In what way do they distinguish themselves from each other?’ and ‘But being Dutch you are able to read Flemish right?’ These are just some random questions my international colleagues used to ask me during my work as a Project Manager and Team Lead for a Translation and Localisation company based in London. For non-Dutch speakers it is apparently difficult to comprehend that in such a small linguistic geographic area various types of Dutch languages are existent.

Flemish or Dutch?
Working in the translation business, I was often asked to help with the editing and proof-reading of Dutch and Flemish translations. My default question – when a Dutch text was submitted to me – was whether the text was aimed for the Belgian audience or whether the Dutch in The Netherlands were targeted, knowing that the choice of words and on some occasions the grammar between the languages in the north and south region differ. Being the only Dutch employee in the localisation department at that time, my question was never much understood and it mainly led to many more queries from my colleagues.

Native Dutch speaker
Being a native Dutch speaker, born in The Netherlands, I usually felt quite reluctant to help with the proof-reading of Flemish translations. Simply because I tend to spent loads of time researching the Flemish text on correctness, as many words seem odd to me. Although I can – of course – read and understand a Flemish text, the chosen wording is prone to confuse me. As it clearly seems useless to ‘Dutchify’ a text meant for the Belgian people I did not take it lightly to alter a Flemish translation. I, however, realised that it is not so easy to pinpoint the differences between the languages. I therefore believe that it is about time to investigate the two different forms of Dutch a bit more closely.

Linguistic differences
For a more in-depth understanding of the differences in the two Dutch languages, I would like to briefly focus on the spelling, grammar, vocabulary, semantics and pronunciation of the language.

Spelling
As both languages follow the official Dutch spelling rules, as set out by the ‘Nederlandse Taalunie’, no differences should be found here.

Vocabulary
The most remarkable difference is found in the vocabulary. As two different countries are concerned, the Belgian and Dutch society are organised in a different manner and they both have their own culture and traditions. These differences automatically reflect on the creation of words and this influences the language. Dutch in the Netherlands has been enriched with many Yiddish words, which can not be found in Flemish. However, the Flemish language does seem to include more French words.

Semantics
Some words appear in both languages, but contain a different meaning. In general these concern a distinction in nuances, but they could be tricky in certain contexts.

Grammar
The pluralisation of words could vary, the diminutives of nouns could differ and people are addressed with other types of words. Furthermore the Flemish language has – over history – been more severely influenced by French sentence constructions (Gallicism), and this leads to a difference in word order in some Flemish sentences in comparison to Dutch.

Pronunciation
Flemish speakers tend to Dutchify foreign words, which over time have embedded themselves in the Dutch language. The Dutch in the Netherlands, however, prefer to use the foreign pronunciation. On top of that the consonants ‘g’, ‘r’, ‘w’, ‘z’ and ‘v’  have a contrast in sound and the same applies for the letter combinations ‘ti’ and ‘ci’.

Writing for a Dutch or Flemish audience…
All in all, we can conclude that Flemish and Dutch are not completely similar, but they do belong to the same language, especially since they are both guided by the same official body for the Dutch language: the ‘Nederlandse Taalunie’. However, the linguistic differences are apparent and cannot be ignored when writing for an audience in the Netherlands or in Belgium. I would therefore always continue to commence each proof-reading task with the question: ‘Is the text meant for the Dutch or the Flemish audience?’ 

In the Dutch language we tend to join many words together, and in that way create long – sometimes unpronounceable – words. The same happens in German. For instance in Dutch we use one single word to say ‘negotiations to seize fire’, which is Wapenstilstandsonderhandelingen. You will easily spot this word in a Dutch newspaper.

Wapen = weapon (in the English counterpart referred to as ‘fire’)
Stilstand = to stop (in the English counterpart referred to as ‘seize’)
Onderhandelingen = negotiations.

Admittedly, the word Wapenstilstandsonderhandelingen contains even for the Dutch languages many characters – 31 to be exact. However, it is not the longest word that makes its appearance in the Dutch speech. According to the Dutch number 1 dictionary (Dikke van Dale) the longest word has 37 characters, but is for the majority of Dutch native speakers incomprehensible in both pronounciation and meaning. (For the Dutch readers it is: Zandzeepsodemineraalwatersteenstralen, which basically means something in the lines of ‘get lost’). Supposedly a long word should be easily made understandable by splitting it in the separate word sections. In this way the etymology of a word becomes apparent.

In English there are some interesting long words, but these are mainly highly technical terms, such as radioimmunoelectrophoresis and psychophysicotherapeutics and not easy to find in the daily use of language. Also, these words almost always originate to other languages, such as Latin or Greek. They do not really count, as the spelling check on your computer will mark these words as misspelled and will not suggest a different writing…meaning that for many spelling checks these words are basically non-existent.

joinwords is however delighted to find some words in English which are a valid combination of a few words joined as one. A good example is etymology. Although it is a Greek word it has solidly positioned itself in the English language. In Greek ‘etymon’ is ‘true sense’ and ‘logos’ is ‘words’. Joined together it means ‘the true sense of words’.

Many linguists love to understand the etymology of joined words or various sayings which appear to be just some ‘put together words’. In this light, don’t you think it is fascinating that the word ‘etymology’ itself contains quite an interesting etymology that not many of us are aware of?

joinwords suggests that more words should be joined to create new ones. Not just for the fun of it, but to keep a language evolving and alive. As the structure of their language allows it the Dutch and Germans have a lot of experience in word innovation. For example quite recent additions to the Dutch languages are ‘camerafoon’ – combi of camera and telephone - and enveloppenangst – which combines the words envelop and fear, to label a growing number of people who are afraid to open their post as they do not know whether it will contain a bill or so….
Joined words like the examples mentioned above have a fascinating and rich etymology.

According to the Urban dictionary joinwords is defined as: two words which are combined to make a new word.

joinwords is not just a translating business, neither is it an ordinary copywriting agency. joinwords combines both linguistic skills to ensure that each text receives the style it requires. It is kind of – let’s join some words….transwriting!
joinwords brings two linguistic skills together, and….does way more than that….

joinwords connects groups of different international backgrounds, by translating English and German words into Dutch. And in this way, makes information accessible for a wider audience.

joinwords brings businesses together by providing b2b written communication, and also helps businesses to reach the wider public by putting the right words together and thus – just like that - assists to flawlessly convey their message.

joinwords also instantly connects to the readers of supplied texts, by simply joining the right words on paper, to ascertain that each text is crystal clear, well-structured and flows without any hick-ups.

joinwords is passionate about bringing everyone together by putting the right blend of words down!