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by Sander_Marechal 1033 days ago
Also compare it to Belgium. The Flemmish people speak Dutch but they are much more "pure" about the language. Where the Dutch will simply use loan words from English or other languages, the Flemmish try to invent new Dutch words.
3 comments
wcoenen 1033 days ago
Flemish Dutch is actually full of loan words from French. E.g. a holiday is "congé", a truck is "camion", a trailer is "remorque", a jackhammer is "piqueur", a total loss is "perte totale", a grilled cheese sandwich is "croque-monsieur"...
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wkat4242 1033 days ago
On the other hand an electrician is an "electriker" in Flemish and "electricien" in Dutch :)
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OfSanguineFire 1033 days ago
At the same time, I have increasingly witnessed Dutch and Flemish young people using English when they talk to each other – this will usually be explained by the Dutch side as due to their lack of comfort with Flemish, but I think it is simply a result of how highly online young people are these days – highly online in English – and I suspect that bodes badly for the future of purist attitudes even among the Flemish.
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wkat4242 1033 days ago
I see that lack of comfort also with Flemish people. I have a Flemish neighbour (in her 50s) in Spain and while I'm Dutch I tried speaking it with her but she always switches to Spanish for some reason.

But when I go to Holland these days I hear people speaking a mixture of English and Dutch on the streets. Very American-influenced English though with an accent and some expressions used improperly (I lived in Ireland a long time so I'm more used to British)

It does appear that the language is dying or at least changing. I don't mind though. Languages are meant to be fluid. Trying to be a purist is to try and push back the sea.

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Sander_Marechal 1032 days ago
> Trying to be a purist is to try and push back the sea.

You mean, the thing where Dutch people are absolute world champions at? :-D

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avar 1032 days ago
The same goes for Afrikaans to some extent, i.e. many words in it are a more purist version of Dutch, whereas Dutch itself adopted some loan word: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Afrikaans_and_Du...
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