h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

For the fluent to teach the....completely speechless!

excellent!

Sorry about the slight confusion there was. I've been very busy which is why I was putting off creating the department until the weekend, but my hand has been forced

Ideas for first lessons:

Greetings
I, you, he, she it etc
My name is...
Numbers
I am X years old.

Then get people to say them back and see if there's questions etc.
Sound alright?

Katkat

I was thinking about vocabulary lists and little sentences, also

well whatever you decide to do, remember that all of us learners don't know any dutch at all.

A562916 University project about the netherlands

(Edited) A564086 dutch pronounciation
(Edited) A564095 dutch grammar
(Edited) A567957 handy dutch phrases

Although I think there is still enough to say about pronounciation that the entry doesnt cover. Take the G sound, it ranges from J in Limburg to close to the K in Noord-Holland. I always like to note the dual consonants stretch the sound of the preceeding vowel. Also we have the sch and the ng as unmentioned consonant combinations. (The writer is from South Africa)
If we manage to find serious flaws we could rewrite the entry via the UpdateForum

In writing we (should) use the so called Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands (Common Decent Dutch). Where the only for writing defined slang is Fries. Or is it indeed a seperate language?

For my ears this Fries sounds more like English then Dutch anyway. But I guess Limburg's sounds a bit like French for most of you.

you're from limburg? Well, Fries is the second dutch language...sadly. However it is luckilly only spoken in Friesland. ABN it will be then...but Max Head, perhaps it is easier to have some talk about this via mail or msn? (Note; don't feel obliged to give your email.

My adress is also available, you just have to ask.

I live in Alphen aan den Rijn (what is the word for 'Naamval')
Though I was born near Dordrecht (Dordt), I have worked for a multinational company based in Braband so most of my colleagues speek Brabands and even some Limburgs. I have served my duty in the army in Zuid Laren, so I also had my share in Gronings and Fries.

Drop a message on my personal space if you have something more personal?

shoo shoo! Private conversation out of a teaching thread please guys

*brandishes a broom in manner of old-fashioned housewife*

Could you give us sentences for Greetings please? So we can at least say hi when we come in here.

right.. greetings first.

The formal way of greeting would be
"goede morgen" (good morning)
"goede middag" (good afternoon)
"goede avond" (good evening)
"goede nacht" (good night)
or general
"goede dag" (good day)

Your every day colloquial speaker will use
"dag" (day)
optionally
"dag " (day Kat)

Use any of this when coming or going.

Some extensions:
"dag Kat, hoe gaat het?"
(good day Kat, how goes it?)
(good day Kat, how are you?)

"dag Kat, alles goed?" (colloquial, possibly dialect?)
(good day Kat, all well?)
(good day Kat, are you allright?)

answers:
"dag Hapi, ja, alles goed"
(good day Hapi, yes, all well)
(good day Hapi, yes, all is well)

or
"dag Hapi, ja, jij dan?" (colloquial, possibly dialect?)
(good day Hapi, yes, you then?)
(good day Hapi, yes, and how are you?)

(* yes, I collected a series of expressions and dialects from all over the place.. Amsterdam, far north, even a bit Frisian, Eastern Dutch ("Tuks")... well .. someone correct me when I'm too deep in dialect? *)

also,

every 'good' can be replaced by 'goeie' meaning the same, but pronouncining is different


so you will get

"goeiemorgen"

Also, these forms tend to be shortened to something as 'mogge', 'middag' etc.
Very informal is the use of "hoi" (Hello)

Dag Hapi en Atom_boy!

Ik heb mijn diner niet nog gegeten!

***
I haven't eaten my dinner yet!

Okay that's the extent of my magicalness for the moment . I don't know where my other learners are! I seem to have set up an entire Language Thing just for people to teach me!!

Gode Dag, hoe gaat het?

Translation for that last post: Good day, how goes it?

ja, alles goed. Mijn neus kwetst. Het is niet te pijnlijk.
***
yes everything's good. My nose hurts. It is not too painful.

That didn't make as much sense on paper as in my head

I'll go and get the vocabulary list out of the speaking thread and chuck it in here so we can use it.

verrry good! Very good indeed!
"erg goed!"

one minor remark: "kwetsen" (to hurt) has the meaning of hurt (someone else). It is mainly used in 19th century literature or in the meaning of "psychologically hurt someone".
"heb ik je gekwetst?"
(have I you hurt?) ()
(did I offend you?)


in this case I would say
"mijn neus doet pijn"
(my nose does pain)
(my nose hurts)

Ah in the same way as in German you say, "I have nose pains"...ahh! cunning! Do items always "do" things? Like...erm...

If i wanted to say
My dog smells...
would it be
My dog does smell?

COPIED FROM SPEAKING THREAD FROM HAPI


Leven" in Dutch is more the process of being alive.
Living in (a city) is in Dutch "wonen".
Note the also the word "U" which is the polite form to address complete strangers, elders or seniors.
We have
I ik
you jij (U)
he/she hij/zij
we wij
you jullie (U)
they zij

and for "wonen"
ik woon
jij woont
hij woont
wij wonen
jullie wonen
zij wonen
yes... note the "oo" vs "o"... we'll have lots of fun with that. For the time being: it doesn't make any difference in pronounciation.

The correct question now is:
"Waar wonen jullie in Nederland"?
(where live you in Nederland)
(where do you live in the Netherlands)
Note Dutch does not really have constructions as "do you live" in questions. The order of the words changes:
"hij woont (in A.)" - hij lives (in Amsterdam)
"woont hij (in A.)?" - does he live (in Amsterdam)?

Ik woon in een klein dorp in Oost-Nederland, dichtbij de Duitse grens.
(I live in a small village in east Netherland, near by the German border)
(I live in a small village in the east of the Netherlands, close to the German border)

Ik woon in Ohio. Waar wonen?

I live in Ohio. Where do you live?

"Waar wonen jullie?" I think it needs to be.

Ik woon in Birmingham, Engeland. Het is nu donker en koude.
***

I live in Birmingham, England. It is dark and cold now.

I'm getting the hang of this

Het is it. Is is is! en is and...