Thread: Anne Frank

Here is a link to a picture of Anne Frank, with some text written by her with a provided translation. Is the text she wrote next to the photo, German or Dutch?
Here is the URL to the photo:
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/cen ... y0267.jpeg

Thanks in advance,
Evgenia

It looks like Dutch to me and it's certainly not German.

Taking into account that Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis in Amsterdam it must be Dutch.

Yes, it

What is that strange letter with two dots above?

Originally Posted by Tu-160

What is that strange letter with two dots above?

It's not a letter at all There're two letters: "ij" (the words are "altijd"- forever, "zijn"- to be).
And yes, this is Dutch (not even a dialect). I wanted to translate it, but I saw there's already translation in English.
--
Groetjes, Kostya

Thank you everyone for your answers

луговой лютик- I wasn't sure if it was Dutch or German, because Anne Frank was German and immigrated to Amsterdam at age 4. She knew German and Dutch.

Does she have good grammer and write properly in Dutch? Can someone type her message in Dutch(as it is written) typed so I can see it easier?(not her handwriting)

The text:
Dit is een foto, zoals ik me zou wensen, altijd zo te zijn. Dan had ik nog wel een kans, om naar Hollywood te komen.

I can understand it fairly well with knowing German, but it did take me a little while looking over those sentences to understand it completely. You know, when I was in 8th grade, for some reason I became interested in Dutch and even picked up a bit. But I had nothing to learn it with so I started on Russian later and eventually forgot the little Dutch I knew. I wish you luck if you are thinking of learning it!

Originally Posted by Евгения Белякова

Does she have good grammer and write properly in Dutch?

The first sentence is incorrect. "Dit is een foto, zoals ik me zou wensen, altijd zo te zijn." The word 'zo' should be left out to correct the grammar. Even then, the sentence still sounds unnatural to me. Better would be: "Ik wou dat ik altijd kon zijn zoals op deze foto."

Thank you all for your answers. I understand. I remember her writing in her diary she said that her mother and Mrs.Van Dan spoke inproper Dutch, but she would always write properly. Interesting to know about her sentence. Are the rest of her sentences written well?

Pravit, in German how fluent are you? Do you consider yourself fluent?

Thanks,
Evgenia

I don't consider myself fluent in any language unless I can consistently speak and write without making errors or sounding unnatural, which I probably still do from time to time in German. But I can handle myself fairly well in it.

Speaking and writing without any mistakes? Pravit, I am sure you know this, but many native speakers of all different languages make many kinds of errors. Do you speak an asian language? I have heard you are of eastern asian decent?

Yes, but they make errors that are typical of native speakers. I meant errors which only someone who isn't a native speaker would make. Yes, I am of Asian descent, and I can speak a bit of conversational Thai, though I understand much more than I can actually speak.

I understand what you are saying. Thai? That seems like a very interesting language, though I don't know much about it. My friend is from there. (I told you) though she doesn't know any Thai. Did you pick up Thai from your family? Or did you learn it from books? If your family is Asian as well, they didn't speak Thai to you as a young child? Only English? Forgive me for my questions, you do not have to answer.

OK, you can PM me if you have more questions.

"Ik wou dat ik altijd kon zijn zoals op deze foto." as mentioned before is present day Dutch. Although I agree that the grammar on the picture is not totally correct (even for that time), you have to see it in the context of the Dutch language spoken 60 years ago.

Better would be (for past and present time ) :
"Dit is een foto, zoals ik me zou wensen, altijd te blijven."