Thread: Language...

How similar are Dutch and German? If you speak Dutch can you understand German? Just wondering.

Originally Posted by Евгения Белякова

How similar are Dutch and German? If you speak Dutch can you understand German? Just wondering.

My German friends don't understand Dutch as they say. But it's possible for both nationalities at the same time to understand some words of each other. Germans find Dutch language very funny For'em it's like child-speach or sth. But as my friends also say if you're German wanting to know Dutch language, it's veeeerrryyy easy to learn it. And when I was just starting to learn Dutch I began to understand some German (I never knew it).
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Best wishes. Groeten.
Kostya.

I see. I was just wondering because Anne Frank, spoke Dutch though her native language was German, but she knew Dutch because she lived there. It makes sense to me that if you are German it is easy to learn Dutch. They seem like very interesting languages to me, ever since I read the Diary of Anne Frank. Thanks for your reply.

All the best,
Zhenya

well actually never had much problems with it myself, but according to most of my Dutch friends, understanding German really is a lot different than speaking it. And, of course, some words pronounced the same have completely different meanings - which can either be funny or embarrasing depending on the point of view