Our word for bicycle is ‘fiets’
Nothing in Dutch is ‘niets’
Something in Dutch is ‘iets’
And ‘straten’ in English are streets
A kiss is a ‘kus’ or a ‘zoen’
Money is ‘geld’ or even ‘poen’
Brave can be ‘dapper’ or ‘koen’
The man on the ‘maan’ is the man on the moon
Some of our words though are somewhat alike
For instance a dike or a dyke is a ‘dijk’
Although a dyke could also be ‘pot’
But if she likes men, she is not
And my ‘knie’ is your knee
(A difficult walk that will certainly be)
But you have to say ‘Knie’ and not knee without K
I know, it is hard. ‘Het valt nog niet mee.’
You’ve noticed a rhyme scheme is not part of this post
Somewhere along the way it got totally lost
And if you read that out loud, it won’t even rhyme
Some people consider that almost a crime
But I’m not a poet or ‘dichter’ you see
You can’t expect more of someone simple like me
I've heard that some Dutch names translate to quite extraordinary phrases - though, naturally, I cannot bring a single one to mind ;-/ I'm not a linguist - not many of us Brits are!! Badly taught and too lazy, I think, when the rest of the world is kind enough to learn our language. I can barely poetise in my own tongue so admire your excellent effort :-)
ReplyDelete(By the way, are you completely free of Lyme disease now?)
I LOVE IT! Can't wait till Jinksy sees. Although... I can't say half of those works. I tried and I ended up spitting all over my monitor. too many consonents all together. That's crazy talk that is!
ReplyDeleteJabblog,
ReplyDeleteDid you know one of the Royal Palaces in the Netherlands is called 'Het Loo' or 'The Loo'. Honest. Of course we pronounce it differently, like 'so' and not like 'do'. And the loo is 'de plee'. So for us Dutch it isn't funny at all.
And I believe I'm Lyme-free now. Thanks for asking ;-)
Jewels,
Can you imagine how difficult it is for us Dutch people to learn English? Everything is pronounced differently. Sjees!
;-)
Love it! I might steel it from you...
ReplyDeleteMara,
ReplyDeleteYou, but only you, have my permission ;-)
Brilliant! Can I copy and post this on the Fridge Soup right away?I love it!
ReplyDeleteExcellent! I read this first the time, at Fridge Soup. Now I've been to have a look around the place of origin, and I feel comfortable here.
ReplyDeleteHahaha! Well, I found it all funny and charming - and most did rhyme ... sort of. :)
ReplyDelete'But if she likes men, she is not' ROFL!!
I suspect that I'll retain 10% of that, which is still just enough to make me dangerous...
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting my Very Silly Blog, following comments on your invited post on Fridge Soup. I will visit yours here from time to time.
ReplyDeleteMy elder daughter lived in Utrecht and Leyden (working at ESA) during the 90's, and became sufficiently fluent in Dutch (very quickly!) to give lectures at ESA and the Univeristy in Utrecht.
Best wishes
FTSE
Like Jay, I loved the dyke pun... very good! And super to learn a bit of Dutch in such a fun way. Thank you!
ReplyDelete