Nederkaans / Afri-Dutch: Similarities

I haven't written a lot about the Dutch language, but this doesn't mean that it is not an integral aspect of our daily lives in the Netherlands. In fact, it is likely one of the biggest changes and all-encompassing challenges that our family had faced in the past year. We hear Dutch daily. We read Dutch daily. We (try to) speak Dutch daily. 

The journey of learning any new language is such a complex topic that it's difficult to capture the essence in a blog post. And to an Afrikaans-speaking person, it's even more difficult to describe the surprises and emotions of learning Dutch: Dutch is so familiar. And so foreign at the same time. One moment you (think you) are speaking it fluently. The next minute, you feel like an absolute beginner. It's exciting and amazing and easy. It's frustrating and annoying and exhausting.

As an Afrikaans-speaker (or even South African in general), it is true that you already encompass a very rich Dutch vocabulary. But being able to string the words together to form coherent sentences, require you to almost forget what you know about Afrikaans at the same time.

Here are a few interesting similarities between Afrikaans and Dutch, purely based on my experiences and observations over the past year (and therefore not necessarily linguistically correct):

• Many Afrikaans words starting with an "s", exist in Dutch but start with a "z" instead. Examples: see, ses, Sondag, swaar become zee, zes, zondag, zwaar.
• "Sk-" words in Afrikaans become "sch-". Examples: skaap, skool, skat, skoen become schaap, school, schat, schoen.
• Plurals usually end with "-en" in Dutch. Examples: eiers, skape, jasse, kinders become eieren, schapen, jassen, kinderen.
• Afrikaans "y"-words become "ij" in Dutch. Examples: hy, lyk, myne, byna become hij, lijk, mijn, bijna.
• Afrikaans "-lik"-words become "lijk" in Dutch. Examples: vrolik, hartlik, wonderlik become vrolijk, hartelijk, wonderlijk.
• The "ë" in Afrikaans words change to "ge" in Dutch. Examples: oë, reën, spieël, vroeër become ogen, regen, spiegel, vroeger.
• Afrikaans "ee"-words get an extra consonant in Dutch. Examples: leer, teen become leren, tegen.
• Afrikaans "ou"-words often become "auw" in Dutch. Examples: gou, blou, nouliks become gauw, blauw, nauwelijks.
• Afrikaans words ending with "ie" change to "je". Examples: vriendjie, meisie, handjie, kindjie become vriendje, meisje, handje, kindje.
• Afrikaans words ending with an "a" get another "ag" in Dutch. Examples: vra, dra become vraag, draag.
• Afrikaans "eeu"-words get an additional "w" in Dutch. Examples: leeu, sneeu become leeuw, sneeuw. 
• Where an "ow" is present in the middle of the word, the "w" often changes to "v" in Dutch. Examples: owerheid, tower, rower become overheid, tover, rover.
• Where a "g" is present in the word, it changes to "cht" in Dutch. Examples: egter, regs, lig, agter become echter, rechts, licht, achter.

There you have it. My list of "rules" which will instantly provide an Afrikaans-speaker with thousands of Dutch words for everyday use! 

If you are Afrikaans, you will therefore be able to recognise and read Dutch. You might even be able to understand it without being exposed to it before. Amazing, right?

Until you learn that many everyday Afrikaans words don't exist in Dutch.

Or worse: They exist, but the meaning is different. 

Or the worst: They exist, but refer to objects or actions which should never be discussed in polite Dutch conversation.

Not to mention the thousands of Dutch words which don't exist in Afrikaans. 

Or has a different meaning in Afrikaans. 

Or refer to objects or actions which would never be discussed in polite Afrikaans conversation, but now fill the pages of children's books.

But I'll leave all of that fun for later. 

For now, if you're Afrikaans, let yourself believe that you can understand and read and even speak Dutch. 

We did the same. And boy, were we wrong.

Months and Seasons (Easy, right!)

  

Colours, Shapes and Numbers (Oh so easy!)

 

Sentences from a Dutch children's book (Mmm, perhaps not so easy anymore?)

Code Red

Earlier in the year we were still hoping to visit South Africa for a blissful beach holiday in December, but traveling became increasingly difficult due to Covid restrictions. Therefore, in the weeks leading up to the holidays, we started making a list of things to do in Europe: Visit Christmas markets, drink gluwhein and chocomel at quint restaurants, do Christmas shopping, perhaps even go for a ski holiday in Austria or Germany. Or France or Switzerland!

All our plans evaporated overnight when the Corona cases increased rapidly and everything closed down: Schools, restaurants, Christmas markets, shops, ski slopes, borders. I'm thankful that we could still experience the magic of Sinterklaas in November and early December with pepernoten and sjokolade letters, Sinterklaas songs (yes, we all learnt and sang them!), traces of naughty Pieten in our house and at school, carrots for Ozosnel and drawings for Sinterklaas, cadeautjes, dress-up and a Pietengym, the Sinterklaasjoernaal, and bingo with Sinterklaas (online).

The highlight of December was a fantastic Christmas dinner at friends (while adhering to the strict Covid regulations) and night-time walks in town to see the Christmas lights and decorated trees. Other than that, we went for walks in the parks, arranged playdates, baked, played board games, and took our daily dose of Vitamin D. 

Usually, the Dutch spend 70 million Euros on fireworks per year and New Years apparently sounds like a warzone. This year, even though fireworks were banned to reduce the casualties at hospitals, loud bangs still filled the air. We bought oliebollen with poedersuiker from food trucks which popped up all over town, read, turned the oliebollen into vetkoek, cycled, built puzzles, intrigued our Dutch neighbours with our oliebollen / vetkoek tales, and took our daily dose of Vitamin D.

The schools remained closed, home-schooling (aka watching a lot of tv) commenced, and to our dismay the gebakkramen and their olienbollen disappeared! We amused our Dutch neighbours with tales of eating oliebollen / vetkoek all year round in South Africa, and we took our daily dose of Vitamin D. 

And then, just as we ran out of exciting Corona-proof winters activities... it snowed! With each of the three glorious snowfalls in January, children and grownups alike enjoyed snowball fights and made sneeuwpoppen in the park. The snow usually only remained for a few days, depending on the area, and it was just enough to enjoy it thoroughly.  

However, the best was yet to come: Early in February the Netherlands experienced the coldest temperatures in nine years (at -14 C, we experienced the coldest temperatures ever) and a code red was announced throughout the country. We all huddled inside excitedly waiting for a majestic snowfall, but the frozen canals, dams and lakes were even more impressive! We watched in amazement as a dam in a nearby park slowly turned to ice with each passing day. 

Then, one day, children started venturing out onto the ice! Soon, even grownups and pets were playing and skating on the frozen dam, with us watching in amazement from the side. This was very far removed from my youthful ice skating experiences at the Kolonade!

The following weekend, we felt adventurous and decided to take a road trip, which brought us to the snow-covered countryside of Nederweert. There we ran into the winter-version of a South African bring & braai: Families were showing up at a massive lake with chairs, drinks, and sleds in hand, while groups of young children were arriving via bicycle, their ice skates dangling from their handlebars. Everyone found a spot next to the frozen lake, with some even positioning their chairs on the lake. And then, fun was had by all as everyone camped out next to / on the lake and skated along. 

We even felt brave enough to venture out onto the ice ourselves. 

I never thought I would be thankful for cold weather, but in the absence of Christmas, New Years, and Carnival celebrations, the snow and ice presented much needed excitement for our first European winter.