The Dutch are from the Netherlands, also called Holland, and are not Danish or Deutsch and do not speak Danish, a common misconception. The Dutch are also not Scandinavian or Nordic. Netherland landmarks
What is the difference between Dutch and Danish?
Danish is the language spoken in Denmark. Dutch is the language spoken in The Netherlands. As is noted in the article " Dutch, Danish, same difference ," both languages are Germanic languages spoken in small, flat countries located in the north-west of Europe, but that's about where the similarities stop.
What is the closest language to Danish?
Danish is much closer to the other Scandinavian languages, particularly Norwegian and Swedish, but even a language like Icelandic has more in common with Danish than Dutch has. Interestingly, the country that separates the Dutch and Danish landmass, Germany might be one of the missing links between Danish and Dutch.
Where do most people speak Dutch?
Most of the people who speak Dutch are from the Netherlands as it is the country’s only official language. The Netherlands has a population of about 16 million people all of whom speak Dutch as their first language. Dutch is also the official language of the northern part of Belgium, Flanders, with over 6 million people speaking the language.
What is the official language of the Netherlands?
Dutch is the language of the Netherlands. Some people call the country Holland, but Holland is really just a region of the Netherlands, but that’s a battle for another day.. Why their language is called Dutch instead of “Netherlandish” is a long story. Oh and in case you didn’t know, in German, the German language is called “Deutsch”.
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Are Danish & Dutch language the same?
If you live in the US and you don't know much about European countries, you're much more likely to be confused about these two words. Danish people come from Denmark, and they speak a language called Danish. Dutch people come from The Netherlands, and they speak Dutch.
What is the difference between Dutch and Danish language?
Danish is the language spoken in Denmark. Dutch is the language spoken in The Netherlands. As is noted in the article "Dutch, Danish, same difference," both languages are Germanic languages spoken in small, flat countries located in the north-west of Europe, but that's about where the similarities stop.
Is Dutch closer to Danish or German?
While Danish is a North Germanic language like languages such as Swedish, Norwegian and Icelandic, Dutch is a West Germanic language, which means that it is closer to German, Frisian, Scots and…. English.
Is Dutch Holland or Denmark?
The Netherlands is sometimes called Holland, and this alone is enough to confuse a lot of people. People from The Netherlands are called Dutch. While it is acceptable to call a person from Denmark Danish, the correct term is Danes. The official language of The Netherlands is Dutch, while Denmark's is Danish.
What is the difference between a Danish and a Dutch?
A Danish “a” is most often pronounced like “apple” whereas Dutch (most often) pronounces their A more like “father”. G. This one is quite different. The Dutch “G” is one of the letters that stands the most out when listening to Dutch. It’s more or less similar to the Czech “CH”, the Arabic “خ” and the Spanish “J”.
What is the language of Denmark?
To be clear, Danish is the language of Denmark, a Scandinavian country squeezed in between Norway, Sweden and Germany. It is also a pastry, and a very nice one of that.
How many vowels does Danish have?
And these are just the letter-sounds that stand out the most. When you count letter combinations and diphthongs Danish actually has 27 vowel sounds whereas Dutch only has 16. All in all, it’s clear that Dutch and Danish are quite different pronunciation-wise. Finally, Danish is famously inconsistent in its spelling.
What does the U sound like in Danish?
In Danish, you have to get used to the “French R”. While the other two will obviously be understood, they just sound strange in Danish. U. In Dutch the “U” is pronounced much like it is in French, and exactly like the Danish “Y” (which is a vowel in Danish).
What does the Dutch W sound like?
W. The Dutch W sounds a lot like the English and Danish V, but the sound is less dominant. Your front-teeth sort of have to tough your lip when pronouncing the sound. For a good explanation, have a look at this video explanation of the Dutch W. As for the Danish W? It doesn’t exist apart from in loan-words, and even in those cases, it’s mostly pronounced just like the V.
How to pronounce R in Dutch?
As a thrilled R, like in Spanish, Scottish and so on, as a guttural R from the back of your throat (like the infamous “French R”) or, in the end of words, as the English R.. (But don’t do that in the beginning of words!) In Danish, you have to get used to the “French R”. While the other two will obviously be understood, they just sound strange in Danish.
Which country separates Dutch and Danish landmass?
Interestingly, the country that separates the Dutch and Danish landmass, Germany might be one of the missing links between Danish and Dutch. Like Dutch, Danish also has a lot in common with the German language and this might bear witness of a linguistic progression that takes place over geographic distances.
What is the difference between Dutch and Danish?
Dutch people are from The Netherlands, while Danish people are from Denmark. Likewise, the people of Netherlands speak Dutch, while the people of Denmark speak Danish. To dig in deeper, Denmark is a Scandinavian country which is located between Sweden, Germany and Norway. On the other hand, The Netherlands is often referred to as Holland which is actually just a region within Netherlands. The two countries not only share the same letter languages, but they also share a lot of other similarities.
What countries speak Dutch?
Both Are Official Languages of Different Regions Where Dutch is the official language of The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, Danish is the official language of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
What alphabet is used in Danish?
Alphabet/Writing Script Danish uses Dano-Norwegian alphabet, while Dutch use their own alphabet which is the Dutch alphabet.
Which has more vowels, Dutch or Danish?
Vowels As mentioned above, Danish has more vowels than Dutch. Danish has 27, while Dutch has 16. This is one of the reasons why Danish is considered a much harder language to grasp. It has extraordinary prosody.
Do Danish people use the word "you"?
Addressing Others When it comes to addressing people, both take different approaches. Danish people rarely ever use the formal form of word ‘you’, even in business letters. They address people naturally by their first names. On the other hand, Dutch are the opposite. They are much more formal when it comes to addressing people and the use of the formal word ‘you’ is common in their language.
Do Europeans recognize each other?
For Europeans, it is very much easy to recognize one another, but it’s not the same for foreign people. So, first things first, what do these two countries share in common? Let’s find out below.
Is Danish more complex than Dutch?
On the other hand, Danish is spoken in many countries owing to the migration. It is spoken in Sweden, US, Argentina, Spain and many more. Notably, Danish is quite more complex than Dutch as it has a much more complex structure and word usage. It also has more vowels compared to related regions. It has 27 characteristic vowels compared to just 16 vowel combinations in Dutch language.
What language do Danish people speak?
Close to 1% of the Danish population are said to speak some form of Arabic. Another 1% speak Turkish and a little under 1% speak Polish. Finally each of the following languages are spoken by around 0.5% of the Danish population: Romanian, Bosniac, Iranian, Somali, Pashto, Vietnamese, Hindi, Lithuanian and Chinese.
Why do Danish people speak English?
Another reason is that Danes watch more and more American television and unlike many other European countries, the films and series are subtitled instead of being dubbed. This makes for a good level of English comprehension, but most Danes also have a reasonable level of spoken English.
What language do people in Denmark speak?
Denmark is a small country in Northern Europe with 5.5 million inhabitants. The people of Denmark speak Danish a Scandinavian language closely related to Norwegian and Swedish.
What are the languages spoken in Denmark?
Other languages spoken in Denmark. Besides the languages already mentioned, there are a number of foreign languages taught in Danish schools and colleges as well as languages spoken by various immigrant communities. While most students focus primarily on English, and to a degree, German, some do study French, Spanish or more exotic languages like ...
How many people speak Danish?
Denmark has a population of around 5.5 million, and while Greenland and the Faroe Islands also have significant percentages of Danish speakers, their total populations don’t exceed 100.000.
What is the language of Faroese?
Faroese, the language of the Far oese Islands. The Faroese Islands are to this day part of the Kingdom of Denmark. While you might find this odd, due to the fact that the Faroese speak their own language (Faroese) and that their country is far from Denmark and quite different, it does mean that there are around 23.000 people in Denmark who speak ...
Is Danish a language?
But Danish is even closer to Swedish and Norwegian, the languages of Denmark’s two neighbors. Denmark, Sweden and Noway have a long, shared history, which might be part of the reason ...
What is the official language of Denmark?
On the other hand, Danish, is the official language of Denmark, a Scandinavian country sandwiched between Norway, Sweden, and Germany. To add more confusion. the German name for the language spoken in Germany is “Deutsch”, which sounds almost the same as Dutch.
What are the similarities between German and English?
Being Germanic languages, all English, Dutch, and German present a lot of similarities grammar-wise. For example, verb tenses and conjugations tend to be fairly simple and have few exceptions. Nevertheless, there are a few essential differences. One of them is how articles are used in these languages. Dutch, like English and even Spanish, follows an article - noun order. “The school” becomes “de school” in Dutch, but in Danish it’s “skolen” (skole + n). The definite article is placed at the end as a suffix rather than as a stand-alone word before the noun it modifies.
What does Y mean in Dutch?
9. In Dutch, Y sounds like the “ay” par in English words such as “way” and “ pay”. In Danish, it is identical to the Dutch U, as mentioned above.
Is Dutch different from Danish?
Though often confused, Dutch and Danish are two completely different languages.
What is the official language of Denmark?
However, the answer is not some big surprise. The official language of Denmark, which is spoken by the majority, is called Danish . It has almost 5.6 million speakers in the world. Many countries have small Danish speaking communities like Canada, Sweden, and Spain. It is also the most spoken vernacular in Greenland after Greenlandic.
How many vowels are there in Danish?
Danish is known among linguists for having 27 vowels. It is in high contrast with English which only has five. Due to the different pronunciations of the vowels, many consider Danish a difficult tongue. This fact is seconded by those children in Denmark who take some time to learn their own tongue despite hearing it at home since birth. However, despite its difficulty level, the Danes are still proud to be associated with their language and would not have any other language define them.
Is Denmark a peaceful country?
The country also has peaceful and economically stable neighboring states like Sweden. If anyone tells you they want to move to Denmark, it shouldn’t come as a surprise because who wouldn’t want to? The place has it all from beautiful landscapes to high income jobs.
What is the Dutch language?
The Dutch language is also the official language of the Union of South American Nations, the European Union, and the Caribbean Community. The language is also used in academics, and more the 175 universities in more than 40 countries teach ...
Where do most people speak Dutch?
Netherlands . Most of the people who speak Dutch are from the Netherlands as it is the country’s only official language. The Netherlands has a population of about 16 million people all of whom speak Dutch as their first language.
How many countries speak Dutch?
The language has a large number of speakers and is used in six countries as well as four regional bodies as its official language. Dutch is similar to both English and German and shares some grammatical structures from the two languages. It is the third most spoken language in Europe after English and German languages.
How many people speak Afrikaans?
South Africa. An offshoot of Dutch, Afrikaans, is spoken in South Africa where it has approximately 7 million native speakers and around 10 million people who use as a second language.
Which country has Dutch as its official language?
Curacao. The small island nation of Curacao has Dutch as one of the three official languages where the language is spoken by the country’s population of about 180,000 people.
When was the Dutch sentence written?
The oldest identified Dutch sentence was written probably in the year 510 CE and was used to free from servitude a serf. The most famous old Dutch sentence, a line of poetry, was written by a Flemish monk who lived in England at the time and was dated to around 1100 CE.
What is the official language of Suriname?
Suriname. In the Republic of Suriname partly due to the country’s colonial heritage, Dutch is the official language. Suriname still maintains close ties with the Netherlands both culturally and economically.
Where is Dutch spoken?
So, The Netherlands is certainly not the only place where they speak Dutch!
Can you learn Dutch in the Netherlands?
Yes, of course! No need to doubt what language they speak in the Netherlands: Dutch is the official language of the Netherlands.
Is Dutch language difficult?
If you have decided to learn Dutch, the question soon arises: is it a difficult language or not? The answer depends on your personal situation. For example, it is a lot easier to learn Dutch if you already speak German or English. Those languages are quite similar to Dutch.
Dutch and Danish Two Germanic Languages from Northern Europe
Dutch vs Danish Alphabets and Pronunciation
- When it comes to the Dutch and Danish alphabet and how they’re pronounced you’ll notice some differences. Sure, they both use the Latin alphabet – but Danish has a couple of extra letters and each language has letters that are pronounced differently from one another but also from how they’re pronounced in English. In the following, I’ll have a look at the letters in the two alphabets t…
Grammar in Dutch and Danish. How Similar Are They?
- Germanic languages like English, Dutch and Danish share a lot grammar-wise, and generally, they’re grammatically simple languages. Conjugation and tenses are simple and easy and there are no cases like in Russian, Arabic or even German. There are a few differences, though. One such is the articles. Dutch, like English places the article before the noun. “The house” becomes “…
Dutch and Danish Vocabulary
- In terms of vocabulary, Dutch and Danish share many roots given that they’re both Germanic languages. Many of the same words have equivalents in English, but because of the vast number of French and Latin loan-words in English, Dutch seems to have more in common with Danish vocabulary wise. Interestingly, Dutch also has a very high amount of French loan-words, but not …
Comparison of A Text in Both Dutch and Danish
- Finally, to compare the two languages, it’s also interesting to look at their written form next to each other. But while there might be similarities that stand out in the written word, these aren’t necessarily as obvious when you hear the spoken language, so keep that in mind. In the following, I’m going to illustrate the difference between Danish and Dutch with an example of the first articl…
Conclusion – Danish vs Dutch – How Similar Are They Really?
- Danish and Dutch, despite their similar-sounding names and despite both being north-European languages belonging to flat, peaceful countries where people like to eat cured herring, is far frombeing the same language. There’s no doubt that the two languages share common roots, but there are as many differences as there are similarities, and a Dutch and a Danish person will not …
The People of Denmark Speak Danish
English Speakers in Denmark
- English is the one dominant foreign language that people speak in Denmark. Over 80% of Danes are said to speak English, and if you’re open to using hand gestures or less-than-perfect English with the remaining 20%, chances are that it’ll be possible. English is taught in Danish public schools from a low age, and this might be part of the reason. Another reason is that Danes watc…
Do Danes Speak German?
- Denmark shares its southern borders with Germany. That’s also why the two countries have historically had a very tight bond in terms of trade and culture. Denmark and Germany have also fought quite a few wars throughout the ages. This meant that the borders between the two countries have moved quite a few times the last 200 years or so, and for each time, an importan…
Faroese, The Language of The Faroese Islands
- The Faroese Islands are to this day part of the Kingdom of Denmark. While you might find this odd, due to the fact that the Faroese speak their own language (Faroese) and that their country is far from Denmark and quite different, it does mean that there are around 23.000 people in Denmark who speak the Faroese language. That’s less than 0.5% of the Danish population thoug…
Greenlandic, Or The Inuit Language
- Like the Faroese Islands, Greenland is also officially part of the Danish territory. Despite Greenland being the biggest island in the world, it isn’t very densely populated. In fact, only around 57.000 people live in Greenland. Add to that the around 16.000 Greenlanders (or Inuit people) who live in Denmark, and we have a little over 70.000 speakers in the Danish Kingdom. That’s something lik…
Other Languages Spoken in Denmark
- Besides the languages already mentioned, there are a number of foreign languages taught in Danish schools and colleges as well as languages spoken by various immigrant communities. While most students focus primarily on English, and to a degree, German, some do study French, Spanish, or more exotic languages like Chinese or Arabic. I wouldn’t say, however, that a signific…