(Screenshot of a social media post, user posting an image of Jar Jar Binks with a speech bubble for the post replied to. Post is from a Dutch politician stating "We hebben een serieus probleem met de politieke ontwikkelingen mbt de dwangwet en ik hoop dat dat de komende dagen kan worden opgelost. ")

Also, who can forget this favorite

(Screenshot of a translator app.
English: spank me daddy.
Dutch: geef me een klap papa)

  • InFerNo@lemmy.mlEnglish
    5·
    7 days ago

    I was told dutch is one of the hardest languages to learn. Lots of meaningless words are often used to pad a sentence which in essence can be left out.

    Zou het misschien een beetje mogelijk zijn om iets te doen?

    Zou het mogelijk zijn om iets te doen?

    Same thing

    Was made aware of this by a dutch teacher and never looked the same at how we construct sentences. The words are added for a perceived kindness, but confuse non native speakers.

    • rumschlumpel@feddit.orgEnglish
      2·
      6 days ago

      Seems like bullshit. If they don’t have much meaning, you can essentially ignore them. No way that’s harder than learning Chinese or most other non-European languages for native English speakers.

      • tb_@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        4 days ago

        I have heard before that, regardless of pronunciation, not using such pointless words really makes a foreign speaker stand out.
        Yeah, you can convey yourself just fine, but it is noticeable.

        • rumschlumpel@feddit.orgEnglish
          1·
          4 days ago

          Most foreign speakers stand out regardless, it’s extremely difficult to speak a foreign language so well that native speakers won’t notice.

          • tb_@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            4 days ago

            Oh, no. Certainly. It’s just interesting to me that it’s those “inefficiencies” which make the language sound so much more natural, regardless of accent/pronunciation.

      • InFerNo@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        6 days ago

        How do you know as a non native speaker which are meaningless in the context? Individually they have meaning, and they add subtle nuance to a sentence, but ultimately, for the message it tries to convey they are just padding.

        Most of the students are not native English, I didn’t mention English specifically, just generally.

        I think this is a good resource for information on the difficulty https://www.onlinedutchforexpats.nl/post/dutch-the-toughest-language-to-learn-really