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Lesson Transcript

Mies: Hello everyone! Welcome back to DutchPod101.com. I'm Mies, and this is All About lesson 14, Top 5 Mistakes Not to Make When Speaking Dutch.
Jacob: Hallo, ik heet Jacob.
Mies: In this lesson, you will learn five of the most common mistakes people make when learning Dutch.
Jacob: Let's cut to the chase… We'll give you the top five mistakes not to make, and then go into more detail a little later.
Mies: The top five mistakes you don't want to make are…
Jacob: Making plural with an “s” instead of “en”
Mies: Using the word “doe” in questions, or negatives.
Jacob : Mixing up articles indicating the gender of a noun
Mies: Pronouncing diphthongs incorrectly
Jacob: Pronouncing “sch” as “sk”
Mies: There's a lot of mixing up in Dutch, but don't be scared, we don't want you guys to get all gun-shy or anything.
Jacob: Of course not, these mistakes are not the biggest deal.
Mies: In this Lesson, we'll just give you a heads-up so you can be aware, and it will make things a lot easier for you to know these few tips.
Jacob: Mistake One - Making plural with an “s” instead of “en”
Mies: Lets see, “many trees”. Many would be “veel” and the word for “tree” is “boom”
Jacob: "Many trees « is said incorrectly as "Veel booms»
Mies: So this mistake probably arises from making the words plural in the same way as we do in English!
Jacob: Yes, in English most of the time we add an “s” to the word to make it plural. We sometimes do this in Dutch too, however most of the time the plural word will end on “en”
Mies: Everyone makes this mistake, no biggie.
Jacob: People still understand what you want to say.
Mies: So let's look at our example again.
Jacob: The correct way to say it is “Veel bomen”
Mies: So in English, that means, "many trees”
Jacob: Yes, "veel bomen."
Mies: So what does the wrong sample sound like?
Jacob: Here, we have to make trees plural. So the wrong way to say it is: “veel booms”
Mies: Okay I will try not to say that.
Jacob: Mistake Two - Using the word “doe” in questions or negatives.
Mies: Yeah in English we use the word “do” in questions. Do you like cheese? Do you speak Dutch? “To do” in Dutch is “ Doen.” but we don’t use it in questions or negatives.
Jacob: Yes! So a correct sentence would sound like this – "Drink jij bier?"
Mies: "Do you drink beer?
Jacob: Exactly. But when said incorrectly, "Doe drink jij bier?"
Mies: Haha, yeah that sounds a bit weird. So yeah with negatives it's the same.
Jacob: For example: “Hij spreekt geen Engels” , “ He doesn’t speak English”
Mies: So incorrect would be to add “doe” and say “Hij doe spreekt geen Engels”
Jacob: Okay lets look at; Mistake Three - Mixing up articles indicating the gender of a noun
Mies: Okay, moving on to “de” and “het”!
Jacob: A mistake even Dutch people often make actually, saying; “ We are going to the forest” “We gaan naar DE bos”,
Mies: It should be “HET bos”
Jacob: Indeed you are right. So the correct sentence would be:
Mies: “We gaan naar het bos”
Jacob: Mistake number four would be:
Mies: Diphthongs
Jacob: Yes, and for those of you who don't know what dipthongs are, you will definitely know them after studying Dutch.
Mies: Yeah, a diphthong is a pair of letters used to write one distinct sound.
Jacob: Yes, so they are ;oe, ou, ui and ie.
Mies: oe
This diphthong is correctly pronounced as the óo’ in the English word “book” but it is often mistaken as o-e.
Jacob: ou
This diphthong is correctly pronounced as the “ow” in the English word “now” but it is often mistaken as o-u
Mies: ui. There is no similar sound for this in English so to explain the sound we will have to use French as an example the Dutch sound for ui is like the French “eu” it is often mistaken as u-i
Jacob: ie
This digraph is correctly pronounced as ey, as in money, but it is often mistaken as i-e
Mies: Yes. And it's really common for people to get these mixed up.
Jacob: Yes, Dutch pronunciation can be quite different.
Mies: Yes, it can be quite funny to hear though.
Jacob: Yes! But just laugh it off, and try again!
Mies: Indeed. I stopped counting how many times I mistook the diphthongs, it's just too easy a mistake to make, and Dutch people are used to learners making this mistake.
Jacob: Mistake Five - Wrong pronunciation of “sch” as “sk”
Mies: Pronunciation can be the hardest thing with learning a language, and Dutch is no different.
Jacob: Yes, the Dutch language has many sounds English doesn't have, and vice-versa, so getting used to them is the best way of getting them down.
Mies: Talking to as many people as you can, and listening to everyday conversation, (e.g., radio, TV) is the best tools to get pronunciation right.
Jacob: Now, lets have a look at that “s-c-h” “sch”
Mies: Yeah that sound you definitely don’t hear in English.
Jacob: You have similar sounds in German and Arabic languages, but no, not in English.
Mies: So many people make the mistake by saying “sk” instead of “sch”
Jacob: Repeat after me, “school” “schijn”, “schelp”
Mies: Ha ha, “ School, schijn , schelp”
Jacob: Yeah you just have to listen and practise.
Mies: Sure. So the best way to get these down, is to get as much vocabulary as you possibly can fit into your head by reading and then listening to it in real life!
Jacob: Well said!
Mies: There was a lot of mixing today, and our mistake cake is finally baked! Remember, unlike cake, learning a language is good for you. And you should never give up. So there you go. Mistake free now…hopefully!
Jacob: Yes, those are the Top Five mistakes to avoid. That should get you on the right track!
Mies: That's all for this lesson. Thanks for listening!
Jacob: Dag!
Mies: Bye!

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