Dunglish

2025-10-09T19:43:40Z

84.125.65.248: By who? English language nationalists? (I really doubt that exists) so adding citation needed tag.

{{short description|Errors common in Dutch English}}
{{distinguish|Danglish|Denglisch}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2011}}
'''Dunglish''' ([[portmanteau]] of ''Dutch'' and ''English''; in {{langx|nl|steenkolenengels}} {{IPA|nl|ˈsteːŋ.koː.lə(n)ˌɛ.ŋəls||audio=Nl-steenkolenengels.ogg}}, literally: "coal-English") is a popular term for an English spoken with a mixture of [[Dutch language|Dutch]]. It is often viewed pejoratively{{cn|date=October 2025}} due to certain typical mistakes that native Dutch speakers, particularly those from the Netherlands, make when speaking English.<ref name="adebola">{{Cite web |date=2023-04-25 |title=Steenkolen Engels {{!}} Unravel Magazine |url=https://unravellingmag.com/articles/steenkolen-engels/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |website=Unravel |language=en-US}}</ref> The term is first recorded in 1965, with other colloquial portmanteau words including ''Denglish'' (recorded from 1983), ''Dutchlish'' (1986), and ''Dinglish'' (2003).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lambert |first=James |date=2017 |title=A multitude of “lishes”: The nomenclature of hybridity |url=https://benjamins.com/catalog/eww.38.3.04lam |journal=English World-Wide |language=en |volume=38 |issue=3 |doi=10.1075/eww.38.3.04lam |issn=0172-8865|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

English instruction in the Netherlands and Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, begins at an early age and continues as a basic school subject thereafter, with a number of university courses and programs entirely in English.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ft.com/content/9566f2ea-6620-11e9-a79d-04f350474d62 |title=The best place to build a life in English? The Netherlands |last=Kuper |first=Simon |publisher=ft.com |date=2019-04-25 |accessdate=2019-07-08}}</ref> English-language films are usually [[Subtitles|subtitled]] rather than [[Dubbing|dubbed]]. This education and exposure results in a relatively high general competence in English, yet mistakes are made.

The Dutch word for the poorest form of Dunglish, ''steenkolenengels'' (''"Coal English"''), dates to about 1900 when Dutch port workers used a rudimentary form of English to communicate with the crews of English coal ships.<ref name="adebola" />

Errors occur mainly in [[pronunciation]], [[word order]], stress laid on the wrong syllables, and the meaning of words, so-called [[false friend]]s and [[false cognate]]s. Former Dutch ambassador and prime minister [[Dries van Agt]] supposedly once said "I can stand my little man" (translation of ''ik kan mijn mannetje staan'', a Dutch idiom meaning roughly "I can stand up for myself"). The former leader of the Dutch Liberal Party ([[People's Party for Freedom and Democracy|VVD]]), [[Frits Bolkestein]], repeatedly referred to economic prospects as "[[urolagnia|golden showers]]", unaware of the term's sexual connotation.<ref name="undutchables">{{cite book |title= The Undutchables |last1=White |first1=C. |last2=Boucke|first2=L. |location= Amsterdam |publisher= Nijgh and Van Ditmar |year= 2011 |isbn= 978-90-388-9432-4}}</ref>

==Incorrect meaning of words==
Errors often occur because of the [[false friend]] or [[false cognate]] possibility: words are incorrectly translated for understandable reasons. Examples are:
* Former prime minister [[Joop den Uyl]] once remarked that "''the Dutch are a nation of undertakers''". The Dutch verb ''ondernemen'' is literally the English ''to undertake'' (as ''onder'' is ''under'', and ''nemen'' is ''take''). The noun ''ondernemer'' is thus literally ''undertaker'' (which usually refers to a [[Funeral director|mortician]]); however, Uyl's intended English meaning was instead ''entrepreneur''.<ref name="undutchables" /> (Dutch uses the more specific ''begrafenisondernemer'' for a funeral director.)
* Former prime minister [[Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy]] had a meeting with [[Winston Churchill]] in London. Gerbrandy entered the room and shook Churchill's hand, saying: "Good-day!" Churchill responded: "This is the shortest meeting I have ever had". Gerbrandy had looked up the English translation of ''goedendag'', which in Dutch is often used as a formal [[salutation|greeting]], yet "good day" is most often used as [[valediction]] in Britain (as opposed to "good morning" or "good afternoon").
* Dutch ''actueel'' means "current" (whereas ''actual'' in English means "precise" or "genuine"). A Dutch person unfamiliar with the English word might therefore be confused if they were asked about the "actual time" an event or appointment is supposed to start, or might misuse the word themselves.
* The Dutch verb ''solliciteren'' means "apply for a job", while English ''solicit'' (and ''soliciting'' or ''solicited'') can refer to [[prostitute]]s approaching clients; this can lead to an embarrassing situation if a native Dutch speaker states, in an English language context that they are soliciting or would like to solicit.
* The word ''eventueel'' in Dutch means ''potentially'' and not ''eventually'', which is ''uiteindelijk'' in Dutch. This mistake caused a row between the Scottish and Belgian football associations when the Belgian football association invited delegates from various associations over for the "eventual qualification of the Belgian national football team" before the play-offs against Scotland started. While the Scottish federation accused the Belgians of sheer arrogance, the Belgian association had actually meant to hold the event after a "possible" qualification.<ref name="undutchables" />

==Word order==
[[File:Meetingpoint caves.png|thumb|Two typical Dutch mistakes in English – wrong order for [[noun adjunct]]s ("meeting point caves" instead of "Meeting point for caves" or "Cave meeting point") and compound nouns written as one word ("meetingpoint")]]
Some Dutch speakers may use Dutch syntax inappropriately when using English. These errors occur because English and Dutch do not apply exactly the same word order.

Modern English has a [[subject–verb–object]] word order, but this is shared only partially by Dutch, which has a [[V2 word order|verb-second]] order, causing the subject to follow the verb if another constituent already precedes it; e.g., ''Hij is daar'' ("He is there"), but ''Daar is hij''; literally "There is he" (idiomatically, "There he is").

Dutch also places [[perfect participle]]s towards the end of a clause while the [[auxiliary verb|auxiliary]] remains at the verb-second position, allowing for the two to be separated and for many other elements to stand in between; e.g. ''Ik '''heb''' dat gisteren [meteen na de lunch toen ik aankwam etc.] '''gedaan'''''; literally "I '''have''' that yesterday [immediately after the lunch when I arrived etc.] '''done'''".

When asking questions, Dutch speakers may mirror the [[Subject–auxiliary inversion#Inversion with other types of verb|subject-verb inversion]] of archaic English grammar (e.g. ''”What say you?”'', ''”What meanest thou?”'') rather than using [[do-support]] as is preferred in contemporary English (e.g. ''”What do you mean?”''). This is because Dutch does not use periphrastic do-support, which is a rare feature cross-linguistically, but instead inverts the subject and verb when asking questions (e.g. “''Heb jij een fiets?''”, literally “''have you a bicycle?''”), as is common in the Germanic language family.

In English [[noun adjunct]]s, such as ''Schiphol'' in the phrase 'Schiphol Meeting Point', the modifying noun comes before the other noun. In Dutch this is the reverse, giving rise to errors like "Meeting Point Schiphol".

==Compound nouns written as one word==
[[File:Compound noun error.jpg|thumb|Dutch compound noun error in English "boardingpass" instead of "boarding pass", as seen on [[KLM]] sign at [[Schiphol Airport]], 2013]]

In English, only certain compound nouns (such as "schoolteacher") can be written as one word, whereas in Dutch the default is to write compound nouns as a single word.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bruce Donaldson|title=Colloquial Dutch: A Complete Language Course|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_6oAawATeU4C&pg=PA171|date=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-68299-5|page=171}}</ref> This is witnessed in errors in English texts on signs – at [[Amsterdam Airport Schiphol|Schiphol Airport]] alone one can see signs for "meetingpoint", "boardingpass" and "traintickets". In some cases the English compound noun spelled as two words has been officially absorbed by the Dutch language as a single loanword – as is the case with ''[[:nl:creditcard|creditcard]]'' (credit card) and ''jetlag'' (jet lag).

==Verb conjugation==
English and Dutch are both [[West Germanic languages]], with many [[cognate]] verbs with identical or nearly identical meanings. This similarity between verbs may cause speakers of Dutch to conjugate English verbs according to [[Dutch grammar]].
* ''We kissen her.'' (Dutch ''kussen'' means and is cognate with English ''to kiss''. In Dutch grammar, verbs with plural subjects take a form identical to the infinitive, which in most cases has an ''en'' suffix.)
* ''What do you now?'' for ''What are you doing right now?'' (In Dutch, ''Wat doe je nu?'')
* ''How goes it now?'' for ''How are you doing now?'' (The phrase is used particularly after someone has had a bad spell. A similarly constructed phrase is found in Shakespeare (''[[Othello]]'', Act 4, Scene 3), carrying a slightly different meaning, which underlines the even closer similarities between English and Dutch historically.)

==Errors in pronunciation==
* Words like ''third'' and ''the'' are commonly mispronounced by Dutch speakers as ''turd'' and ''duh'' (cognate to Dutch ''de''), replacing the [[dental fricative]] consonants 'th' that are not present in Dutch with [[dental plosive]]s, the nearest equivalent.
* Most Dutch speakers have trouble distinguishing between ''bat'' and ''bad'', ''bet'' and ''bed'' or between ''back'', ''bag'', ''beck'' and ''beg''. This is because Dutch [[final-obstruent devoicing|devoices obstruents]] at the end of a word. Dutch also does not distinguish between {{IPA|[æ]}} and {{IPA|[ɛ]}}.
* Some pronounce the word ''idea'' (in Dutch: ''idee'') without the ending sound, making "Do you have an idea?" and "Do you have an ID?" sound the same.
* Most Dutch speakers do not [[Voice (phonetics)|voice]] the English ''v'' (that is, their [[vocal cords]] do not vibrate when they say it). In English, the [[labiodental fricative]] is "f" when unvoiced and "v" when voiced. In the modern Northern Standard Dialect of Dutch, [[Dutch phonology#Obstruents|"v" and "z" is often devoiced]]. This is particularly obvious when "v" or "z" begins a word. For example, many Dutch would pronounce ''video'' as /ˈfɪdiəʊ/, instead of /ˈvɪdiəʊ/, or ''van'' as /fæn/, instead of /væn/, and ''zee'' as ''see''.

==Other mistakes==
* Using ''"greetings"'' to close a letter. Caused by the literal translation of the Dutch closing phrase ''"(met vriendelijke) groeten"''. In English, a [[greeting]] typically refers to the beginning of any type of exchange.
* Using the [[possessive]] form without a [[possessive determiner|determiner]]. For example, ''"the Lamborghini of Patrick"'' instead of ''"Patrick's Lamborghini"'', or ''"the computer of her"'' instead of ''"her computer"''.
* Using [[apostrophe#Greengrocers' apostrophe|apostrophe]]s to indicate [[plural]] nouns: ''"car's"'' instead of ''"cars"''.

==Use in media==
* A 2009 Dutch TV ad by the [[Eneco]] utility, promoting [[wind energy]], poked fun at the [[Dutch people]]'s tendency to speak Dunglish.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EjyS6PP-Ro |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/0EjyS6PP-Ro| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live |title=Eneco commercial - 'From the wind, we can not live' |publisher=Youtube.com |date=2009-11-11 |accessdate=2013-12-10}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
* ''Make that the cat wise'', originally started as a [[Facebook]] group poking fun at bad English translations by mock translating Dutch [[saying]]s, deliberately sticking to Dutch word order and use words that are [[homonym]]s in Dutch but not in English, thus creating English sentences that make no sense to native English speakers. The title "Make that the cat wise" is a mock translation of the Dutch saying "''Maak dat de kat wijs''" (try to convince the cat, i.e. don't try to fool me).<ref>{{cite book |author=Jacob & Haver |title=Make that the cat wise: stonecoalenenglish like you've never seen before |publisher=BBNC |date=2013-09-24 |isbn=978-9045314990 }}</ref> The publisher also sells calendars and agendas with this theme.

==Literature==
Dutch author Maarten H. Rijkens has written two books on the subject for Dutch readers: ''I always get my sin'' and ''We always get our sin too''.<ref>{{cite book|first=Maarten H. |last=Rijkens |title=I always get my sin |date=2006-01-01 |isbn=9045305615 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Non-native pronunciations of English]]
* [[South African English]]
* [[Danglish]]
* [[Denglisch]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Interlanguage varieties}}
{{English dialects by continent}}

[[Category:Dutch language]]
[[Category:Macaronic forms of English]]

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Dunglish