Dutch Difficulties with English Dialects

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Dutch Difficulties with English Dialects Knowledge of the Dutch language is not sufficient to be understood all over the world. Therefore, many Dutch people have taken the effort to acquire a level of near-native proficiency of the English language. However, there are several varieties of English, for example Irish and Scottish dialects. Nevertheless, the majority of the Dutch have learnt British English instead of Scottish, Irish. Why would this be the case? Although the Irish and Scottish dialects are closely related to the British English language, it remains more difficult for Dutch people to acquire this language. This can be explained by the fact that British tradition is more integrated in the Dutch culture, and RP is more often heard in the media than Scottish and Irish pronunciation. Also, the use of Scottish and Irish is diminishing, because an international pressure to create uniformity in the English language forces dialects to disappear gradually. Dutch learners have better opportunities to acquire British English instead of Scottish or Irish dialects. The British tradition is more integrated in the Dutch culture than Scottish. Of all the major modern Germanic languages, Dutch is the closest relative of English. The Dutch language contains many French loanwords, though not as many as the English. The German language contains less French loanwords than English or Dutch. For example, the word 'boulevard', a French word integrated in both Dutch and English language, is in German called a 'Prachtstraβe'. The word 'saint', a French loanword integrated in English, can be translated by 'sint' in Dutch, which is comparable to the English word. On the contrary, the German word for 'saint' is 'Heiliger', a word completely deviated from English language. This proves that English vocabulary is deeply enrooted in Dutch vocabulary. Many English words have been integrated in Dutch language so profoundly that nowadays, hardly anyone recognizes them as being ´English loanwords´. Some examples of words of English origines that have been integrated in Dutch language are: manager, computer, flat and ticket. There are no typically Scottish of

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