Dutch immigrants sometimes settled in places where Dutch people from other parts of the Netherlands came too. This doesn’t mean they could understand each other. Before the age of radio and television, there was no common Dutch language that everybody understood. Different regions had different dialects, different languages even.
Frisian and Low Saxon are completely different from Flemish, to name three examples. To this day, people speaking in their local language or dialect won’t be understood by people from other parts of the Netherlands. But everybody understands standard Dutch now.
If people from these different parts of the Netherlands settled in the same areas in the 1800s, they would have had trouble understanding each other. In many of these immigrant settlements, English became the common language.
NATO secretary-general Luns, 1979. Credits: Collection Nationaal Archief (CC-0)
About Yvette Hoitink
Do you know something about this man : Aaron Nathan Cohen January 4 , 1777 London -Aug. 10, 1862 (85) aged in Columbia Richland SC USA married Zippora & Rachel he is my Jewish relative.
Yours sincerely. Mr. Magnus Johansen – Gedaliah Ben Yohanan , the FAROE ISLANDS.
No; my specialty is Dutch research (Netherlands), not England or South Carolina. I recommend you contact someone specialized in those areas.
Yvette,
Your article “Dutch Immigrants may not have Understood Each Other” was something that I did not know. Moreover, it would be very helpful, if your readers knew the native languages that were in use in the various geographic areas of the Netherlands, Understanding this may help in understanding the peoples who formed the Netherlands,
Thanks, for all you do in educating your readers.
Best Wishes and Warm Regards,
Ed
Yvette,
Your article regarding the dialects of the Netherlands confirmed a question I had regarding my Dutch ancestors in Wisconsin. Have been told that men walked from Alto to Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, to ‘court’ their wives. Either the families knew each other from the Netherlands or ??, but how can I determine if Hoftiezer from Aalten or Dinxperlo understood Walhuizen from Voorst? or even someone from Dinxperlo understood someone from Aalten? The families left the Netherlands around 1847 to 1850. The Dutch my grandparents spoke probably could not be understood by current day Dutch speakers because it was the 1847 language. I know the written Dutch from 1847 was very difficult for a modern Dutch translator I hired here in the USA.
Yvette,
Thank you for all you do to educate and serve people! I read your newsletter every week.
In regard to your article on the Netherlands, I would be interested in learning more about the specific dialects of the Gelderland Province. As you may recall, my great great grandfather came from Ratum. I am thinking they would have spoken some form of a Low Saxon dialect.
Best Wishes,
Steve
I speak Afrikaans.. Which means I have a difficult time understanding (it takes a good while) certain Standard Dutch syllables and sentence structure. Some regional dutch accents and streekstaal – well no problem at all. I especially like the sound of Srinan/Caribbean/Indonesian Dutch.
Dutch speakers say I use archaic / regional words and expressions.
I did some research in South-African records two years ago and was able to read Afrikaans quite easily. It has retained some Dutch words that I recognize from older documents, but that have disappeared in Dutch. You can clearly see the common roots for the languages.
Wilhelmous Beekman from Netherlands was a GGGGGrandfather. Were Beekmans more German than Dutch? Sharon Beekman Hendren
I haven’t researched that family so I don’t know. Beekman is a Dutch name, but there are similar names in Germany.