LEARNING DUTCH - JANUARY 18, 2010

My closing post for last week was a selection of cites from comments underneath a newspaper article, chosen to illustrate the colour of the Dutch language and the thought-patterns of the people who speak it.

I had not intended to post a follow-up so soon, but the comments underneath an article in today's edition of De Telegraaf (one of Holland's major dailies) presented such a juicy slice of Dutchness that I could not resist.

So, here are several more phrases in Dutch, with translation and annotation.
It is hoped that this will aid the student in learning the expressive tongue of Brederode and Vondel, and conversing with the people who speak it. Good luck!

[Previously I mentioned the poet Gerbrand Adriaanszn Brederode in some detail here:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2005/10/vicious-dutch-verses-gerbrand.html
Providing there an interlinear paraphrasis of one of his poems.
Joost van den Vondel is mentioned here:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2006/05/konstantijntje.html
I did not translate the cited poem, but gave instead a short descriptus and commentary.]



BILL CLINTON IN HAITI

The article underneath which these comments were posted is here:
http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/5819887/__Bill_Clinton_in_Hati_aangekomen__.html?p=4,1

It is about former president Bill Clinton arriving in Haiti on behalf of the United Nations and president Obama, and as co-founder of a charitable fund to benefit the victims of last week's disaster. It is customary to enlist the aid of prominent people, especially ex-presidents, in worthwhile causes and to raise capital for disaster-relief - Obama drafted both former president Bush and former president Clinton, showing that United States aid to Haiti is a non-partisan issue.



DUTCH SENTENCES, DUTCH THOUGHTS

Here is what the Dutch have to say about Clinton's visit to Haiti.

"Met dit soort ramptoerisme schiet Haiti helemaal niets op. Clinton is daar enkel om de firma Clinton te promoten."
Translation: 'With this kind of disaster-tourism Haiti does not benefit at all. Clinton is there merely to promote the enterprise of Clinton.'

Commentary: There is an entrenched view that America and Americans ONLY do what is profitable, like when we treacherously fought the Germans and Japanese, deviously created the Marshall Plan to enslave Western Europe as a captive market for our second-rate goods, and then, entirely for our own mercantile benefit, prevented the Dutch from rebuilding both their economy and their international status by exploiting the wealth and natives of the Dutch East-Indies after the war.
Many Dutch have never forgiven us for any of that - deservedly so.


"En weer een bobo die in de weg loopt."
Translation: 'And again a baboon who is in the way.'

Commentary: Bobo is a slang-term for baboon ('baviaan' in standard Dutch, but 'bobbejaan' in South-African Dutch).
In South-African Dutch ('Afrikaans') it is a traditional appellation for great men from a different cultural group - Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, to name just three notable examples.
The Dutch are also very familiar with such African leaders as Moamer El Qaddafi of Libya, King Hassan of Morocco, and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak - but, as those gentlemen are Arabs, a different sobriquet applies: geite-neuker ('goat-afficionado').
The Dutch tend towards a casualness of reference regarding famous people; it is one of their more charming characteristics.

BOBO: CORRECTION JANUARY 19, 2010:
An anonymous commenter provided a link that clarified the derivation of BOBO = 'Bourgeois Bohemian', from French. Applies to on the one hand the sportsworld bosses, on the other hand more commonly to the new ruling classes, whose ideologie and actions are often opposites - voting right and thinking left, or the other way around. Life-style whores. Probably very similar to the ultra-middleclass leftwingers in the Bay Area, CodePink and such.
SOURCE: http://lvb.net/item/3148 via Anonymous at 10:49 PM.


"William Jefferson Rockefeller Clinton is hier om geld op te halen."
Translation: 'William Jefferson Rockefeller Clinton is here to pick up money.'

Commentary: Common among many natives of the Netherlands is a belief that American notables are all somehow related, either by blood or by secret-society affiliation - organizations such as the Freemasons, the Bilderburgers, and the Club of Rome, as well as Skull and Bones, The International Order Of The Friendly Sons Of The Raccoon, and The Rockefeller Foundation, are all thought to be the nearest thing that Americans have to either organizational structure or common ideological background.


"Gauw een stichting in het leven roepen om ook maar zijn zakken te vullen dan houd rockefeller foundation in de schaduw want we weten allemaal dat de totale markt van de wereld van Rockefeller and zijn inmens grote family is ook Bill Clinton, helaas. "
Translation: 'Quickly creating a foundation to also fill his pockets (which) will keep the rockefeller foundation in the shadows we all know that the total market of the world belongs to Rockefeller and his immensely large family also Bill Clinton, alas.'

Commentary: The Dutch are a realistic bunch, due largely to their history of oppression in South-East Asia (Batavia was known as 'the graveyard of the East', because of the large number of Dutch who died there over the centuries) and world-wide apathy about their achievements. This has made them fearful of other peoples, and skeptical of the contributions of high-profile non-Dutch; most particularly the English-speaking world.
By the way, the run-on sentence cited above is a good example of stream of consciousness, quite common conversationally among them (along with its frequent companion, Tourette's Syndrome).


"Ik neem aan dat Uncle Bill zijn reis- en verblijfkosten riant vergoed krijgt.....uit onze bijdrage aan de hulpverlening aldaar!"
Translation: 'I assume that Uncle Bill gets his travel and stay generously recompensed...... from our contributions to the disaster relief there!'

Commentary: Generosity from the sober Dutch towards Haiti disaster relief, as of this writing, already exceeds SIX MILLION Euros (the government has pledged to match the amount).
This munificence obliges them to be overmuch concerned with expenditure.


"Gelukkig Bill is er nu hoeven ze zich daar nergens meer druk over te maken."
Translation: 'Luckily Bill is there now they don't have to worry about anything anymore.'

Commentary: Both this sentence and the following example are splendid examples of the Dutch talent for SARCASM, than which there is no better venue for eloquence.


"Nou, het is zover. De hemel is geopend. De almachtige Clinton is daar. Haiti is gered."
Translation: 'Well, it's finally happened. Heaven has opened up. The almighty Clinton has arrived. Haiti is saved.'

Commentary: This writer has a brevity of expression. That is almost Hemmingway-esque in its complexity. Using short single-concept sentences. Of which there are four.

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NOTES

Enkel = Only. Singular. One of.

In de weg = In the way. Note that 'weg' commonly also means road, as it used to in English.

Geld op te halen = To pick up money. To collect protection or extortion payments.
Geld: money, value. Op: up. Te: to, too. Halen: to haul, to get, to bring, to carry.

In het leven roepen = Calling something into life. To cause something to be, to create a thing.

Onze bijdrage aan de hulpverlening aldaar = Our contribution to providing aid and assistance in that place.
Onze: our. Bijdrage: literally, 'by-carry', 'carry by'. To add, to contribute. Aan: On, to. De: the. Hulpverlening: Help-lending - a similar English expression is 'to lend a hand'. Aldaar: emphatic mode of 'there'.


Note that the definite article 'de' is cognate with English 'the'. The other definite article in Dutch is 'het', cognatic with 'it'. All nouns are either 'de' nouns or 'het' nouns - the simplest rule of thumb about the use of the Dutch definite article is that 'de' is never singular-diminutive, 'het' is never plural. For example: het huis (the house), het huisje (the little house), de huizen (the houses), de huisjes (the little houses).

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AFTERTHOUGHT

I sincerely hope that you enjoyed reading these pieces about the Dutch language as much as I enjoyed writing them. And I wish that, in some small way, this contributes toward a greater understanding of the Netherlands and its fascinating culture.
There will be many more such Dutch linguistics posts - Dutch internet texts are a bottomless pit of inspiration.
Please let me know what you think of both this and the previous piece, and how I can improve the series.
Your comments will be appreciated.