Amsterdam

[letterk]

Yes, Friesland is part of northern Holland. Some claim the frisian language is not really a dialect, but a language all of its own. I'm not a languist, so I can't comment more than yes, it's different. I've been arround a bit of both as one grandparent was Dutch and the other was Freis. My mother-in-law speaks both.

Click here for a brief history of the Frisian people.

You're right about farmers. My mother and mother-in-law both come from dairy families.

 

[letterk]

Just noticed that Famke Janssen is Frisian.

 

[SSLStudio]

Yes, Friesland is part of northern Holland. Some claim the frisian language is not really a dialect, but a language all of its own. I'm not a languist, so I can't comment more than yes, it's different. I've been arround a bit of both as one grandparent was Dutch and the other was Freis. My mother-in-law speaks both.

Click here for a brief history of the Frisian people.

You're right about farmers. My mother and mother-in-law both come from dairy families.

My mistake Fries ! is indeed a language on its own its so weird its too weird to be a dialect and too complex. for fun most of us in the Netherlands make fun of the Frisians saying Frisian aint no language its Lack of a language. very BAD! translation ! you can only understand the irony of it when you understand dutch. like somethings you just cant translate. but dont tell it to Germans they DUB everything they can get their hands on... !

 

[mrob]

My grandparents immigrated from Holland and my mother-in-law was born there.

Same here--we just found the records of my grandparents arriving at Ellis Island in the 1910s from Haarlem--pretty cool stuff: http://www.ellisisland.org/

 

[guenron]

Wow the outback of the Netherlands, atleast I call those area's that way.
My old neighbours who I lived next to for 12 years came from Leeuwarden .
They speak their own language which isnt DUTCH its some mix of old Germanic dialect or so ? I cant understand it, most dialect in the Netherlands you can understand but Leeuwarden stand on its own the language is called "Fries"
most other districts of the Netherlands each has their own dialect but most of them you can quite follow. its like someone from NY or someone from Texas you can hear where a person comes from but I can still follow someone from Texas..not so from Leeuwarden !
There is lots of space up north at these cities. Leeuwarden specially lots of farmers and chees making people over there..if you want really nice space go to Sweden.

Friesland is beautiful this time of year. I love the old houses there and the way the eaves are made to lure storks (allegedly brings good luck) into nesting.

 

[drP]

Holland??? Don't talk me about it...........phew.

Everywhere you're looking the place is flat, there are just too many people on this square mile, everybody allways thinks he knows better, most people have tons of butter on their heads and finally the sea climate is just a f.....disaster.

The only nice thing over here is a place in the southwest where you can make a pilgrimage to the HolyTemple of Badger Brushes (somewhere in a city 50 km from Rotterdam....)

Holland.............mwahhhh

dr P

 

[guenron]

Holland??? Don't talk me about it...........phew.

Everywhere you're looking the place is flat, there are just too many people on this square mile, everybody allways thinks he knows better, most people have tons of butter on their heads and finally the see climate is just a f.....disaster.

The only nice thing over here is a place in the southwest where you can make a pilgrimage to the HolyTemple of Badger Brushes (somewhere in a city 50 km from Rotterdam....)

Holland.............mwahhhh

dr P

And what's wrong with Gellderland?

 

[Ben]

Amsterdam is a little pricey, but it's an amazing place. My wife and I honeymooned there. I'll certainly do more traveling in the Netherlands and see more cities, but Amsterdam was great.

 

[SSLStudio]

Holland??? Don't talk me about it...........phew.

Everywhere you're looking the place is flat, there are just too many people on this square mile, everybody allways thinks he knows better, most people have tons of butter on their heads and finally the see climate is just a f.....disaster.

The only nice thing over here is a place in the southwest where you can make a pilgrimage to the HolyTemple of Badger Brushes (somewhere in a city 50 km from Rotterdam....)

Holland.............mwahhhh

dr P

You sound like a Belgium guy ? by any chance you are ?


but you are right on with the sea climate I wish we had the climtate of Hawai.

 

[LX_Emergency]

We've got much good stuff over here that I don't really mind the climate. It's mild enough for me to like. Not too hot not too cold...sometimes just a bit too...uhm..wet.

As for where I live, I live in the south of the Netherlands. In a small town called Oss not too far from either Eindhoven or s'Hertogenbosch. It's really nice out here urban enough to have everything but not as much that it feels like a big city. I bet Dr P IS from belgium....we seem to have some kind of Love/hate thing with the belgians. (as opposed to the germans whom some people have a hate/hate relationship with. I don't mind anyone. Some cultures just aren't for me. Just like the Dutch culture isn't for everyone. (right dr P?) but then again neither is the american culture...except for a visit every now and then, for me at least.)

 

[crackstar]

I've been to the Netherlands on a couple of occasions, and I really love Amsterdam. It's such a friendly, warm hearted city that really knows how to swing. One thing, you tell anyone over there that you're Canadian, they love it. I remember being in a restaurant once, and the owner was serving me, and when he asked me where I live, I said that I live in Canada, and he refused to let me pay! I think the people of Amsterdam are super cool. Wow, just about everyone there speaks English.

Jeff

 

[Stauff]

To illustrate the Dutch/Belgian relationships a little -Whenever I adress a dutchman in Dutch (which is my native language, since I'm Flemish) I always seem to get an answer in English. Happened to me three times in Amsterdam and another time last week on the train from Brussels to Antwerp and Amsterdam. Last time I had literally had to say: 'I do speak Dutch, you know', before this lady finally agreed to speak our common native language!
Very sad to see that some Dutch don't seem to consider the Flemish as speaking the same language anymore (there are some minor regional differences, something like Swedish and Norwegian, or even less).

Historically speaking,The Netherlands and Belgium (or at least Flanders) have for most of the time been one cultural region (The Low Countries). In the fifteenth century we were united under the dukes of Burgundy. At the end of the sixteenth century the original core of the revolt against the Spanish empire actually was Flanders and Brabant (only later it became Holland). Only Belgium was reconquered by the Spanish army in 1580-1585, and that's why the Netherlands became independent (in 1581) and kept calvinist religion.
Between 1815 and 1830 we were briefly reunited under the rule of Willem van Nassau I. In 1830 the Belgian Revolution took place and Belgium became independent. In the nineteenth century Belgium was completely dominated by a french speaking elite, dutch language was supressed and contacts between Flanders and Holland diminished. This is the reason why Brussels is a French-speaking city, while geographically it's actually located in Flanders.

I really think we Flemish have a lot more in common with the Dutch than with our French-speaking fellow Belgians. That doesn't mean we need a Flemish revolution, but I would very much like to see a further improvement of the Dutch-Flemish relationships. In a united Europe all Dutch speaking people should really stick together and make sure that the Dutch language is preserved. After all, there are 22 million Dutch speakers in the world (16 million in the Netherlands and 6 million in Flanders) I fear that many people in the Netherlands are all too willing to forsake their own language in favor of English. This surely accounts for my very unpleasant experiences in adressing dutchmen. As a result of the supression of Dutch in the nineteenth century we Flemish are in general much more concious of our own language.

Not that I mind writing in English on this forum, of course - on the contrary!

BTW: forget about Amsterdam -you really have to come visit Antwerp, Bruges and Gent!

 

[crackstar]

Frederik, your English is super, I mean it. I would imagine you speak French and German also? It also seems that the Dutch spoken in Flanders (vlaams) is slightly different than its counterpart spoken in the Netherlands?

Jeff

 

[Stauff]

Thanks a lot Jeff. Well yes, pronounciation is somewhat different and vocabulary differs also slightly. But people living in the South of the Netherlands (Limburg, Northern Brabant or Zeeland) have a lot of their language in common with the Flemish. It's mainly the inhabitants of the provinces of Holland that seem to have a hard time understanding our 'primitive' Vlaams/Dutch. In my hometown of Antwerp there are about 30,000 Dutchmen. They sure seem to be doing allright... (in part due to tax benefits under Belgian law )

So, since you live in Montreal: do you speak English or French at home? ('Jeff' sounds very Anglo-saxon to my ears).

 

[crackstar]

Frederik, my name Jeff is anglocized, because my real name is Yehudah. I was born in Ukraine, in a city that used to belong to Poland. I was raised in Israel, and in 1983, I came to live in Montreal, where I met my lovely wife. At home, we speak French mostly or Hebrew. My wife is Israeli, of Moroccan descent. Occasionally, we'll speak English also.

Jeff

 

[Stauff]

That's very interesting. Here in Antwerp we have a large Jewish community (about 35,000 people out of a total of half a million inhabitants). I've heard them speak mostly Jiddish, but also French, English and Hebrew. I even overheard conversations in several languages at the same time. Beautiful really. I also speak french and some german, but I wish I could speak several other languages.

 

[crackstar]

Frederik, I speak Yiddish, as well as German, Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, English, and Lingala, which is a language spoken in Congo-Kinshasa. My father-in-law has 2 cousins living in Bruxelles, and many years ago, my family had some members living in Antwerp.

Jeff

 

[guenron]

I've been to the Netherlands on a couple of occasions, and I really love Amsterdam. It's such a friendly, warm hearted city that really knows how to swing. One thing, you tell anyone over there that you're Canadian, they love it. I remember being in a restaurant once, and the owner was serving me, and when he asked me where I live, I said that I live in Canada, and he refused to let me pay! I think the people of Amsterdam are super cool. Wow, just about everyone there speaks English.
Jeff

Can't hold that against them!

 

[crackstar]

Ron!

Jeff

 

[ada8356]

Scotto,

I guess you missed my favorite part of Amsterdam: The Heineken Brewery Tour. I would recommend for most folks.

But otherwise, you are pretty dead on.

I have spent more time in and around The Hague and really enjoyed it there. In addition to being a nice city, they have the following two museums that I really enjoyed:

Mauritshuis - An excellent self-guided audio tour really made this place enjoyable. Works by Vermeer (including the wonder Girl with a Pearl Earring), Rembrandt, and Fabritius (sp?)

The also have an M. C. Escher museum there! Talk about a fun place!

There are also areas around The Hague that are fun to visit. (The beach area, and the town of Delft come to mind).