Middle Dutch: Languages of the World: Introductory Overviews

[Jeudi1996]

I am Dutch and this text is hard!!!

[jaspertjie]

Where are you from, if I may ask? You say you grew up knowing only English, though you have a slight Finnish accent.

[ProductofWit]

Flemish is just Dutch, unless you means 'real Flemish' spoken in West and East Flanders provinces.

[michi3dayo]

you don't have to make such a hard G :) ,it sound kinda you pushing yourself to pronounce it

and this is old Dutch right?

if I am not mistaken,they used a German G,specially the rich people .-. they wanted to be elegant and such XD well they did this in the time when there were knights and princesses .I may be mistaken what your talkin about (if so sorry).

and one tip,you need to master your accent a little (no offence,I'm only try to give advice

[Lottolearnstrings]

For some reason I could understand much easily this language than Old and middle english, and old high german. That's curious, because I am Argentinian, and speak Spanish, Enlgish and German.

[Plastrio]

Dietsche :)

[LeninKGB]

I thrive on learning foreign languages,there is a profound saying that goes-each language you master doubles your human value,i believe all of us should continually improve ourselves in many ways!

[plafondverlichting]

precies di rupo

[nikkiamarantha]

heyhey

i am from holland and i do understand you, you need to calm down on the G though, like you say it in bescreven when you explain the words is perfect :D if you do that, and the oe sound ( already geven as feedback) it will be great and very easy to understand

groeten

[benblij]

it's funny when english people try to pronounce the g

[benblij]

it's funny when english people try to pronounce the G

[cedricvd]

Wow this does sounds verrry Hollandic and not West-Flemish at all. West-Flemish is probably the Dutch dialect that has stayed the closest to its middle dutch roots, it sounds MUCH softer than what is used here. The "h" is barely pronounced and the "g" is pronounced like a "h" , not like "GHGRGHH" Most other sounds sound way off as well

Then again, I can't blame you since it's impossible to have the correct pronounciation for that many languages of course! It's still very impressive

[ATouchOfMagic88]

@cedricvd well it does not sound like holland dutch, that being said weirdly enough i do understand alot of the written words..it just looks like they made a spelling mistake..

[Louieinoz]

when are you going to do some romance languages? i'd like to see an approach to latin itself

[tom53332]

you have a very strong german accent, and you emphasize the 'g' sound waaaayyy too much. don't make it sound like clearing your throat, but more like a howling wind kind of sound. I think it's great you have an interest in dutch, more people should:D

[WackoX1337]

Even the Dutch cannot fully read this ''old'' Dutch, i am struggling over about 40% of the words.

[tom53332]

@WackoX1337 echt? je moet er niet te veel bij nadenken, gewoon lezen dan moet het meeste wel lukken, modern nederlands is qua klank niet veel anders, alleen de notatie is veranderd. zoals maecte, is gewoon maakte in moder nederlands, klinkt verder hetzelfde.

[ATouchOfMagic88]

@WackoX1337 hmm ik kan meer dan de helft gewoon lezen hoor ziet er gewoon uit alsof ze de letters in de verkeerde volgorde hebben gezet.

[HojoOSanagi]

I speak East-Low German (Prussian) and can understand almost all of this; although, like English with influences from different linguistic families [Mine has a bit of Slavic (Russian) and Baltic (Old Prussian)], made it a somewhat difficult to initially make out a few words.

[jelleverest]

thats simply readable for dutch people...

its easy!

[Fiamorso]

First it said that this text is in the "West Flemish" variant of Middle Dutch. But the pronunciation is too close to the Holland variant. The consonants are pronounced much too hard. West flemish consonants are very soft. Also the vowels should be more closed.

[MegaRense]

This is wrong. You pronounce it scandinavian and way too guttural.

[cedricvd]

While it's true that we can't know for sure how middle dutch was pronounced, I think that the accent should be a lot more "flemish" and therefore a lot LESS gutteral than the way it is pronounced here. (Also more K sounds in the "g" or "sch" scone --> "skoone" like Afrikaans or current West-Flemish

As a native West-Flemish speaker this text still looks very familiar and easy to understand for me.

(This is constructive criticism of course! It's amazing how many languages you pronounce)

[XlinkK280]

It really sounds like the south african language.

[dendeze7]

@XlinkK280 that's because the Dutch colonials introduced this language in South Africa.

[kerstmanneke82]

I am a native West-Flemish speaker, if you wish me to read a known story, just tell me. And supply the english text, I'll try to translate it as well as I can.

[kerstmanneke82]

I am a native west-flemish speaker. I think that Middle Dutch should be sounding much more like west-flemish than the 'proper dutch' you seem to speak (very well).

[kerstmanneke82]

You should try West-Flemish. It is the language that is still the most akin to middle dutch, and a pleasure to hear, even when it is in decline...

look for "jongne genoamd an", west-flemish version of Johnny Cash's "boy named sue"

[Xbox360Rulesz]

maybe, but as a dutch person i don't hear much comparison...

[XxVECT0RxX]

I am Dutch and I find it soooo weird lol

[Benimation]

You should really check out Limbourgish, Limbourgish is a Dutch dialect. It's spoken in Limbourg.

It's a mix between Dutch and German. and sometimes it looks a little like Flemish (but not often).

[Thefireinbabylon]

The dialect also contains a lot of French elements. I do not know if there has been a celtic influence, but I know that the Limburg word for shoes (shoon) is exactly the same in the celtic Scottish language.

[Xbox360Rulesz]

haha, i just discovered a relationship betw the English letter W and old dutch, it probably came from old dutch (before the 12th century) where the dutch letter W was uu (2xu) so dubble U

could anyone tell me if i'm right?

[Mathijs01]

You shouldn't use that glutteral sound when saying 'g' , it was and still is non-existent in the west-flemish dialect.

School (english) pronounciation is the same as 'schoole' west-flemish pronounciation.

Other dialects of West-flemish developed a very soft 'sh' sound, as in 'short'.

[zapspace]

There is NO separate "Flemish" language!

[kittyminty]

well... west-flemish was almost considered as a different language. It has a lot of different words then the dutch words. It even has some grammatical differences and is also one of the most difficult dialects to understand for even the "flemish" speaking.

there is indeed no official flemish language, but a lot of people in belgium prefer to call their dutch flemish, because of those small differences and ofcourse the big difference in pronunciation.

[egerboonstra]

I must say you know alot about these languages. I am dutch myself and have had a lot of lessons on medieval litterature. And still I couldn't really translate the text as you could.

[Aeschylus]

"Introduction to Middle Dutch" by Colette M. van Kerckvoorde (ISBN3110135353)

[Aeschylus]

There's an English-language Introduction to Middle Dutch, if anyone's interested, by Colette M. van Kerckvoorde (ISBN3110135353).

[MacHendrik]

Nice videos, I like your pronunciation of these old languages!

But I feel like you pronounce the G a bit too loud, besides in the south of Holland the folks doesn't speak out this 'crispy' kind of G at all, they make it much smoother.

(but i don't know how it was in the middelages of course)

[blackdeanevo]

Hebban olla uogala nestas hagunnan hinase hi(c) (a)nda thu uuat unbidan uue nu?

[fluffytom82]

the "ae" should be pronounced as "aah", not "ä" as in the movie; an e after a vowel was used to make it longer

[klingklareonzin]

you say it like it's some scandinavian language

[Metaldude1945]

Flemish sounds more like German than Northern Dutch spoken in the Netherlands. You should use a soft "g" like the "ch" in German "ich".

[WiiIPTV]

@ Metaldude1945

Is This Then A Dialect?

I'm Really Confused With Different Dialects 'N' The Pronunciation For Each Region...

I Used Wikipedia And I'm More Confused Now.

Any Pointers To Clear This Doubts?

[OhReallyNoWai]

Germans also pronounce the G and CH as the 'harde G' when it comes after an 'a'. The G is also pronounced as in 'go' in some cases.

[IpsaPaphum]

'wijsheit' in Middle Dutch was pronounced 'weess-hate' (English spelling). 'ij' was a long vowel, not a diphthong like in Modern Dutch.

[egerboonstra]

like in beatrijs (pronounced as bay-ah-treece)

[ebia07]

It's not that hard to read as a native Dutchman. Funny to see that there aren't any words with the letter K in them. Almost al C's in this text are now written with a K. Coninc evolved in Koninck and now is written as Koning. Ic became Ik. Maecte is maakte. Bouc is written as boek. The changes still goes on today, not long ago electronics was spelled as electronica, but now officially is written as elektronica (how long will it take to evolve in to elektronika?)

[arjantjeee]

hes pronouncing this with an realy english pronouncation

[tristan01101]

My language is Dutch. I never knew they were so different!

[lepetitcahier]

line 11: "also" = "al so". "al" is just an interjection, "so" means 'in that way'

line 12: "sire" = "si re" or actually "si er" with metathesis (r switches position with e). Modern Dutch would be "zij er". Sire therefore means "they there" (the angels). The "re" or "er" is to be considered a unity with "in".

Dat sire doghet in moeten marcken = Sothat they (the angels) there-in (in that) have to see virtue.

omg I'm such a freak

[mauritanie86]

no u r nt

[Marozw]

I am speaking Dutch with an Platt-accent (Platt or Nieder-Deutsch isn't only spoken in the northern parts of Germany!). I would pronounce this middle-Dutch different from this example. But I would pronounce Old English differently than him either.

[netram2000]

Could you tell me/us more about that Platt-accent? Did you speak Plattdeutsch before learning Dutch or is it a common accent in the Netherlands? I'm astonished because I would have guessed that Frisian langueage would be more influential (accent-wise) than Platt.

[arjantjeee]

i speak platt-dutch to! (twents)

actually low german and low ducth is the same language... once i was in germany and met an old woman who started to talk to me, i though she was dutch and we had an whole conversation, later my mother told me she was talking german to me but then in plattduutsch. i realy had to laugh because we probably had an whole conversation in twents and plattduutsch without knowing xD i think thats cool :)

[fluffytom82]

I had the same thing some years ago! Going to Ostfriesland in Germany, I was able to communicate with them in dialect without any problem to understand each other, while I didn't sopke a word of German at the time...

[dnbwhynot]

I am flemish so I do have a different pronounciation then people form the Netherlands, but I think he needs to work on his pronounciation a bit.

AE is just the same as AA, which doesn't sound like the english 'a' from make (EE). Its a longer sound. Seriously I wouldn't know it is Middle Dutch if I hear it. It just sounds strange. Maybe because its a Flemish text and you pronounce it like Hollandic dutch. G doesn't sound like Grr, not in Flanders it doesn't

[guykeeeeee]

In limburg ook niet:D

[FreyaSomething]

Not in Gelderland either, or Noord-Brabant, or Limburg...........and tell me you mean the provinces of Holland and don't use it to address my entire country ;)

[Kaspersma]

@dnbwhynot

Klopt, zo spreken we het nu, heden ten dage uit.

Maar dit was een tekst van een aantal eeuwen geleden. Dus dan is het onmogelijk om aan te tonen of hij het wel of niet goed uitspreekt, toch? :)

[Kaspersma]

@dnbwhynot

Klopt, zo spreken we het nu, heden ten dage uit.

Maar dit was een tekst van een aantal eeuwen geleden. Dus dan is het onmogelijk om aan te tonen of hij het wel of niet goed uitspreekt, toch? :)

[teundilles]

@dnbwhynot We do not know for sure how Middle Dutch was pronounced. If you compare texts from that age, the differences between the dialects in the low countries seem to be less than the differences between the existing dialects.

[emilionl]

@dnbwhynot

no his pronounciation sounds more like afrikaans, overstressing the G sounds.

[emilionl]

@dnbwhynot

no his pronounciation sounds more like afrikaans, overstressing the G sounds.

[emilionl]

@dnbwhynot

No his pronounciation sounds more like afrikaans, overstressing the G sounds.

[emilionl]

@dnbwhynot

No his pronunciation sounds more like Afrikaans, over-stressing the G sounds.

[GhareebaFiDunya]

@dnbwhynot

Yes I do agree with you. But I think he does it pretty well for a native English speaker. I mean, let's admit it, we as, native Flemish speakers might have more trouble reading this than he does it in the video. A humble advice to ProfASAR, pronounce the G softer and you'll hear it gives another sound to the text.

[Minurath]

So easy to understand if you have a West-Flemish background. ^^

[hermangu]

I can hear some words similar to present day Afrikaans words.

[sharklux]

This sounds like a perfect Scots accent...!! :-) YOu should do one on Scots too!!!

[Memphiso]

Hey there! I really like your vids! But may I give a tip to you? Try to pronounce the 'oe' as in English 'oo' as in book in stead of pronouncing them in 2 seperate letters. But really, your pronouncement is quite good!!

[smithereens64]

Thank you so much. I am going to study Dutch culture and language next year and have to read the whole book of Walewein. Your video made me understand how beauitful the prologue is (which was first a lot of nonsense for me).

Thank you!

[Breiniak]

Dutch dialects are often unintelligible to each other, very still to this day. Good thing we now have Standaardnederlands.

[gangstervural]

@Breiniak abn?

[Olekander]

@Breiniak How is that a good thing? Language diversity is simply amazing. 

[Breiniak]

I had to study this in High School. "Van den Vos Reinaerde" is my favourite piece of medieval literature, but HARD to understand (even with footnotes).

[BAD333HERO]

really? i could read it no prob..

[Breiniak]

Ik zou dan beter mijn best moeten doen. ^^

[Breiniak]

Very still, de "Roman van Walewyn" is significantly easy for me. No prob? You from Noord-Brabant or so? :p

[BusterDobermann]

ik kan het prima lezen wat er staat...

[anne241163]

BusterDobermann

What you wrote in Norwegian : Jeg kan lett (light/easy) lese hva det står (I can easily read what it says.

[yCherkashin]

Oh. My.

Dude, you're amazing.

I can read technical documentation in any European language by just guessing the non-English words (I have Russian, Ukrainian and Hebrew to help me), but not much else. When you started translating this word by word the whole cryptic page just fell apart right in front of my eyes, into sensible little parts, making perfect sense. Damn.

This was like magic. Or more like seeing the inner workings of a magic trick, how everything is put together to make an illusion...

[S0NYSUX]

Will you be doing any Latin languages?

[cockroach2]

When will we be studying Yiddish?

[Breiniak]

Good question. Yiddish is very hard to read though, but I'm interested in it as well.

[cockroach2]

When will we study Yiddish?

[Kurdlov]

How long have you studied Linguistics ?

I really want to become a polyglot. Where you born knowing some of them or did you honestly learn how to translate all of those middle age versions through learning the languages themselves ?

[ProfASAr]

I grew up knowing only English, studied language-based interdisciplinary humanities for 12 years in college and graduate school, and for the past 14 years polyglottery has been the main focus of my life.

I have always loved medieval literature. If you get an overview of the structure of such a language and use bilingual texts intelligently for a number of years, you can then dispense with them.

You, too, can become a polyglot if you work long, hard, intelligently, and systematically at it.

[Kurdlov]

well, I've taken Spanish is school which is where I learned my ear and interest for languages.

I've studied a little bit of German but have made my way into Russian, which I'm getting good at.

How many languages do you have communicating knowledge of ?

[QKlilx]

Kurdlov you might be interested in taking a look at the Professor's website, linked to in the video description. He has the answer to your question there, along with answers to many other possible questions.