Dutch / Flemish basics

[Dave Davenport]

Off for a tour of Flanders in August: Between me and mrs d we can just about get by (to varying degrees and often drawing on the art of mime) in French, German, Spanish and Italian, but neither of us has a clue when it comes to Dutch/Flemish (am I right in thinking they're the same?).

Can anyone give me or point me towards a simple source of basics such as greetings / where is the nearest campsite / bicycle shop / numbers etc.

I know most people, especially in the urban areas will probably speak better English than me, but I prefer to at least make a token effort if I can.

 

[Roadkill]

We rode the Tour of Flanders earlier this year and I found that there were fewer English speakers in Belgium than we'd found in the Netherlands.

We're off to the Netherlands in a couple of weeks and I found a great phrase book for the Kindle for next to nothing. As well as that we've got a crib sheet of sentences courtesy of Google translate.

Flanders is wonderful - easily the most cycle friendly place I've ridden.

If you get the chance you should seek out some of the cobbled climbs.... the most pain I've ever felt on a bike!

 

[SavageHoutkop]

I have a bastardised form of Dutch as my second language, which we tried out when we were hopping around Europe last year. Most people reverted to English
Flemish and Dutch are similar but we found Flemish easier (to us) - the accents are different. In Belgium we did have a lady compliment our accent though...

You'll probably need the phonetic spelling of things though as the sounds are different to what you're used to - most similar to German perhaps out of those options!

 

[Bodhbh]

Whenever I've been in either holland or flemish belgium, I tried at first, but really almost everyone speaks such good english and will revert to it immediately. At least they did when they heard my one or two words of bad dutch, maybe you'll have better results.

I'm having fun with the Michael Thomas German course atm (teaches you how to build up sentences from the gitgo and how to 'borrow' english vocabulary, no writing, just follow the exercises on the CD). The Dutch introductory course is probably worth a go, maybe backed up with a decent phrase book.

 

[Roadkill]

Michel Thomas is great - The way he throws you straight in to 'grown up' words gave us a lot more confidence with our French.

 

[Brommyboy]

In my experience, to use French in Flanders is to get nowhere - they are anti-French! Most outside the towns do not understand English. 'Waar is de kamperingplek'? is to ask for the campsite, 'kos' is food. The pronunciation is not as in English! When following a cycle route 'doorgang verkeer' means continue straight on, while 'sauf cyclistes' under a no entry sign means except cyclists, ie ride contra the motors!

 

[Fietslogies]

Older people don't speak much english. The younger crowd in and out of the cities does.
Flemish people are (in general) not anti-French. If they know french, they will speak french with foreigners. But they're losing their patience with people and families, that have been LIVING for decades in Flanders and still don't make a single effort to speak the language of the 'locals'. Most flemish people do not have many occasions to practice their french, so they're likely to be a bit afraid to speak it. English is more common ...

Waar is de camping? Waar is de kampeerplek? Waar is deze straat?
Voedsel, eten, maaltijd (kos = ????)
Doorgaand verkeer
Uitgezonderd fietsers