This is the SUBMENU of the Language-page.You will find a similar submenu on all main pages of the CarPark site.
The MAIN-MENU can be found at the top of all pages of the site: Index, Intro, Archives, History, Genealogy, Language, Sources and the WareHouse.

Furthermore you'll find some search- and translation tools at the top of each page.The language tool will allow you to translate Dutch words into English.
Search this site gives you the opportunity to search the complete CarPark site for any word.

All EXTERNAL links (links to other sites than the CarPark) will be opened in a new window.

If you need a good dictionary, download the 'Vertaalwoordenboek'. This 'Vertaalwoordenboek' is an electronic Dutch-English, English-Dutch dictionary designed for persons who are learning the Dutch language. Unfortunately it is only available for Windows.

Another immpressive translation tool is provided by Lingo24. This site is offering a innovative Context Translation service for free. As they write "This free tool combines both Machine Translation (MT) and Translation Memory (TM) technologies and allows you to search for real-world translations of a word or phrase between two languages. These results are derived from high-quality human translations and allow you to see the context in which the words are used in a foreign language, helping you to choose the most appropriate translation." I checked it with a diversity of Dutch words and their translations were accurate to say the least, and, what's more... showing it all in a very clear, educative context.

If you seriously want to become a 'Friesland Connoisseur' please go then to the 'Webstee fan Pyt Kramer' ! If you are interested in the related German language, visit the excellent site 'Department of German'

If you're a REAL lover of languages: The Rosetta Project.!
Another great site about dialects, spoken in the Netherlands is the 'Language in the Netherlands' site, with fine indepth info on Frisian, Limburgish, Low Saxon, Zeelandic and Brabantish! As good or even better is the 'Lowland Talk 'site: here you will find great information of all a (regional) languages and dialects spoken in the Low Lands. But don't forget to visit their zoomable map first!
If you just want to learn a bit more about basic Dutch grammar, especially aimed at genealogy, I can advise you to pay a visit to the ' Crashcourse Dutch Grammar-page' .
To learn how to properly pronounce the difficult Dutch vowels, consonants and diphtongs you might consider to take a look at the 'Pronunciation-page' and listen to some soundsamples.

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Vass is Deitsch?

Mennonite Low German Dictionary

Dutch language

Dutch Language, member of the Netherlandic-German group in the western branch of the Germanic languages. More precisely called the Netherlandic language, it is spoken by the inhabitants of the Netherlands, the Netherlands overseas territories, the northern half of Belgium, and the northern part of Nord Department in France, near Belgium. In Belgium and France the language is usually called Flemish; for the historical reasons. Cape Dutch, or Afrikaans, spoken in South Africa, is an offshoot of Dutch that is now considered a separate language. The name Dutch is derived from the word Dietsch, meaning the vernacular tongue, as distinguished from Latin.
Both Belgium and the Netherlands use a common literary language, termed standard Netherlandic or standard Dutch. Local spoken dialects vary gradually from village to village across the Netherlandic-speaking region (that is, they form a dialect chain), shading into the regional Low German dialects of northern Germany. Modern standard literary Dutch developed under the successive influence of the dialects of Flanders, Brabant, and Holland, during the times of their respective political and economic hegemony. The Dutch language can be divided into three main periods:
Old-, Middle-, and Early Modern Dutch.
More about Dutch, Diets(ch), Duyts...

Old Dutch
Old Dutch extends to about 1100. The only important extant monument of this period is a translation of the Psalter.
Middle Dutch
Middle Dutch extends from 1100 to 1550. The language during this period underwent changes in sounds and inflections; no standard written form was at first recognized, and writers used local dialects. In the 13th century a determined effort was made to establish a literary Dutch, the leader in the movement being the poet Jacob van Maerlant (1225-91). The use of dialects, however, continued.
Modern Dutch
Modern Dutch extends from 1550 to the present day. The most important event in the history of the language during this period was the publication from 1619 to 1637 of the Statenbijbel, the authorized version of the Scriptures, which did much to spread this form of Dutch in the Low Countries. The effect of this translation was similar to that of the High German version of the Bible by Martin Luther in establishing a standard of language and orthography that was generally recognized as authoritative. This standard language spread first in the Dutch Republic of the 17th century. In the Netherlandic-speaking part of Belgium, which was under successive Spanish, Austrian, and French domination between 1516 and 1814, the language lost its position as a vehicle of culture until its restoration by the Flemish national movement in the 19th century. After World War II, government-sponsored measures were taken to reform Dutch orthography and to effect uniformity of usage in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Frisian Language
Frisian Language, language of the historical Frisian people, now an official language in the Dutch province of Friesland, with dialects still spoken on the Frisian Islands, and in a few German villages. Frisian, most closely related to English, belongs to the Anglo-Frisian group in the western branch of the Germanic languages. Similar Frisian and English words include boi (boy), tolve (twelve), and hy (he). Frisian was once the prominent tongue along the North Sea coast and on nearby islands, from the present Dutch-Belgian border to the modern German-Danish border. Since the 16th century, Frisian has gradually been replaced by Dutch and Low German, but it was revived in the 20th century. (More...)

Flemish language
Flemish Language, territorial name for the Dutch language spoken in historic Flanders, a region mostly comprising the northern part of Belgium, but also including a southern part of the Netherlands and a small area of northern France. The language is officially called Dutch by the governments of Belgium and the Netherlands, but the people living in the historic Flanders region still often use the term Flemish because of its historical and sociocultural connotations.

Source: Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

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The word 'DUTCH' is derived from the old Dutch word 'DIETS', meaning:
'from the people', or 'vernacular tongue'.

Actually the word 'Diets', or 'Diedsch' was used in the early Middle Ages to distinguish the Germanic languages, spoken by the people, from the Romanic, Wallonic languages and dialects. The first known, written literature in the 'Diets' language is from the 12th century, found in the province of Limburg.

'DIETS' is the Flemish/Dutch naming;
'DUUTS'/'DUYTSCH' is the Holland/Dutch naming.

In the course of time however 'Duytsch' or 'Duuts' has become the Dutch word for the German language. We are now talking about 'Duits' when we're referring to the language of our neighbors.

FLEMISH ('Vlaems'/'Vlaams') is one of the official languages of Belgium and closely associated with Flanders. Flanders, being one of the ancient regions of Europe, now divided among Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

From the 13th century Flanders was extremely prosperous: cities like Bruges, Gent and Ypres were the centres of this rich, industrious region. But since the earldom of Flanders - a fief of France- bordered France, the French for a long time used the word 'Flemish' for the language spoken in all the regions of the Netherlands: an obstinate custom used till in the 20th century.

Socially, politically and economically, Flanders played an important role,beginning in the 13th and continuing throughout the 14th century. Flemish, the language spoken in Flanders, became a model for the Dutch language. The 100 Year War between England and France and the silting up of the Zwin (a small river connecting Bruges with the North Sea and England) however, led to a slow but inevitable economical recession. Economically and politically the leading role was taken over by the Duchy of Brabant, with the harbour of Antwerp, and the cities of Brussels, Leuven and Mechelen. Due to this change, BRABANT'S language started influencing Flemish and, indirectly, the Dutch language of the neighboring Netherlands.

( The influence of Flemish cannot be underestimated if we realize that, in 1622, the population of Leiden and Amsterdam-both cities in Holland- was respectively 67% and 33% of Flemish/Brabant origin! )

When Charles V became lord of the Netherlands in 1516, he united the 17 provinces of the Netherlands, comprising nowadays Belgium, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and parts of Northern France, called Artesie. Artesie, with the important cities of Cambray, Arras (Atrecht), and Valenciennes.
These united Netherlands were a part of the German Habsburg Empire in name only. Charles V declared the Netherlands to a indissolubly union, with a high autonomy and unanimous succession rights for all regions of the Netherlands.

It was in those days that the Dutch started to call their language 'NEDERDUYTS',
'NEDERLANDS' .

They started doing this to distinguish themselves from the rest of the Habsburg Empire. Since they used to call the language of our German neighbors 'Duits', they had to come up with another term. But it did last until the 20th century that the term 'Nederlands' definitely had beaten 'Nederduyts' and variations.

A last word to the WALLOON language. This is a distinctive French dialect spoken in Wallonia, the southern part of Belgium, roughly comprising the provinces of Hainaut, Liege, the southern part of the province of Brabant and Namur.
When we look at the etymology of the name Walloon, we see that it refers to 'Roman','French','strange' and 'foreign', or 'coming from Roman countries'.
The names 'Waals', 'Welsh' and 'Wales' might be referring to a Celtic tribe. (go to the links, below to find  some good  inside information about the Walloon language/dialect)

Click here to see a map of the linguistic frontier in Belgium

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Overview languages and dialects spoken in the Netherlands and Belgium western frisian, gronings, drents, sallands, westerwolds, vlaams, flemish, achterhoeks

( Map kindly permitted by: www.ethnologue.com )

Frisian Frysk, the West Germanic language most closely related to English. Although Frisian was formerly spoken from what is now the province of Noord-Holland (North Holland) in The Netherlands along the North Sea coastal area to modern German Schleswig, including the offshore islands in this area, modern Frisian is spoken in only three small remaining areas, each with its own dialect. These dialects are West Frisian, which is spoken in the province of Friesland in The Netherlands, including the islands of Schiermonnikoog and Terschelling; East Frisian, which is spoken in the Saterland west of Oldenburg, Ger.; and North Frisian (Frasch), which is spoken along the west coast of Schleswig in Germany and on the offshore islands of Sylt, Föhr, Amrum, the Halligen Islands, and Helgoland.
Written records date from the end of the 13th century and are in Old Frisian, a stage of the language that lasted until the late 16th century. Old Frisian shows all the features that distinguish English and Frisian from the other Germanic languages.

The Frisian area through the ages

north frisian, west frisian, east frisian, saterland, frisian language, ramsloh, struecklingen, scharrel, frasch

Source: I'll look it up in the library...

More...

Hear Frisian here: listen to the Frisian Language

Frisian Course

A very good page about Frisian

Frisian dictionaries

The Frisian (Friisk) language family (Link is not dead: some browsers don't accept the link)

The History and Survival of the Frisian Language

English-Frisian online dictionary

Frisian-English online dictionary

Frisian-Dutch online dictionary

Frisian male and female given names

Eastfrisian male and female given names

Saterland and the language Saterfrisian (Germ)

Saterland Frisian language

The North Frisian Institute

Frisian language and Frisian litterature

Friisian. Frisian in Germany

Frisian dialects

Background on Frisian

Effects of Frisian on Dutch

Western Frisian

Litterature: Go to the 'Further reading' section of this page

See also 'Web-pages with specialized book-lists'

E. Lexus Baruch, 'Dutch at Your Fingertips', Hippocrene Handy Dictionaries, Hippocrene Books, New York, 1991 ISBN 0-870-52049-0

Leonard Bloomfield, 'Spoken Dutch', Spoken Language Services, Ithaca, N.Y. 1991

G. E. Booij, 'The phonology of Dutch', Oxford UK, Clarendon Press, New York, Oxford University Press, 1995

Pierre Brachin, 'The Dutch language: a survey' Translation of 'Langue néerlandaise' Leiden Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1985 ISBN 9-004-07593-3

Anthony F. Buccini, "The development of umlaut and the dialectal position of Dutch in Germanic". Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Cornell University,1992

B. C. Donaldson, 'Dutch: a linguistic history of Holland and Belgium', M. Nijhoff, Leiden Netherlands, 1983
B. C. Donaldson, 'A Dutch Vocabulary', Jacaranda Press, New South Wales Australia, 1988
ISBN 0-7016-2120-6
B. C. Donaldson, 'Colloquial Dutch: the complete course for beginners', Routledge, London UK, New York, N.Y. 1996 ISBN 0-415-13086-7 book, 0-415-13087-5 cassettes; 0-415-13088-3 book and cassettes course
B. C. Donaldson, 'Dutch: a comprehensive grammar', Routledge, London UK, 1997
ISBN 0-415-15419-7

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Anton M. Hagen and Herman Giesbers, "Dutch sociolinguistic dialect studies". "International Journal of the Sociology of Language 73, 29 - 44". Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, Amsterdam, 1988

Homer C. Hoeksema, 'Dutch Grammar Lessons', Theological School of the Protestant Reformed Churches, Grandville, MI USA, 1975

J.M. van der Horst, "A Brief History of the Dutch Language"  in: The Low Countries: Arts and Society in Flanders and the Netherlands. A Yearbook 1996-97. Rekkem: Stichting Ons Erfdeel, pp. 163-72.

C.M.van Kerckvoorde, 'An Introduction to Middle Dutch', Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, 1993
ISBN 3-11-013535-3.

Robert Lange Keyes, 'The Old Low Franconian Psalms and Glosses', University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI USA, 1978

Jetske Klatter-Folmer and Sjaak Kroon (eds.), "Dutch overseas: studies in maintenance and loss of Dutch as an immigrant language". Tilburg University Press, Tilburg, the Netherlands, 1997

H. Koolhoven, 'Dutch', NTC Publishing Group, Lincolnwood, IL USA, 1994
ISBN 0-844-23886-4

Etsko Kruisinga, 'A Grammar of Modern Dutch', G. Allen & Unwin, London UK, 1949

William B. Lockwood, 'An Informal History of the German Language, with chapters on Dutch and Afrikaans, Frisian and Yiddish', The Language Library, Blackwell, 1978
ISBN 0-233-96797-4.

T. L. Markey, 'A North Sea Germanic Reader', Wilhelm Fink, Munich Germany, 1976
ISBN 3-7705-1397-5

Dirk Nieland, "Yankee-Dutch", Grand Rapids, Mich., 1919.

J. Dyneley Prince, "The Jersey Dutch Dialect", Dialect Notes, vol. iii, p. 459.

William Z. Shetter, "An Essential Grammar". Routledge, USA: 1993 (7th ed), 267 pages

Henry R. Stern, "Essential Dutch Grammar", Dover Publications, New York 1984,109 pages
Henry R. Stern, "Two Hundred and One Dutch Verbs Fully Conjugated in All the Tenses", Barrons Educational Series, 1979. ISBN: 0812007387

Omer Vandeputte, "Dutch: the language of twenty million Dutch and Flemish people". Flanders, Belgium: Stichting ons Erfdeel, Fieuws & Quartier Ltd, 1981

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Boelens, Krine (1982), "The Frisian language: some remarks on its history and its present position. 36-57 in Zondag, Koen, ed., "Bilingual Education in Friesland". Franeker: T. Wever B.V.

Booij, Geert, "On the representation of diphthongs in Frisian". Journal of Linguistics 25 (1989) : 319 - 331

Siebren Dijk,  "Noun incorporation in Frisian". Leeuwarden: Fryske Akademy, 1997

Durk Gorter, "Language in Friesland" (English summary of 'Taal yn Fryslan'; a survey of language use and language attitudes in Friesland). Fryske Akademy, Leeuwarden, 1988.
Durk Gorter, "A new sociolinguistic survey of the Frisian language situation". 1994. Dutch Crossings 18,2:18-31

Tiersma, P.M. "Frisian Reference Grammar" (2nd ed.)Ljouwert 1999. Fryske Akademy number 886, 147 pp., Price: ƒ 30,00; for members and "stipers" of the Frisian Academy:  ƒ 22,50.
ISBN  90-6171-886-4

Walker, Alastair, "Frisian". In Charles Russ (ed) The Dialects of Modern German.
A Linguistic Survey. Routledge, London, 1-30, 1990

Thomas Hewett Waterman, "The Frisian language and literature; a historical study", Gordon Press. ASIN: 0879681624

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Berlitz Publishing, eds. 'Dutch English dictionary / Woordenboek Engels Nederlands', Berlitz, Oxford (UK) 1994 ISBN 2-831-50988-2

F. Claes, 'A Bibliography of Dutch Dictionaries', Max Niemeyer, Tübingen (Germany), 1995
ISBN 3-484-30967-9

H. Coenders, 'Kramers vertaalwoordenboek Engels-Nederlands', Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1996 ISBN 9-068-82269-1

H. Coenders, 'Kramers vertaalwoordenboek Nederlands-Engles', Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1996 ISBN 9-068-82273-X

Coenders, H. Vermeer, 'Standaard handwoordenboek: Engels-Nederlands, Nederlands-Engels', Standaard, Antwerp, 1993 ISBN 9-002-19487-0Michael Hannay, 'Van Dale handwoordenboek Nederlands-Engels', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, 1994
ISBN 9-066-48237-0

Peter King, 'Concise Dutch and English dictionary: Dutch-English / English-Dutch', Teach Yourself Books, NTC Publishing Group Lincolnwood, IL, 1992 ISBN 0-844-23761-2

W. Martin, 'Van Dale groot woordenboek Engels-Nederlands', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, 1989 ISBN 9-066-48123-4

M. E. Pieterse-Van Baars, 'Engels-Nederlands', Spectrum, Utrecht ISBN 9-027-45149-4

Fernand G. Renier, 'Dutch dictionary: Dutch-English, English-Dutch', Routledge & Kegan Paul London (UK), New York, 1996 ISBN 0-415-04610-6

Arseen Rijckaert, 'Dutch-English, English-Dutch', Hippocrene Books, New York, 1997
ISBN 0-781-80541-4

Robert Lee Stockman, "Platt Düütsch, a Brief History of the People and Language"
ISBN 0-9665502-0-X [Low German Dictionary]