German/Dutch/Afrikaans.?

Question

I was told that Afrikaans speakers can understand Dutch, but Dutch speakers can´t understand Afrikaans.

What happens with German, is it understood by Afrikaans/Dutch speakers, or do German speakers understand Afrikaans/Dutch?

Answer 1

I am an Afrikaans speaker. Dutch and especially German are quite different to Afrikaans yet so similar. German is extremely hard to understand while Dutch is just a little bit harder because of the accent of a Dutch person and because some of the words are pronounced differently. Most words have the same root though. For example 'ek' (meaning I) in Afrikaans will sound like 'ich' in Dutch and German. The accent is what complicates the languages the most though. I have a Dutch friend who cannot understand my Afrikaans most of the time though. I don't know how it is with German.

Answer 2

I'm a Dutch speaker and when I visited S.A. half a year ago, I could understand Afrikaans quite well. I don't think I am an exception, so your theory does not ring true.
The case with German is more complicated and I can only give my opinion on the Dutch/German part of the question. Dutchmen can quite easily understand German after a short period of "adapting their ears" to it. The other way does not work that way. Don't ask me why, but I have many German friends and I know it to be true.

Answer 3

I can speak Afrikaans fluently and can understand Dutch quite well. I don't understand German very well, but could probably just pick up on a couple of words in a conversation. Would be interesting to see what some Dutch or German speaking people say.

Answer 4

I speak German fluently, and when I listen to people speak Dutch, I get the odd "Ha! I understood that bit!" about 40% of the time. In Afrikaans, it's more like 15 to 20%.

Answer 5

Tough question.

According to my knowledge, Afrikaans and Dutch are separate languages, so that makes me wonder just how much Afrikaans speakers can understand Dutch. Maybe it's like how I understand some Portuguese, since I can understand Spanish. They are different languages, but my knowledge of Romance languages in general and my ability to guess makes it possible for me to occasionally follow some stuff in Portuguese, but I don't really think I can understand Portuguese.

As far as the German/Dutch understanding, that one is particularly tricky because Germany and the Netherlands are so close to one another. It's more like a continuum of dialects between the two places. That is, in the western part of Germany, people can understand other Germans and people from the eastern part of the Netherlands. Likewise, in the eastern part of the Netherlands, people can understand people in the western part of Germany, as well as other people in the Netherlands. But people in the center of the Netherlands can't understand people from the central part of Germany. So those are definitely different languages. Surely there would be basically no understanding between German speakers from other German-speaking countries and Dutch speakers.

So, in answer to your questions, perhaps some German speakers can understand some Dutch speakers, but in general most German speakers probably don't understand most Dutch speakers. They probably speak English to each other if they need to communicate.

Answer 6

I am Dutch and have no problem at all with Afrikaans. I am pretty sure that I can learn Afrikaans in two years and nobody will guess that it is not my mother tongue. Dutch can speak with Germans in their own language when they speak slowly. This two languages have evolved from one language, called "Oud Duits" this means old duits (german, note the similarity between duits and dutch) ((oud duits is still spoken in it's pure form as a dialect))

Answer 7

Free enterprise. The government doesn't control companies. They can provide telephone support in what ever language they feel best suites their customers. "I just refuse to learn a language that is being forced upon us." Who's forcing a language on you? PRESS 1 FOR ENGLISH. "The most spanish a decent person need learn is how to give basic instructions to the maid, gardener and other hired help. And I say this not as a zealous monoglot;" I suppose no decent people live in Spanish speaking countries? You are a polyglot bigot.

Answer 8

i am german and i can understand some dutch because some words are very similar.

Answer 9

all i can say that i am afrikaan but i am egyptian so i speak arabic language and the one who speak the arabic language can speak any other language because the arabic language it's letters have the hole moves that u can make a sound by it and the other language didn't have all these move but every language has some of them so the arabic speaker can speak dutch and all the dutch 's letter but the dutch speaker can't speake all language

Answer 10

No, they don't. Or at least I don't.