How did Dutch and Flemish branch away from German?

Question

What was the breaking point so to say, when the Netherlands (which includes Belgium, mind you) broke away from Germany and spoke its own version of the German language?
How similar is Dutch and Flemish?
How similar are these to German?

Answer 1

They remain all Germanic languages. Remember that modern languages spoken in a few recognized and approved forms is a relative recent thing. There are more than a few districts whose variations on the theme you have missed Windish for one. Literacy and the desire to mimic the elites in order to gain entry to economic advancement alters language usage, and can sometimes ring the death knell for marginal languages. Political borders can isolate one tongue from another and over time make them seem to be wholly different languages. Remember English is mostly Germanic as well. I expect that the difference between the dutch of the kingdom of Orange, and Flemish was dialectically different always, but became more pronounced following the war with the Spanish. But had probably begun to really drift before that because of the Dukes of Burgundy and their influence.

Answer 2

Oy, never say that the Netherlands includes Belgium if you're in either country, you'd be lynched.

As an Irish person who learned to speak Dutch (I lived in the Netherlands for 6 years), I can tell you that standard Dutch and standard Flemish are similar enough not to require a translation (although occasional paraphrasing is required) and that I could communicate effectively with people from Belgium. I find Dutch to be halfway between English and German.

When you say 'break away from German', please bear in mind that 'German' has many many regional dialects also and that standardised German, like standardised English, is largely a product of the radio/television broadcast age. The regional dialects on either side of the Dutch/German border are very similar, in fact so similar that it is reasonable to say that people from these areas speak the same language. I don't think it's a question of 'breaking away' as such, it's more different cultural influences had an effect, such as Spain ruling the Netherlands for a long enough time to effect a distancing from Northern Germany, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Prussian element coming in to affect the development of language in these different geographical areas. Not forgetting too of course the influence of the Dutch East India Company, the world's first multinational, on what is now the Netherlands (not including Belgium), only I'm not entirely sure when that started up.

Answer 3

Language has never been more "standardised" than they are nowadays through the influences of media and local communities getting less and less important. There have always been very strong local accents, which made these more or less their own language, which couldn't be understood even by people from the neighbouring towns. Flemish is strongly influenced by French and German, but there are also trances of English. I'm German and I can make out the gist when it's written down, but I can't understand everything.

Hope this helped.

Answer 4

I do know that if you wrongly assume a Dutchman is GERMAN, they go mental.