Der niederländische Satz des Tages
Woensdag, 26 oktober 2016
Nederlands:
Door slangendna bij muizen in te brengen, hebben wetenschappers van onder meer de universiteit van Californië pootloze muizen gemaakt.Deutsch:
Durch das Einpflanzen von Schlangen-DNA in Mäusen, haben Wissenschaftler unter anderem der Universität von Kalifornien beinlose Mäuse geschaffen.English:
Along with others, scientists from the University of California created legless mice by implanting snake DNA.Quelle: de Volkskrant
This sentence is interesting in a linguistic way. It shows some similarities and differences between the three major Western Germanic languages:
free word order versus fixed word order,
different spellings in German due to the second Germanic consonant shift,
some differences in the vocabulary which is half-Romanic in English,
and the use of umlauts in plural forms in German and in some old English words like mouse / mice.
Maandag, 24 oktober 2016
Nederlands:
De Colombiaanse luchtvaartmaatschappij Avianca heeft dit weekend tijdelijk al haar vluchten in het Venezolaanse luchtruim gecanceld.Deutsch:
Das kolumbianische Luftfahrtunternehmen Avianca hat dieses Wochenende zeitlich befristet seine ganzen Flüge in den venezolanischen Luftraum gestrichen.English:
This weekend the Colombian aviation company Avianca temporarily canceled all its flights into the Venezuelan airspace.Quelle: de Volkskrant
Dutch and German use the same system of compound words. In English compound words are used much less frequently.
The Dutch sentence contains three compound words: "lucht-vaart-maat-schapp-ij", "week-end" and "lucht-ruim". The same in German: "Luft-fahrt-unter-nehmen", "Wochen-ende" and "Luft-raum". The Dutch compound word "lucht-vaart-maat-schapp-ij" literally translates to "air-faring-mate(partner)-ship", whereas the German word "Luft-fahrt-unter-nehmen" translates to "air-faring-under-taking". English doesn't use a compound word here, but two Romanic words instead: "aviation company".
With free word order, the use of compound words and Germanic vocabulary, the English sentence (like in Old English) would read like this: "The Colombian lyftfaringmateship Avianca has this weekend timely all its flights into the Venezuelan lyftroom striked." English doesn't use this sentence structure any more since the Normans conquered the island, whereas Dutch and German still use it.
The Dutch sentence contains three compound words: "lucht-vaart-maat-schapp-ij", "week-end" and "lucht-ruim". The same in German: "Luft-fahrt-unter-nehmen", "Wochen-ende" and "Luft-raum". The Dutch compound word "lucht-vaart-maat-schapp-ij" literally translates to "air-faring-mate(partner)-ship", whereas the German word "Luft-fahrt-unter-nehmen" translates to "air-faring-under-taking". English doesn't use a compound word here, but two Romanic words instead: "aviation company".
With free word order, the use of compound words and Germanic vocabulary, the English sentence (like in Old English) would read like this: "The Colombian lyftfaringmateship Avianca has this weekend timely all its flights into the Venezuelan lyftroom striked." English doesn't use this sentence structure any more since the Normans conquered the island, whereas Dutch and German still use it.
Zondag, 23 oktober 2016
Nederlands:
Het Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is een plofmobieltje.Deutsch:
Das Samsung Galaxy Note 7 ist ein explodierendes Mobiltelefon.English:
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is an exploding cellular phone.Quelle: de Volkskrant
Interestingly the Dutch have a compound word for the phenomenon of exploding cellular phones.
Vrijdag, 21 oktober 2016
Nederlands:
Als er iets is waarop de Amerikanen zich graag beroemen, is het wel dat ze een ruim tweehonderd jaar lange traditie van vreedzame machtswisselingen hebben.Deutsch:
Wenn es etwas gibt wofür sich die Amerikaner gerne rühmen, dann ist das ihre gut zweihundertjährige Tradition von friedlichen Machtwechseln.English:
If there is something that Americans are priding themselves on, it is their over two hundred years old tradition of peaceful changes of government.Quelle: de Volkskrant
I took this sentence from a Dutch news article. In fact it isn't true, that the tradition of peaceful changes of government lasts for over two hundred years. It is only 150 years. The change of government in 1861 was everything else but peaceful, because the Southern states didn't accepted the outcome of the 1860 presidential election.
Donderdag, 20 oktober 2016
Nederlands:
De Europese sonde Schiaparelli is gisteren vermoedelijk te pletter geslagen op Mars.Deutsch:
Die europäische Sonde Schiaparelli ist gestern vermutlich auf dem Mars zerschellt.English:
Yesterday the European spacecraft Schiaparelli presumable crashed on Mars.Quelle: de Volkskrant