The literary primitiveness of English and sophistication of Dutch and German

English is not inferior, only simpler, terribly limited in ways more-Germanic languages are not

Disclaimer: I will discuss here some major deficiencies of English but I’m not claiming that all of English is more handicapped than all other speech traditions. Each language can say things that cannot be expressed in any other language. So, the more languages (and dialects) we learn, the richer will be our worldview and awareness. That could be the main lesson here.

I write this in English. So, the first thing to say is: I’m not saying that English-speakers are more primitive. Only their tool that we call language is much more basic. And that came in very handy when the colonial power that England became started to ‘educate’ others in this strange tongue. This is also proper to mention as English-speaker tend to be snobs if not outright nationalistic while the Dutch are not and Germans not anymore!

I will not say too much about French because I have little information about how that relates to the issues at hand here. Just see this clip.

For all clarity, I’m not referring to advanced English-speakers sometimes considering their tongue to have the richest vocabulary in the world. Granted, it has been as successful in expropriating foreign words as extracting natural resources from overseas. But, the largest dictionary of a Western language is Dutch. And, think of the size of Chinese that has a different pictogram for each word, that can be pronounced in four different ways to mean every time something totally different.

Simpler Won the Day

There has been an interesting suggestion for why the world’s top language now is English and not Dutch. Compared to the British, the Netherlands didn’t lack colonies. But they did have a different flavor of racism and supremacy. The English held: Let’s teach these natives some English to give them some decent, real culture. The Dutch said: Our language is so elevated—these primitive will never be able to grasp it. Ironically, you could spot a Dutch-speaker from the Dutch Indies in that their command of Dutch was excellent beyond that of those born in the Low Counties.

The English language is not the only one so simplified. Modern Hebrew had to become the linguistic vehicle of a new state and immigrants. It did away with most of the stunning sophistication of biblical Hebrew. This pertained to both grammar and pronunciation. Moses could never understand a word of what we are telling each other in the Jewish state.

Let’s discuss seven major ways how English falls short of German or Dutch. The list is ordered from almost silly to most important. The first differences are more well-known; the latter ones far less so, if at all.

1. The English Illness

English loves to break up words. No one sees a bus stop as a combination of a bus and a stop. But English does this. Surely, for beginners, it reads easier than compounded words. But its dictionaries don’t fall for this fake argument. In them, you find bus stop cataloged as if one word. English disease (the Dutch term for rickets) breaks your bones and sentences. A Dutch text has ‘English disease’ when it has too many broken-up words.

The Dutch and the Germans love to combine words, especially nouns. The former, in a typical case of self-mockery, have a, for them, famous game of making an endless word: hottentottententententoonstellingsterrein, in the short version, as we can extend it without limit.

Often, the Dutch can shorten it when similar words succeed each other. They can say: bus- en tramhalte. English doesn’t have the dash so you might miss them when you agree to meet near the bus or tram stop.

2. Variation

The English mind gets easily bored. There is little discipline or patience, it seems, to have to hear or read the same word over and over again. If in any way possible, synonyms must be used.

You may object that Martin Luther King Jr.’s I have a dream speech says eight times in a row the now-iconic words, I have a dream. And the New Testament’s Sermon on the Mount opens with nine blessings in a row. And Martin Niemöller’s famous credo starting “First they came for the socialists” repeats four times “they came for …, and … not speak out …” That is true, but in various ways, none of these speakers were WASPs.

3. Redundant

English-speakers don’t want you to use two words if you could say the same thing in one. You don’t give back, you return.

The Dutch has the opposite. It has a countless number of small words to scatter around that give personableness, friendliness, homeliness, and nuance to what’s being said. Het zou best well eens kunnen gaan sneeuwen. It seems to me reasonable to expect it possible to begin snowing. And not: Het zou kunnen gaan sneeuwen. It could start to snow.

4. Yesterday, You Couldn’t

A short glance at English dictionaries and their Dutch counterparts shows that the formers are descriptive while the latter are prescriptive.

English is very tolerant. When enough people say something, it becomes proper English. For some time, such usage might paint you as working class, foreign, counter-culture, or informal, but eventually, you’ll be fine.

Yet, Dutch dictates that a mistake is a mistake, no matter how often repeated. This makes teachers Dutch keep their jobs that are never done.

5. The Ordered Sentence

A regular English sentence starts with a place or time, followed by a comma. During the war, In winter, – etc. Then follow the subject and the verb. He laughed. She started running. Then you close off the clause with something small, if you must. A great deal. Surprisingly so. This seems a bit dry, but this standardized format does make reading easy.

Unfortunately, it seems that the typical native English-speaker seems incapable or deeply unwilling to be flexible in this. “He asked, at midday, where in the world this was going,” is all but unreadable to most.

The Dutch are completely flexible in where different sections go in a sentence. This then stands for loads of different nuances. He easily said no. No, he easily said. Easily, he said no. He said easily no. He said no, easily.

6. The Short Sentence

Even worse is that in English, you must not start a compounded sentence with words like: Although, Even if, Granting, While, Even though, etc. You have to say: “The war made him stronger. Yet, he did get lonelier.” The problem with that is that the first of these two sentences is only partly true. An overstatement or exaggeration that you only discover when you get to the “Yet.” In Dutch, you speak the full truth in this long sentence. And Dutch emphasizes the second part showing it to be more important. Although the war made him stronger, he did get lonelier. English is easier to read, but again, not as sophisticated as what Dutch has to offer.

7. Give Away the Bottom Line on Top

This is the most important point. The Dutch like to build their case. From the start, they may state their subject. But then, they will begin at the fundamentals to end up with bold claims they just substantiated.

English has no time or patience for this. Tell us your conclusions and then explain them. Don’t give me a scientific or logical line to follow. Snap judgments, maybe followed by some commentary, is all we want.

This jives nicely with a vain culture that values bogus smiles or stiff upper lips, false (US Hollywood, UK Royal family) phantasies, phony narratives, fake news, and Capitalism with rash ideas because time is money. Unfit for the more real than real, standing in mud, defending their dykes, Dutch.

I did find that their working-class and unschooled are closer to the Dutch.