Five Brothers and a War

The Dutch Language—Diphthongs

Note that when an English person speaks of the letter “a”, a Dutch person will hear what he thinks is the letter ”e” as both are pronounced identically. The same thing happens with the English letter “e” and the Dutch letter “i”. The reverse is also true of course, in that a Dutch person speaking of “i” will be understood to have said “e” by an English speaking person, and “e” will be interpreted as “a”.

Diphthongs (Single syllable vowel combination that glide between two sounds, as in the English “oy” like “boy”).

DUTCH

SOUND

COMMENT

ei ij/IJ ÿ (really “ij”)

ay

No similar sound in English. Combination of the “a” sound in “apple” followed instantly with the “y” sound of “yolk”. For pronunciation, this will be shown as “αy”

ieuw

eew

The Dutch word for “new” is “nieuw”. The pronunciation is similar to combining the English words “knee” and “know” to create “kneew”)

holland

Five Brothers and a War

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