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Re: German Spelling Reform (fwd)

From:R. Nierse <rnierse@...>
Date:Monday, August 9, 1999, 7:37
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> Van: Irina Rempt-Drijfhout <ira@...> > It's not as if the -n- is pronounced, either. This will probably make > for a lot of spelling pronunciation, complete with pedants who insist > that "you have to pronounce it, because it's written!" (I was raised > by one, who couldn't believe that her spoken Dutch was, well, spoken > Dutch even if she heard it on tape). > > Irina
That's my experience too. People think they say what they write, especially in Holland. The final -n in verbs (like in "werken", "lopen") and in plural forms of nouns (like in 'dingen") is never pronounced in Dutch. Stil lnearly everybody thinks it is. Once I worked at Air Holland. When boarding, the stewardesses pronounced Dutch too well, pronouncing the /n/'s. I told them they didn't have too, because it is not pronounced. They refused to believe and we had a big argument!