It’s always nice when you are going on a trip and you can say some phrases in the language of the country/region. Leopold Hotel Ostend is situated in Flanders so the main language is Dutch, Flemish. We have listed some sentences to start a very basic conversation.
Greeting
Greeting people in their own language is a good way to start a conversation. When you want to greet someone in the morning you can say ‘Goedemorgen’ (= Goodmorning). The pronounciation is ‘khoo-duh-mawr-ghuh’. No, this is not Chinese 😉 In the afternoon you can say ‘Goedmiddag’ pronounced as ‘khoo-duh-mih-dahkh’. Good evening is ‘Goedenavond’ (khoo-duh-nah-fohnt) and good night is ‘khoo-duh-naht’.
Questions
How are you doing is the first question you can ask, in Dutch it is ‘Hoe gaat het met u?’ (pronounciation hoo khaht ut meht ew). If someone asks you this question and you have to answer you can say: Goed or heel goed (fine/very well), pronouciation khoot / hal khoot. Or when you have a bad day ‘slecht’ (pronouciation slehkht). After asking some questions you can add ‘Alstublieft’ (please): ahlst-ew-bleeft. For example: Would you help me please? Kunt u mij helpen alstublieft? (kuhnt uw may hel-pen ahlst-ew-bleeft)
Thanking people
You can thank people by saying thank you/thank you very much:
Dank u wel (dahnk-ew-vehl)
Or
Hartelijk bedankt (hahr-tuh-lik buh-dahnkt).
Excusing
When you want to excuse yourself you can say ‘pardon’ (pronounciation: pahr-dohn).
Yes and no
Yes is ‘Ja’ (pronounciation: yah) no is ‘nee’ (pronounciation: na).
Saying goodbye
Goodbye is ‘Tot ziens’ (Pronounciation: toht zeens) or see you later, when you’re sure you see that person later that day ‘tot straks’ (pronounciation: toht straks)
For the pro’s
Were those sentences too easy for you and are you ready to take it to the next level? Ostend is situated in West-Flanders and they have their own ‘language’. Even people coming from other parts of Belgium have difficulties to understand the West-Flanders people.
It’s too difficult to type how the words must be pronounced so if you want to learn West-Flemish you can learn a lot from Youtube videos. If you want to sound like a West-Fleming without really talking it, you can just say ‘weh’ (pronounced as “wˌɪ “like i from independence) after every sentence. 😉
Good luck!
Veel succes! (pronounciation: fal suk-sehs)
