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Hear Dutch Names

CH = G	"like (softly) clearing your throat" - it is like J in European Spanish and there is a sound like it in Hebrew, Arabic and Persian. lach (laugh) - zacht (soft) - dag 2 (day; goodbye) - gast 2 (guest)
EI = IJ	The sound is somewhere "between FATE and FIGHT" - hear Dutch feit ('fact.') ijs (ice) - vrij (free) - vallei (valley) - meisje (girl - think of: 'maiden')
EU	Like in French deux ('2') and in German schön 2 3 ('beautiful') and the writer Goethe deur 2 (door) - neus (nose) - kleur 2 (color)
UI	like in French l'oeil ('the eye') huis 2 (house) - uit 2 (out) - duim 2 (thumb)
UU (long U)	like in French cru or dur and in German Hügel and Muesli vuur 2 (fire) - juli (July)
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(de) naam ('name') - (de) namen 2 ('names') - (de) voornaam ('first, given name') - (de) achternaam ('last, family name')

A Chicago University Website tells me there are three 'internationally accepted' pronunciations for 'Bruegel': BrOYgel, BrEEgel and BrOOgel. (Dutch phonetic rendering: Broigel, Briegel, Broegel.) That's not how the name is said by Dutch people, who may wonder for a moment who you're talking about. For foreigners, it's hard to pronounce Pieter Bruegel Pieter Bruegel 2 in the Dutch way, because in many languages there are no sounds like either Dutch EU or Dutch G .
Actually, the name is often written as 'Breugel' in Dutch, because the UE spelling points to the incorrect German pronunciation: Brügel 2 - note too that German G is different from Dutch G. Compare pronunciation with Dutch beugel 2 ('brace') - vleugel ('wing; grand piano') Cautionary Note It is of course interesting to know the correct ('Dutch') pronunciation of Dutch names, but in communicating with members of other language communities ('Barbarians') it may be more efficient to use the common modified ('corrupted') way of saying. In a shop -- outside of Holland and Belgium -- will saying "Gouda" like a Dutchman: get you the cheese you want, or had you better say it like English-speakers: ? Likewise, trying to say "Van Gogh" like the Dutch: (Vincent van Gogh 2) instead of the usual way: 2 people might think you just came down with an acute case of strep throat.

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The Pronunciation Page may offer some help when you can't find a name or word on my pages - and you can also ask me by email.

Common First and Last Names

The By Request Page is a mixed bag of names and words visitors to my pages asked for, some Dutch names that were in the news and a few words that I thought would be interesting.

Geography Nederland 2 - Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Den Haag 2 - Utrecht 2 Next to the names on the Maps pages you can hear some 600 names of Dutch cities, provinces, rivers etc. on the Dutch Place Names page. My "Foreign Lands" page has about 125 Dutch names for foreign countries and cities etc. History Peter Stuyvesant - Pieter Stuyvesant 2 - Michiel de Ruyter Hear Dutch names of Old New York - the names of Dutchmen living in 'New Netherland,' Dutch geographical names of the area and names of ships visiting. Names from the (17th Century) 'Golden Age' of Dutch shipping can be heard on my Sailors and Ships Page. Hear names of more recent history on The Bridge too Far page about Holland in 1944.

Painters

Vincent van Gogh 2

Dutch Names from Books

Miscellaneous

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Don't be a dief (thief) / dievegge (female thief) - diefstal (theft) - stelen (to steal) - heler (dealer in stolen goods) - hear Dutch - 2