Think of it this way, a lot of Dutch seem to have a fish bone caught in their throat when they speak... Just kidding, just kidding....(and did you know that there has never been an official end to the Dutch-English wars of the 17th century?) The thing is, it is easier for me to understand spoken Dutch in the southern areas near the Channel. When you get to Amsterdam it gets a little rough, though most of the TV news has the Amsterdam/Hilversum accent, but once you are in the north, forget it, and well, they are speaking more Frisian than Dutch anyway... It's a really fascinating country. Was recently in Vaals, across the border from Aachen, and there are, well, were, four Lutheran churches from the 17th century there which were built when German Catholics fled from the Catholic Rhineland into this very Catholic area of Holland (seriously Catholic, like almost Flemish Catholicism). I had no idea before that even in such a deeply Catholic area of Holland that Protestants had been historically welcomed and protected. Maybe there is a lesson to be learned here? -----Original Message----- From: dutch-colonies-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:dutch-colonies-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Barbara & George Grenier Sent: Freitag, 23. März 2007 18:58 To: dutch-colonies@rootsweb.com Subject: [DUTCH-COLONIES] names Dutch names are harder:-) Thought I knew about patronymics and dit names (my husband's French Canadians) What I seem to know is equivalent to my sticking one toe in the swimming pool before jumping in. Barbara Southern California At 08:51 AM 3/23/07, you wrote: >Thanks for the tip. Dutch history is not at all easy to grasp. > >-----Original Message----- >From: dutch-colonies-bounces@rootsweb.com >[mailto:dutch-colonies-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Agnes Mitchell >Sent: Freitag, 23. März 2007 16:56 >To: dutch-colonies@rootsweb.com >Subject: Re: [DUTCH-COLONIES] stereotypes about the Dutch ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DUTCH-COLONIES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message