As ‘The English Effect’, a new exhibition at the British Council’s central London headquarters opens today, 4 April 2013, the British Council’s Ashleigh James writes about the words that form a bridge between her English and Dutch heritage.
Have you ever thought that the words you speak everyday can tell you something about your identity?
I am an Australian and a native English speaker, with a Dutch mother. Throughout my life, whenever I visited Holland with her I was always surprised to hear how similar the Dutch and English languages could sound, and loved hearing my mother speaking English to her cousin, who would speak back in Dutch.
It wasn’t until I started working on The English Effect, a British Council exhibition opening at our offices in Spring Gardens today, where I started to really think about the links between English and Dutch. In fact, Dutch has had an enormous influence on the English language, both directly and indirectly, through other languages such as Afrikaans.
Two examples of Dutch influence on English
Take, for example, the word ‘pickle’, a word taken directly from Dutch (which doesn’t surprise me considering the amount of pickled fish my aunt eats!) and also the word ‘trek’, which comes from Afrikaans, one of the languages of South Africa, which itself originates from Dutch.
The Afrikaans word ‘trek’ has its origins in the Dutch word ‘trekken’, meaning ‘to draw, pull, march, travel’. Interestingly, the word was first used in reference to the ‘Groot Trek’ (Great Trek) of the 1830s and 1840s, when South African Boers, unhappy with British colonial rule in the country, marched north-east from the British colony, which was located around what is now Cape Town.
But these are just two of the many words which make up a tapestry of cultural and history events and links connecting the English language to other languages.
About the exhibition
At the exhibition in London, you can see the extent to which English has evolved by absorbing words from other languages. For example, can you guess which countries the words ‘dollar’, ‘tomato’, and ‘zombie’ originate from? How about ‘parka’, ‘magazine’, and ‘dodo’?
The exhibition also looks at the personal and economic benefits that English has brought the UK and people around the world. There’s a ‘talking wall’ with stories from English speakers from countries as far apart as Rwanda, Nepal and Armenia, including the footballers Didier Drogba and Petr Čech, who talk about how the language helps them express themselves and understand their colleagues.
Which words and phrases do you use that say something about your identity? And which words can you think of that English has ‘borrowed’ from another language?
The English Effect is open 4 April – 29 June 2013 at the British Council gallery space, 10 Spring Gardens, London SW1A 2BN.
Share your ideas about words that English has borrowed from other languages, using #EnglishEffect.