What up with Dutch?

There is a common misconception between Denmark and Holland (otherwise known as the Netherlands) in America. I'm not sure why, but for some reason Danish is confused with Dutch.

If you were to tell anyone from those two respecting countries that they were mistaken for one another they would get a confused look and then they would strongly state that the languages sound nothing alike. According to Danes, Dutch is more guttural.

If you were to ask an American, they probably wouldn't be able to hear the difference and that's not to say they should. It's all about what you are used to. I wouldn't be able to hear a difference either had I not lived in Denmark and had gotten used to the language.

However, this isn't necessarily about the language. I think it is more about word play than anything else. People from Holland are Dutch, and people from Denmark are Danish. A "danish" is a type of pastry in the US, not necessarily a culture or language.

The countries aren't anywhere near each other on a map. Denmark (a little more north and further east) is a relatively small country somewhere in Scandinavia, whereas Amsterdam, is capital of the Netherlands and a popular destination for many in the US (between Germany and Belgium).

The Dutch are known for wooden shoes, van Gogh, tulips, windmills, canals and bikes. The Danish are known for LEGO, the little mermaid, daisies, windmills, canals and bikes. In fact, one of the canal neighborhoods in Copenhagen (Christianshavn) was built by a Dutch architect and inspired by Amsterdam, so if you were to break it down that way, you could easily see the similarities.

Either way, I hope this little blog entry clears the whole thing up and inspires you to politely correct the next person you hear call someone from Denmark, Dutch. I'm sure the Danes will thank me for that one later.