\u201cNeuh, \u2018k wit da nie neej.\u201d Sometimes I catch myself responding with a clear Brabantian accent on campus. Often when I\u2019m already a bit absent-minded.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The fact that I haven\u2019t lived in Amsterdam for six years shows in many ways. From my time in Romania, I picked up \u2018pa pa\u2019 as my standard farewell and \u2018vai\u2019 (with that wonderfully long \u00e1\u00e1\u00e1j sound) as an exclamation of surprise, disapproval, or disbelief. Back in the Netherlands, I ended up living in Brabant, and since I communicate daily with Brabanders, it\u2019s increasingly clear month by month that I\u2019m really no longer an Amsterdammer.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Standard student language<\/p>\n
For many Dutch UvA students, it\u2019s the same story \u2013 they\u2019re not originally from Amsterdam, and their \u201creal home\u201d lies in Brabant, Twente, Groningen, or Limburg. Yet you can hardly hear it in their accents. This raises the question: is this standard student language really the holy grail?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Personally, I happily use expressions from my current region. This means that typically Brabantian phrases like \u201cda is\u201d, \u201cda\u2019s zund\u201d, or \u2013 props to anyone who remembers this legendary Dutch meme video \u2013 \u201cma da was nie\u201d sometimes come out of my mouth with full conviction.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I also notice I do this more often in Amsterdam than in Brabant itself. Perhaps it\u2019s precisely because being there brings out the Amsterdam part of me more prominently. Although I have to admit that little of that remains when I\u2019m drinking wine with five Brabanders until two o\u2019clock (often starting from two) in the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cNeuh, \u2018k wit da nie neej.\u201d Sometimes I catch myself responding with a clear Brabantian accent on campus.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[5740,199,26339,26344,26338,5706,12532,26343,26336,26340,26345,200,26341,26333,26342,26337,26334,26335],"class_list":{"0":"post-46578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-amsterdam","8":"tag-adaptation","9":"tag-amsterdam","10":"tag-brabant-accent","11":"tag-cultural-diversity","12":"tag-dialects","13":"tag-identity","14":"tag-inclusion","15":"tag-language-norms","16":"tag-language-use","17":"tag-limburg-accent","18":"tag-linguistic-pressure","19":"tag-netherlands","20":"tag-randstad","21":"tag-regional-accents","22":"tag-sociolinguistics","23":"tag-standard-language","24":"tag-student-life","25":"tag-university-culture"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116279708755515717","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}