Wim Daniëls, the author of the Great Dictee of the Dutch Language, says that many mistakes were made in this year’s edition. The dictation was broadcast on Saturday in the program De Taalstaat on NPO Radio 1 and won by listeners Walter Oussoren and Emiel Heuff.
One of the winners is a Dutch teacher. “You can expect him to do well, but he also had eight mistakes,” says Daniëls. He says that the errors are because the Dutch spelling rules are difficult. “For example, writing words together is difficult.” Such as when a space is needed between different words or when they can be written together.
Lydia Rood won the dictation among the prominent figures. The 66-year-old writer made a total of ten mistakes. In addition to Rood, children’s book writer Tosca Menten, DJ Bert Kranenbarg, former MP Kathleen Ferrier, comedian Erik van Muiswinkel, philosopher Stine Jensen, thriller author Charles den Tex and comedian Guido Weijers also participated. Breda resident Weijers saw his participation in this edition as ‘the baseline measurement’. “I would love to come back next year,” he said.
Study rules
Daniëls says that you have to study the rules if you want to do a dictation well. “Not everyone does that. Many people do it instinctively, for example with knowledge they once learned at school. But you have to keep up with it,” he says.
“We actually have a kind of look-up spelling. You would say: if you have learned the spelling rules, you should know it. But there are many exceptions to those rules. For example, you have to take the origin of a word into account. The word ‘gift’ comes from French and must therefore have a ‘c’ and ‘eau’. But the word ‘croquette’ also comes from French and we write it with a ‘k’.”
Daniëls looks back on the dictation with satisfaction. “It was actually a basic dictation without words or sentences that are not used in everyday life, but there were plenty of pitfalls.”
This is the full text of the Great Dictation of the Dutch Language 2023:
On with the goat!
1 The dictation circus has settled in Arnhem, the city of the trolley bus and the hundred and ten year old zoo, where cheetahs feel at home, wallabies jump around and sea urchins and sea anemones enrich the coral reef aquarium, but where goats are reportedly missing; nevertheless, the slogan of this dictation is: forward with the goat!
2 No more shouting in front of the stage, but shouting, because now that the electorate has spoken out in large numbers at the polling stations, the dust from the House of Representatives elections has settled and the election slogans are being scrubbed away, we must govern like new.
3 Because heremijntijd / heremetijd, since the fourth Rutte cabinet resigned, governing was not exactly a matter of foresight and the moving-with-the-goat mentality seemed to have been completely lost.
4 There was no long-term planning in any case, with the exception of the approval of a rush hour charge at the NS, something with which most Members of Parliament did not agree, so it remains to be seen what will happen with that busy train surcharge.
5 However, the old authority has now been said goodbye and the eager aspiring directors must get to work and ensure that everyone can be assured that everyone is being considered.
6 At the same time, we should not beat ourselves up about it, not shout ‘ammehula’ all the time, not content ourselves with jeering or sit back in dissatisfaction when we have tweeted or x-texted our opinion without any hesitation.
7 Working together as much / as much as possible in a decent manner should now be the credo, I think and hopefully many people think so.
8 If we succeed, I know a well-deserved treat in due course: delicious, oval, hard-baked yeast dough cookies, sprinkled with coarse sugar, known as Arnhem girls.