Is Dutch a phonetic language?

Jun 27 2023

Part 4 of 11 Next in 10s

Dutch, a West Germanic language, has a phonetic alphabet with 26 letters. Its phonemic inventory consists of 13 vowel phonemes and 22 consonant phonemes. The clear correlations between the spoken sounds and their written representations contribute to Dutch being a phonetic language. For example, a single vowel usually corresponds to one sound, and a double vowel signifies a lengthened sound. This straightforward relationship between orthography and pronunciation makes Dutch relatively easy to learn for those who speak phonetic languages, such as Spanish or Finnish.

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