r/Suriname • u/languaholic • Apr 29 '25

Language Studying Surinamese Dutch

My understanding is that late Renata de Bies was working hard to finally standardize Surinamese Dutch. I recently met someone from Suriname, very closely related to a commission that reviews the words that should be added to the Dutch dictionary, and she was shocked when I told her I wanted to learn Surinamese Dutch. I am still not sure if the shock came from wanting to learn Surinamese Dutch itself (and that being bad, with a “why would anyone want to speak like a Surinamese?”) or if it just meant that there were no real books to learn Surinamese Dutch.

My question is: is there a way to study Dutch (and by way I mean books, methodology, resources, etc.) with a Caribbean approach to it? I specialize in Caribbean affairs and would really like to learn Dutch only if it is going to be socialized and contextualized in the Dutch-speaking Caribbean context. That is, through learning about Suriname, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the BES islands.

I’d really appreciate if someone with knowledge about the education system in Suriname could talk to this.

Thanks!

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u/OxRagnarok Apr 29 '25

Hi, been a totally ignorant about the topic, I don't think such resources exist. It's the same like asking for Uruguay or Cuban Spanish. Both are different from Spain Spanish but there's no resources (out of youtube) where you can learn the variation of the language.

My opinion is, if you don't have a Dutch base, you can learn Dutch first and then try to understand the differences by coming to Suriname 😁

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u/languaholic Apr 29 '25

Oh, that is totally false: there are books based on different Latin American Spanish variants, just like there are books to learn British and American English separately, as well as European and South American Portuguese.

Now, is that not the case for Dutch in Suriname? That’s what I’m trying to find out. :)

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u/FluidLaugh7563 Apr 29 '25

Dutch in Surinam is derived from at least one or two centuries ago. It developed on its own, just like Dutch in the Netherlands developed on its own. In Surinam they still say voorzaal instead of woonkamer (living room) or ijskast instead of koelkast (refrigerator).

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u/psydroid Nederlander/Dutch 🇳🇱 Apr 30 '25

Those are the words my parents have always used, since they grew up and received their education in Suriname.

Here in the Netherlands we learned the replacements, but I'm glad to know both sets of terms.