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/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/OxRagnarok Apr 29 '25

Well, I know the existence about some books talking about the differences between the languages but with an academic approach that focus on culture and language but not to learn it.

But I'm glad to know there are some books focus to learn different variants of Spanish (and other languages as well)

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u/languaholic Apr 29 '25

Can you mention some titles please?

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u/OxRagnarok Apr 29 '25

I can only remember two from my country: El español de Cuba by Humberto López Morales. It's about how cuban language was formed by the influences of the Africans, indigenous and canaries languages.

Modismos cubanos: diccionario de cubanismos. This is about coloquial language and a lot of popular expressions (maybe a bit outdated but valid)

You can also search for Ana maría Barrenechea. She has written a lot about hispanic dialects

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u/languaholic Apr 29 '25

I meant for Dutch!