Fun & Famous
SPEAKING PLAIN COSTS YOU EUROS
You know, that top island of Zeeland? Well, that's Zuid-Holland and that's where I originally come from. That piece of province is known as Goeree-Overflakkee, the land of the tall trees, and a greeting sounds a bit different there than it does here in the office. Dialect, incomprehensible to outsiders. But what does research show? If dialect is your everyday language, you can see that reflected in your paycheck.
When I took my first steps in primary school, I found that Flakkees was really interesting (probably the language knack). I had my grandparents as a reference point in terms of dialect, but the fact that a four-year-old could produce those kinds of sounds was strange to me. I practiced, it was impossible. ‘You’ was ‘joe’ and ‘also’ sounded like ‘aaaek’, the intonation and long, slow draw in this was essential. Fakes could be spotted easily. Proud as I was (still one of those who easily fell through the cracks). I ran home to present my first life lessons from primary school to my mother. She choked on her coffee when her cute little curly blonde sounded as flat as the oldest resident of Flakkee. Instead of a pat on the back, I got this: ‘First learn to speak, read, and write flawless Dutch, and then we can talk about it again.’ You understand, that was the end of my career in dialect land. Indirectly, my mother apparently had an influence on my paycheck (thanks for that).
“The Brabant dialect came out as irresistible and is therefore incredibly sexy.”
Professor of labor economics Jan van Ours, who just happens to come from Goeree-Overflakkee, researched speaking plain and the paycheck. He took a group of people with roughly the same educational level and a similar living and family situation. What turned out in that group? People who make themselves understandable in dialect earn five to fifteen percent less than the group that speaks Standard Dutch. Five to fifteen percent. Goodness, if I had known that as a little curly head, I really wouldn't have practiced so long on that flawless flat pronunciation. The research shows that people with a dialect are seen as less productive. And that is, quite simply, because you are less understandable. Discrimination is also a thing, because it could very well be that the big bosses and managers are less eager to approve a raise request if it is in dialect. Van Ours hasn't completely proven this yet, so we'll wait and see.
But what about all those soft g's in the commercials, because they would be seen as trustworthy? Well, research from a dating site showed at least that we go wild for that soft g. And yes, it builds trust, but this sexy tidbit is much more interesting. The Brabant dialect came out as irresistible and is therefore incredibly sexy. Limburgers actually take the crown for being cozy by chatting in Limburgish, but score slightly lower on the intelligence scale because of it. Euros, cozy, wildly attractive, euros, intelligent, wildly attractive, euros... I wonder who laughs last. André Rieu, he must be laughing his head off at Van Ours. And I casually throw out a stray, wildly flat pronunciation in the presence of über-correct speaking friends, because that remains a box office hit from time to time. I find it ‘buutegeweun’ and there is ‘gìen hoekje de punt af’. But in a performance review, I stick to flawless Dutch. Just to be safe.
