Learn to Speak Double Dutch
Double Dutch is quite a hard nonsense language to learn but if you keep on practicing it gets a lot easier. If you are looking for how to Double Dutch jump rope, go to this article instead.
Contents
Steps
Learning Double Dutch
- Familiarize yourself with the idea. The basic idea behind Double Dutch is to insert a nonsense syllable into every syllable of the word you are saying; the nonsense syllable is always the same. Remember that Double Dutch depends on sounds, not letters.
- There is no "one true way" to speak Double Dutch; there are many "dialects", differing mainly in what nonsense syllable you use. In this article the nonsense syllable is vag; another dialect, which was spoken in New York in the 1950s and '60s, used ob.
- In that dialect "Do you speak Double Dutch?" becomes
- D-ob-o y-ob-ou sp-ob-eak D-ob-oub-ob-le D-ob-utch?
- or to write it more as it sounds,
- Doboo yoboo spobeak Dobubobble Dobutch?
- Look at an example. "Mary had a little lamb" becomes "Ma-va-gar-r-va-ga-ry ha-va-gad a-va-gay li-va-gi-t-va-gle la-va-gamb"
- Mary: Ma-va-gar-r-va-ga-ry
- Had: ha-va-gad
- A : a-va-gay
- Little: li-va-gi-t-va-gle
- Lamb: la-va-gamb
- Learn the rule to construct and interpret the language. Each syllable is broken in two and "vag" is put in the middle. The consonant sound before the "vag" is also repeated after the "vag".
- Letters: Le-vag-et-te-vag-ers
- Learn a special rule for one-syllable words.
- Take the first consonant sound of the word, e.g. "hip". h is the first consonant sound of the word.
- Put uh after it, making it huh.
- Next put "the" after it making it huh-the.
- Then you take the rest of the word, but put g in front of it: g-ip, which makes h-uh-the-g-ip.
- Learn the alphabet if you want. Since Double Dutch is hardly ever written (except for learning, as on this page), there's not much occasion to use the names of the letters of the alphabet, but here they are. They follow the usual pattern of the words in Double Dutch. Note: The inserted "g" (in "gee", "gel", "gem", etc.) is hard as in "geese", not soft as in "gee whiz!"
- A: a-va-gay
- B: b-bee
- C: s-va-gee
- D: d-va-gee
- E: e-va-gee
- F: ev-a-gef
- G: g-va-gee
- H: h-va-gaitch
- I: i-va-guy
- J: j-va-gay
- K: k-va-gay
- L: ev-a-gel
- M: ev-a-gem
- N: ev-a-gen
- O: o-va-go
- P: p-va-gee
- Q: k-va-gyoo
- R: u-va-gar
- S: ev-a-gess
- T: t-iv-a-gee
- U: y-va-goo
- V: vi-va-gee
- W: duvagub-buvagle-yuvagoo
- X: ev-a-gex
- Y: w-va-guy
- Z: ziv-a-gee
Sample Double Dutch Paragraph
Doc:Double Dutch Paragraph
Tips
- Keep practicing. The more you practice the better you will get.
- If you sound out the words it makes it easier to learn.
Warnings
- Do not say something secret to your friend in front of someone. You never know if they know Double Dutch as well.
- If you don't understand what this says don't worry. Many people know Double Dutch and won't tell their friends about it. It's really difficult to pick up if you don't know how to do it.
