From English to Dutch (and vice versa)

As a European university Utrecht University has chosen to use British English for administrative and organisational tasks.

British spelling has two variants, called S spelling and Z spelling. We prefer the S spelling. For example, we write "realise" instead of "realize" and "analyse" instead of "analyze".

You can find a brief overview of the differences between British and American spelling on the Oxford International website.

Depending on context and intended audience, a different variety of English may sometimes be more appropriate.

Consult the Wordlist (NL-EN) for translating widely used educational and university terminology from Dutch to English.

In addition to the differences between English and Dutch usage of capitals and lowercase letters mentioned in the educational terminology section, there are other important differences as well, which you will have to take into account when translating between the languages:

    Numbers

    In English, numbers with a fraction are written with a decimal point. In Dutch, you would use a comma as separator before the fractional part.

    • English: 8.6%
    • Dutch: 8,6%

    Numbers over one thousand are written with a comma as separator in English, but with a period in Dutch.

    • English: 2,000
    • Dutch: 2.000
    Dates

    Because American usage differs from British and Dutch usage, it is often clearer to write out months in full, for example, February 5, 2019. In American usage 05/02/2019 refers to May 2, 2019, whereas the same number would refer to February 5th in Britain and the Netherlands, because American usage follows the order of the numbers as written there, for example, July 15, 2019.

    Time

    For time references in English, the 12-hour clock is commonly used with am or pm, in lower case letters, without a full stop.

    In Dutch, the 24-hour clock is commonly used.

    • English: 10:30am, 10pm
    • Dutch: 10.30 uur, 22.00 uur.

    Note that “Monday to Friday” usually includes Friday, but this is not as precisely specified in English as in the Dutch “maandag t/m vrijdag” (“t/m” is short for “tot en met,” or “up to and including,” which is a common way to mark periods in time.  English does not clearly specify whether the last day is included or excluded).

    Telephone numbers

    For Dutch telephone numbers, the area code is given in brackets: Tel. (030) 2535986

    In texts for an international audience, the area code is given without brackets and preceded by the country code: Tel: +31 30 2535986.

    Resources for learners of Dutch as a foreign language

    • NT2TaalMenu: Practice your Dutch at levels from A1 to B2.
    • Lingua: Dutch Texts for Beginners: Read and listen Dutch texts (A1-B2).
    • Moedertaal in NT2: A web app explaining structural differences between Dutch and English, German, Moroccan Arabic, Polish, Russian, Slovenian, Somalian, Spanish, Syrian Arabic, Tigrinya, Czech and Turkish.
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