Flemish (Belgian Dutch→English

Translate Flemish (Belgian Dutch to English the way locals mean it.

Flemish speakers often soften requests and refusals with words that a textbook reader may mistake for literal details, so the intended level of enthusiasm, urgency or insistence can be missed.

Going the other way? English to Flemish (Belgian Dutch

474 local dialects

AIRTranslate on iPhone choosing between Dutch varieties

What locals actually say

Ik heb daar wel goesting in.

I’d quite like to do that.

Goesting means desire or enthusiasm, while wel makes the statement sound pleasantly positive without making it emphatic.

Ik kom sebiet af.

I’ll come over in a bit.

Sebiet means soon or in a little while, not necessarily immediately, so it often leaves the timing deliberately loose.

Ge moet daar nu ook geen drama van maken, hé.

You don’t need to make such a big deal out of it.

Ge is the casual singular you, and hé softens the remark by seeking agreement, so the sentence is usually less confrontational than its literal wording suggests.

Dat kost een pak meer dan ik gedacht had.

That costs quite a bit more than I thought.

Een pak means quite a lot in colloquial Flemish and adds an informal sense of a substantial amount.

Ge pakt aan de lichten de tweede straat rechts.

At the traffic lights, take the second street on the right.

Ge pakt is a casual Flemish construction meaning you take, while aan de lichten is the common Belgian way to refer to traffic lights.

Zet er maar een schelleke kaas bij.

Add a slice of cheese as well.

Schelleke is a typically Belgian Dutch word for a slice, with the Flemish diminutive ending making the request sound friendly and informal.

Ons bomma komt zondag eten.

My granny is coming for dinner on Sunday.

Bomma is a familiar Flemish word for grandmother and signals family-oriented, informal speech.

Ik moet dat nog afwerken, anders krijg ik ambras met de baas.

I still have to finish that, or I’ll get grief from the boss.

Ambras is an informal Flemish word for trouble or an argument, often used for a workplace or personal dispute.

Notes like these come with every AIRTranslate translation, so you learn why locals phrase it that way as you go.

How Flemish (Belgian Dutch differs

Flemish (Belgian Dutch). Softer, more courteous than Netherlands Dutch; ge/gij only in clearly casual speech, je/u in writing; Flemish vocabulary (goesting, plezant casually, gsm for mobile, kot for student room); avoid Netherlands-only idioms.

Sound like a local everywhere, not just here.

Every one of 474 dialects, with voice, camera, a keyboard for any app, and offline packs.

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Localization Notes explaining why locals say it that way