What is “Cruijffiaans” (Cruyffian Dutch)?
Hoe Cruijff denkt en spreekt volgens de taalkunde
B2 Dutch listening practice · Dutch from the Netherlands · Picked for people who know more
A linguist unpicks how football legend Johan Cruijff talked, and the man himself names the engine of it: «ik sneller denk als praat» (“I think faster than I speak”, note the colloquial “als” for “dan”). His tangled, paradoxical style even has a name: Cruijffiaans (Cruyffian).
Cruijffiaans is full of looping logic and famous one-liners, above all “elk nadeel heb z’n voordeel” (“every disadvantage has its advantage”). The clip’s theory: he starts a sentence before he’s finished thinking it, just as, with the ball, he moved before deciding what to do. Half nonsense, half genius, wholly Dutch.
How common are the words?
How common are the words in this B2 Dutch listening practice video?
How common in written Dutch
How common in spoken Dutch
Harder words in this video
These words are harder than B2. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-NL 2014 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In Dutch football culture, quoting Johan Cruijff endlessly.
- ▸Famous Cruijffiaanse uitspraken like “elk nadeel heb z’n voordeel.”
- ▸In Dutch media whenever someone talks in riddles.
- ▸In Dutch writing on language, thought, and football.