Dutch Language Blog

If you travelled in the Netherlands a few years ago, you might have come across a long strip of paper that you had to stamp in a machine to pay for your travel on public transport. This card was known as a strippenkaart.

“The strippenkaart, introduced on 1 October 1980 and abolished on 3 November 2011, was a ticket composed of several strips, to be validated when used. Passengers either validated the ticket themselves in a machine, or got it stamped by the driver or conductor. The number of strips to be cancelled was always the number of zones travelled plus one, up to a maximum of 20 strips. The stamped ticket was valid for one hour for 2 to 4 strips and up to 3.5 hours for 17 to 20 strips.” – VBN

Last year these cards were phased out and replaced by a new card known as an OV-chipkaart (OV stands for Openbaar Vervoer, which means public transport in Dutch). The OV-chipkaart is similar in size and shape to a credit card and is made of a similar hard plastic. Most people “charge” their cards at one of the charging stations but it is also possible to organise automatic recharging if you have a personal card (a card that is registered in your name and has your photo rather than just a general card that can be used by anyone).

While OV-Chipkaarten tend to be easier to use (no more having to figure out how many “strips” to stamp), you do need to remember to check-in and out or else you will end up paying quite a bit extra.

9292

Once you have figured out the OV-chipkaart, the next thing you need to do is to figure out where you want to go and one of the best websites to help you do that is www.9292.nl. While you can change the website into English, this is a great website for practising your Dutch.

Which do you prefer, the OV-chipkaart or Strippenkaarten?

On Wednesday (Woensdag), I went to the cinema (bioscoop) with a friend to see the film, Bridesmaids.  We bought our tickets (kaartjes) before grabbing a bite to eat.  Since it was also “Ladies Night” for one of the other films, the area around the ticket desks was already quite busy (druk).

When we got back from eating, we showed the employee (medewerker) our tickets and entered the realm of food (eten) and drinks (drinken).  Both my friend and I decided to have a beer (een bier) and we also decided to share (delen) a popcorn.  We had the choice between sweet (zoet) or salted (zout).  We went with the salted.

After paying (betalen) for our items we checked our tickets to see which screening room (zaal) we were in.  We also checked for our seat (stoel) and row (rij) number to make sure we weren’t the two people caught out for being in the wrong seats.

Before the film began there were advertisements (reclames) for other films and products, including the Grolsch beer we had in our hands.  There was also a reminder to put our mobiles on quiet (stil).  Since we were watching a comedy (een komedie) there were lots of times that we were laughing (lachen).

After the film (na de film) we went down the stairs (de trappen af gaan) towards the exit (uitgang) and received a free (gratis) bottle of Coca-Cola.  It was an enjoyable evening (het was een leuke avond).

Some Related Vocabulary

• adventure film – avonturen film
• horror film – griezel film
• romantic film – liefdes film
• historical film – historische film
• detective film – detective film
• a western – een western
• war film – oorlogs film
• cartoon – tekenfilm
• documentary – documentaire
• political film – politieke film

Some Tips

• A great website to see which movies are showing in your area and when is www.pathe.nl.  You can also book tickets via the website.
• Next to the name of a film (usually cartoons or family films), you will sometimes see (NL) or (OV).  OV stands for originele versie (original version) meaning that the film will be played in the language it was filmed in (often English).  NL, therefore stands for Nederlands, indicating that the film will be dubbed in Dutch.
• Films without (NL) or (OV) are shown in the language they were filmed in.  If this was not Dutch, then Dutch subtitles will usually be displayed below.  Film festivals and special events are different.  These will often display English subtitles.