Archive for January, 2009
Swimming lessons Posted by Transparent Language on Jan 25, 2009
Today, a topic about ‘zwemles’ (swimming lessons) in the Netherlands and why it’s so important. The Netherlands is one of the countries with the highest percentage of people who can swim. Since years and years and years, parents bring their young children to swimming lessons so they can learn how to swim. What I can…
Feeling the language Posted by Transparent Language on Jan 15, 2009
Like every other language, in Dutch you can say the same thing in many different ways. None is necessarily wrong (unless you break all grammar and spelling rules of course) but one or a few are always better. With this topic, I’m hoping to encourage you to think outside the box. Think past all the…
To have forgotten times two. Posted by Transparent Language on Jan 10, 2009
You might think to yourself… What a strange title! To have forgotten times two? What could/ should you expect of a topic with that kind of title? Well, this morning I remembered a fall out I once had with a former colleague of mine. To explain, I will tell you something about the work I…
Pregnancy and child birth Posted by Transparent Language on Jan 5, 2009
I just realized there’s a topic I would really like to discuss. I’ve seen countless movies and TV shows in which a pregnant woman goes into labor, is driven to a hospital at break neck speed (think ‘Nine months’) and delivers the baby in just an hour later or so. And the delivering mother of…