Archive for October, 2015
De Afsluitdijk – Enclosing the Sea Posted by Sten on Oct 26, 2015
So, last week, I wrote about the Zuiderzeewerken, which gave birth to the province Flevoland. But not only that. The Zuiderzeewerken had as their goal to create more land for agricultural use, and to “tame” the Zuiderzee, the part of the Noordzee (North Sea) that protruded well into the Dutch inland. Another goal, which was pursued already centuries before the proposal…
Selling Yourself Posted by Karoly Molina on Oct 21, 2015
Every week, we receive the local newspaper filled with articles about local people and events as well as ads for local businesses. One of my favorite sections in this newspaper is the personal ads or advertenties because there is always something funny or interesting to read. To start, the ads are limited in the words they…
The Dutch Ui Posted by Sten on Oct 20, 2015
When you hear the Dutch “ui”, you might think about the sound that some words have, such as buis, huis, or sluizen. This post is about something else, however. If you want to know more about the sound, you can find a great post on this by my dear colleague Karoly. Other than the “ui” sound, ui itself also means something…
The Dutch Province Flevoland – A Peculiar Story Posted by Sten on Oct 20, 2015
The province of Flevoland has not always existed. Not only in its name and demarcation – no, the actual land did not exist. It came into existence as the last of the twelve Dutch provincies. The northern Noordoostpolder (the top red part of the province in the map below) was added to the already existing land. The lower two parts…
The Super Scary Dutch G Posted by Sten on Oct 17, 2015
If you are learning Dutch at the moment, you are undoubtedly trying to pronounce the words too – and one thing I found many people find very difficult is the pronounciation of the letter G in most cases. Now, I am referring to the Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands (ABN), in which the G is not soft…
So what do we do next summer? Posted by Karoly Molina on Oct 15, 2015
Het Nederlands Elftal had a very tumultuous and, in the end, disappointing journey in order to qualify for the European Cup 2016. After some embarassing defeats, the possibility of joining the next Euro Cup hung on the ability of the Netherlands to beat the Czech Republic AND Turkey loosing to Iceland. Neither of these was possible…
Refugees in the Netherlands Posted by Karoly Molina on Oct 14, 2015
If you follow the news in Europe, I am sure you have read about the recent vluchtelingen crisis. Thousands of people from Syria, Somalia, Libya and other war-torn areas are daring the dangerous journey to Europe in the hopes to escape the crisis back home. The obstacles the vluchtelingen must overcome before even making to any European country…