Archive for March, 2016
Book Review: You Have Me to Love Posted by Karoly Molina on Mar 30, 2016
Continuing the research of Dutch literature, the latest Dutch novel I’ve picked is Birk by Jaap Robben. Robben, born in Ooosterhout in 1984, is a writer, theatre producer and poet. Before 2014, Robben had mostly published children and teen novels and books. Birk is his first adult novel and was received with great praise. It won the 2014 Nederlandse Boekhandels…
Sounding Dutch in Dutch: Consonant Aspiration Posted by Jakob Gibbons on Mar 29, 2016
You may have noticed that Dutch sounds kind of weird. It’s full of these sometimes ridiculous-seeming sounds that you’ve never heard before setting foot in the Netherlands, Even once you’ve gotten your hard g and tongue-cramping diphthongs like eu and ui under control, people can still hear you’re foreign, and it’s because of the phonetic details. This is because…
Another Weird Island In Dutch Waters – Forteiland Pampus Posted by Sten on Mar 26, 2016
Another weird island in Dutch waters! Previously, I talked about the weird “eye” in the IJsselmeer, the IJsseloog. Now, I have discovered that there is another such a weird island in the Netherlands! It is a weird oval, in the middle of the IJmeer, with a weird grey oval on top of it… Who made this island…
A Legend Has Left Us: Johan Cruijff Posted by Sten on Mar 24, 2016
Today, on March 24, 2016, one of the most famous and loved BN’ers (acronym for Bekende Nederlanders (well-known Dutch people) passed away. Johan Cruijff, also spelled as Cruyff in English, died fighting cancer at the age of 68 in Barcelona, Spain. It might be that you have never heard of him, but any Dutch person has…
The Wonders of Belgium Posted by Karoly Molina on Mar 23, 2016
In the wake of the terrible attacks in Brussels, I would like to dedicate this post to Belgium. There are many ties between the Netherlands and Belgium. Belgium is not only the southern neighbor of the Netherlands, but was also part of the Netherlands until the Belgian revolution which lasted from 1830 to 1839. Living in the Netherlands…
Book Review: The Latecomer by Dimitri Verhulst Posted by Karoly Molina on Mar 16, 2016
De Laatkomer or “The Latecomer” for the English translation by Dimitri Verhulst is a witty yet serious novel. Verhulst was born in Belgium on October 2nd, 1972 and published his first book Assevrijdag in 1994. By the time he published De Laatkomer, Verhulst had published 17 other novels, poetry collections and plays. The summary for De Laatkomer said the following: a…
Step By Step: How To Rule Dutch Weak Verbs! Posted by Sten on Mar 10, 2016
A zwak werkwoord (“weak verb” – a regular verb) is a verb that does not change in the past tense. For example leven, leefde, geleefd (to live, lived, lived). A sterk werkwoord (“strong verb” – an irregular verb) is one that does change, such as lopen, liep, gelopen (to walk, walked, walked). Then there are also “normal” onregelmatige werkwoorden (irregular verbs), like zijn, was, geweest (to be…