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Dutch Word of the Month September: Koopkracht Posted by on Sep 30, 2019

koopkracht-Netherlands-welfare

September! Out of the boring months, here comes something important for all to hear: news about the begroting (budget) for the next begrotingsjaar (fiscal year). Presented every derde dinsdag in september (third Tuesday in September) on Prinsjesdag (Prince’s Day). And besides money for onderwijs (education), zorg (healthcare) or infrastructuur (infrastructure), there is always something about koopkracht. What is that, and why does it matter? Here we go! Click…

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Why Are The Dutch Called Dutch When They Shouldn’t Be? Posted by on Sep 23, 2019

So, you may or may not have been wondering about this, but I certainly have. As a Dutch-German, I’ve always been stumped by the confusing demonyms (“a name used for the people who live in a particular country, state, or other locality”, thanks dictionary.com)  used in English to refer to my two native countries. Why…

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Dutch Limburg Celebrates 75 years of Liberation Posted by on Sep 18, 2019

Belgium and the southern provinces of the Netherlands are celebrating 75 years of Liberation. In Dutch Limburg, there have been events in several towns and cities celebrating on the exact day they were liberated with parades, concerts and more. Geschiedenis On May 10th, 1940, despite staying neutral in the war, the Netherlands was invaded by…

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Why Is The Netherlands Called Holland When It Shouldn’t Be? Posted by on Sep 16, 2019

So, you may or may not have been wondering about this, but I certainly have. The Netherlands and Holland are often used interchangeably all over the world, yet in Dutch, Nederland and Holland are two distinct terms. It’s weird. Let’s figure out why. What’s the difference? Here’s the thing. Nederland is the whole country of the Netherlands. Holland is only one…

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Dutch Movie on Netflix: Black Book Posted by on Sep 11, 2019

This past weekend at home, we came across a very popular Dutch film called Zwartboek or Black Book. This movie was released in 2006 and tells the story of survival of a Dutch-Jewish singer by the name of Rachel Stein during the last year of the Nazi occupation. Background Zwartboek was written by Paul Verhoeven and Gerard Soeteman…

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Curious Words in Dutch 4: Ape(n)kop Posted by on Sep 9, 2019

There are many strange words in a language. Words that are just not used much, words that are pronounced in a weird way… Just words that have something curious about them! And those are the ones we look at in this series. In last week’s post about Sayings and Expressions on monkeys, our reader Gre…

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Spreekwoorden en Uitdrukkingen (Sayings and Expressions) 10 – Monkeys! Posted by on Sep 2, 2019

Yes, really. Apen (monkeys). The Netherlands may one of the least tropical landen (countries) you can think of. Yes, we have the infamous broodjeaapverhalen, but we also have plenty of spreekwoorden (sayings) and uitdrukkingen (expressions) that contain the mensachtige (human-like) primates. Let’s have a look at two today, starting, as always, with the spreekwoord. For other sayings and expressions in this series, click here. Aap…

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