What is a Fietssnelweg? Posted by Sten on Nov 28, 2017
That the Dutch love their bikes is no news. The country is full of bikes – but also bike lanes. The video below nicely shows how the Dutch got the network of bike lanes that they have now. The Dutch continuously strive to make the system faster, more efficient and easier to use, so that…
Curious Words in Dutch: Opdat Posted by Sten on Nov 20, 2017
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. Starting today with opdat. Voegwoorden Opdat is a voegwoord (conjunction). This means that its purpose is…
Controversial Insults in Dutch Posted by Karoly Molina on Nov 15, 2017
Some time back, I wrote about insulting words in Dutch. The first and second version of the post was somewhat PG rated, so I decided to make a more insulting follow up. The following are some controversial insults in Dutch which are quite offensive in more ways than one. Tokkie The term tokkie actually comes…
Famous Children’s Dutch TV Show is Coming Back Posted by Karoly Molina on Nov 8, 2017
The TV show Fabeltjeskrant or The Daily Fable as it was called in the UK brings back childhood memories to many. It was recently announced that a remake of the show will be televised once again. De Fabeltjeskrant was first aired in 1969 and was created by Lee Valkenier. The tv show was aired until…
De Speld – The Dutch Onion Posted by Sten on Nov 7, 2017
Well-known for its satirical take on reality, The Onion has established itself all as a source of highly unreliable but very funny “news”. It is not the only outlet of its kind, however. There are numerous others, including in the Netherlands. Here, we have De Speld (The Pin). In 2007, just before the kredietcrisis (credit crisis), the satirical…
The Netherlands Has a New Cabinet Posted by Karoly Molina on Oct 29, 2017
Seven months after the election, the new Dutch cabinet has been sworn in. The negotiation talks between the different political parties lasted longer than expected, but, the work can finally begin. On Thursday morning, the new cabinet, nicknamed Rutte III in the news, met with King Willem-Alexander. The new kabinet is comprised of 10 women and…
A Russian Revolution… Designed by a Dutchman! Posted by Sten on Oct 26, 2017
100 years ago, the Oktoberrevolutie (October revolution) of 1917 had just broken out in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was still the hoofdstad (capital) of Russia at the time. Communisten (communists) took the Winterpaleis (Winter Palace) in the city, which led to an important turn of events for the entire country. Nowadays, this Winterpaleis is the world-famous Hermitage. This state museum displays national history and…