Tens of thousands of Dutchies threaten to leave the country Posted by tiffany on Apr 28, 2013
Tens of thousands of Dutch citizens are in an uproar over something so heinous that they’re threatening to leave the country if something is not done about it. What could be so utterly terrible, so unfathomably unjust, so unpatriotic that it would evoke such a strong reaction among the Dutch people? It’s tyranny! No, it’s…
More on why some words get a double consonant in the plural form while others don’t Posted by tiffany on Apr 19, 2013
Earlier this week, we tackled the question of why some words get a double consonant in the plural form while others don’t. We talked about Dutch words that have the short vowel sound like bot (bone) and man (man) that need that double consonant in the plural form (botten and mannen) to maintain their short vowel…
Why do some words get a double consonant in the plural form and not others? Posted by tiffany on Apr 15, 2013
So here’s a question we were asked last week by a reader: “Random question. Woman = vrouw; women = vrouwen. Why not vrouwwen (ie man -> mannen, etc)?” Excellent question! Here’s the deal… As in English, vowels in Dutch can have both the long sound (been, maan) and short sound (ben, kat). In Dutch, the…
The Top 4 Twitter Accounts You Should be Following if You Really Wanna Learn Dutch Posted by tiffany on Apr 3, 2013
So, you really want to learn Dutch, huh? If you just found yourself nodding enthusiastically or blurting out “Why yes, yes I do!” then you’ve probably adopted one or more of several excellent practices for learning Dutch, like… taking a Dutch language class watching Dutch films and television reading Dutch books, magazines, and newspapers meeting…
Easter in the Netherlands Posted by tiffany on Mar 29, 2013
The paashaas is coming to town this weekend! That’s the Easter Bunny to you and me. Paas = Easter Haas = hare Easter is one of those holidays that goes all out. The big day occurs three weeks after Lent (de vastentijd = lit. fasting period) and includes Holy Thursday (Witte Donderdag = lit. White…
A new blogger in town – Tiffany Jansen, the American Cloggie Posted by tiffany on Mar 22, 2013
Hallo allemaal en iedereen! Ik ben Tiffany, the newest member of the blogging team here at Transparent Language. Since we’re going to be spending a lot of time together, I’d like to take my very first post to introduce myself. First off, don’t be fooled by the last name – I’m American through and through…
10 Tips for Learning Dutch Posted by heather on Dec 27, 2012
It is almost the start of a new year and for many people, learning a foreign language (or improving the one they are working on) will feature somewhere on the New Year’s resolution list. If that foreign language is Dutch, here are ten mini-tips about the language to get you started. 1. Dutch nouns have…