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Tag Archives: culture

This Dutch Treat is Racist Posted by on Jun 6, 2016

At least, so they say! Today, I have a rather controversial post for you. It is about “chocolate-coated marshmallow treats”, as Wikipedia likes to call them. I am talking about these things: Negerzoen and its origins What is controversial about them? In the Netherlands and Germany, they are known as Negerzoenen or Negerküsse, which literally translates to “Nigger Kisses”…

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3 Things You Have To Know About Broodjeaapverhalen! Posted by on May 23, 2016

You may have heard of them – Broodjeaapverhalen (Bread with monkey stories)! But maybe you haven’t! What is a broodjeaapverhaal? And why this weird name? What about a famous story? 1. What is a broodjeaapverhaal?  Broodje means a roll, or a bread, with something on it. This is the word that comes right after. So, a broodje kaas, like in…

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Can You Say This Correctly? – 3: Tony’s Chocolonely Melk Passievrucht Yoghurt – C: [s] or [k]? Posted by on May 20, 2016

One of the hardest things about learning Dutch is pronunciation. Whether it is about the ui-klank (the “ui” sound), the G-klank (the “G” sound) or other sounds you might have a hard time with. This series, called “Can You Say This Correctly?”, is about providing a speech example that I recorded. I will give the Dutch text, a translation…

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De Trap was opened in Rotterdam Posted by on May 16, 2016

Uitkijkpunt De Trap (Observation point The Stairs) was opened today. It is right next to the Centraal Station Rotterdam (Central Station Rotterdam). Burgemeester (mayor) Ahmed Aboutaleb opened the construction today for the public. It attracted a huge menigte (crowd), and within one and a half hours, already 2000 people had climbed De Trap! Why was it built? This year, it is exactly 75…

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Garde Robe: An Amazing Discovery From The Golden Age Posted by on Apr 21, 2016

Last Thursday, a most verbazingwekkend (astonishing) discovery was published: a lading (cargo) of 17th century noble items, most importantly a vorstelijk gewaad (royal gown) were found! In the waters off the island Texel, many scheepswrakken (ship wrecks) from that time, the Gouden Eeuw (Golden Age – see below in the Sideline) were lying out there, waiting for cargo. Because of wind and weather, many of them zonken (sank) and…

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Follow Up: 4 Things I Dislike about the Netherlands Posted by on Mar 3, 2016

Last week I wrote about 4 things I disliked about the Netherlands, and I must say I was quite happy with the number and the variety of the comments the post received. Several of you included things you dislike about the Netherlands that I didn’t write about so I would like to compile everyone’s comments…

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4 Things I Dislike about the Netherlands Posted by on Feb 24, 2016

I’ve lived in the Netherlands for a couple of years and I think in this time, I have been able to see a good variety of Dutchness. There are plenty of things I like, but there are some things I find simply vervelend. I decided to compose a list of 4 things I dislike about the Netherlands…

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