Author Archives: Niki

Slaapkop = a person who is sleepy. Or as we say in English, “sleepy head”. (My teacher called one of my classmates a slaapkop.)

Today’s class had about the same number of students. There were more people there at the start of the class (6 students and the teacher) and we ended up with 11. This chapter was more interesting than the last ones have been. The theme was het nieuws (the news) and included a poll about whether or not foreigners should be required to speak Dutch when outside on the street. It turns out that this section of the book is from an actual poll conducted in 2006 (Dutch).

The reactions that they used in the textbook were made up, however.

12 = José: I totally agree [that foreigners should speak Dutch outside on the street]. I find it disrespectful for our language and culture if people speak another language on our street. I find it terrible if I walk on the street in my own country and the people can’t understand [Dutch].

I will say that I would find it pretty difficult to speak Dutch outside on the street, because it still requires a level of concentration. Noisy places tend to make concentrating a bit more difficult! There have been a few times on the street when I have been glad someone switched to English (like the time Marco and I stumbled across some friends on Koninginnenacht a few weeks ago).

I can see where they are coming from though. If I heard 25% Spanish everywhere I went in America I’d probably get pretty tired of it too. And then sign up for Spanish lessons (again)…

You of course have the other side of the argument – most Dutch people seem okay with talking to you in English. I don’t really have the problem of random strangers switching to English with me, thankfully. However, I am not saying the conversations that I do have are long and detailed. Usually they are not.

Possible reactions you can say (positive, neutral, or negative) to give your opinions

Above is one of the many charts included in the book. They write in most of the words for you, and you just have to fill in the blanks. Pretty interesting.

Three classes to go! And then I must find another class.

“Ghost town” betekent ‘Er is niemand hier. Iedereen weg is.’ Soms is de plaats een dorpje, maar niet alttijd.

I knew it was going to be a weird night when the other student who usually rides the bus (from Centraal Station) wasn’t there. There was a lot of traffic (verkeer) and it seemed to take forever for the bus to arrive at the school. We were really only 3 or 4 minutes late, though.

At the start of class (7PM) there was only three students including me, and the teacher. I think traffic played a part in it though, because by 7:05 there were 9 students. We even had one student who arrived after 9PM for some reason. That was strange.

We have officially moved into the first part of chapter 11 (11A) which means that I am only caught up on my homework through this week. I haven’t started 11B yet. I had a few good moments. We split up into groups of 2 and made up our own fairy tale using the imperfectum (simple past tense). While the fairy tale didn’t make much sense – you can ask Marco, he’ll confirm that after I told him it later – I could tell that my grasp on that tense was improving quickly.

The last two or three weeks have shown an improvement in speaking. While I still only know the main tenses (present, present perfect, simple past, and some future using ‘to go’/gaan) the main thing that is holding me back is the vocabulary. I must learn more of it! Time to break out the themed dictionary that Roger got me a few years ago.

Oh, and apparently I am 1.58 meters tall. I had no clue how to convert feet & inches into meters, but that was one of the random questions the teacher asked during the class. Thankfully she didn’t ask me so I could look it up later.

A few more weeks to go before we have our test (week 13). I am not worried. The only thing I want is to be the best in the class, or maybe 2nd best. Maybe I will settle for that. Maybe… 😉