Merry Christmas everyone! In Dutch: Prettige Kerstmis iedereen en een gelukkig nieuwjaar! And a happy New Year. We say ‘dag’ to 2018 and ‘dag’ to 2019, because our Dutch ‘dag’ can mean both ‘goodbye’ and ‘hello’.
We say ‘dag’ and ‘tot ziens’ [see you soon] to the many students of Dutch who followed our courses over the last year and who attended the many free workshops we organised together with the library and who participated in our fortnightly bookclub. And we say ‘dag’ and ‘welkom’ to the many students who registered for the courses in the next year. Don’t forget: learning Dutch is fun and it opens new horizons.
Our team looks back on a very successful ‘Spreek Nederlands Dag’ in October. We were welcomed by an enthusiastic staff in library Haagse Hout and then we puzzled our way through the Bezuidenhout and had drinks and snacks at our institute. What a lovely day it was!
Wij zijn een beetje trots (we’re a little proud…) Over the last five years our button ‘Spreek Nederlands met mij!’ has become a household item. We distributed many tens of thousands buttons to students who got fed up having to deal with Dutchies refusing to answer in Dutch to them. This way, the button implies, they’ll never be able to practise what they’ve learned.
Yes, 2018 was a great year, so dag dag 2019 en welkom. We’re looking forward to another year of enthusiastic students of Dutch.
Ruud Hisgen
Director and teacher
Direct Dutch