Do you want to find out more about Dutch culture and the Dutch language? Here’s a great tip! Listen to the ‘Language and Communications edition’ of the annual CONNECT event. This webevent, organised by The Hague International Centre, is now available on YouTube.
Listen to four interesting presentations about Dutch culture and the Dutch language in just one hour time. As you know, culture and language go hand in hand, so this is a great way to get an introduction to the Netherlands, and the language! The fourth workhop is presented by Ruud Hisgen of Direct Dutch Institute.
Here are the topics:
- The Dutch culture
- Why learn Dutch?
- What is the best way to learn Dutch?
- Dutch is easy to learn (by Ruud Hisgen of Direct Dutch, starts at 42.48)
And here are the six questions that are asked in a poll before the start of Ruud’s presentation (the questions will be answered during the presentation):
Quiz 1. What does the Dutch greeting ‘dag’ mean?
a. hello
b. goodbye
c. both: hello and goodbye
Quiz 2. What does the greeting ‘tot ziens’ mean?
a. see you later
b. I’ll see you when I see you
c. farewell and goodbye
Quiz 3. Which word is number one in the top ten of Dutch words that were exported to other languages?
a. polder
b. dijk
c. baas
Quiz 4. How many people speak Dutch in the world?
a. 24 million
b. 30 million
c. 50 million
Quiz 5. Which definite article (‘the’) is used most frequently in Dutch?
a. het
b. de
c. both are equally frequent
Quiz 6. What does the word ‘gezellig’ mean?
a. pleasant or enjoyable, as in a pleasant chat (een gezellig praatje)
b. cosy or comfy, as in a cosy room (een gezellige kamer)
c. sociable or companiable, as in a sociable person (een gezellige man of vrouw)