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Re: Dutch Study Group

Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 2:23 pm
by tommus
Sir Philip Sydney and his connection with the Dutch national anthem Wilhelmus

Sir Philip was an Englishman, born in 1554 and died in Arnhem in 1586 fighting with the Dutch against the Spaniards at the Battle of Zutphen. There is a monument to him near Zutphen.

English Wikipedia

Dutch Wikipedia

Amongst many other things, Sir Philip was a poet and song writer. He wrote a song "Who hath his fancy pleased" which is meant to be sung to the tune of Wilhelmus which itself (the anthem) was written around 1570. Wilhelmus is recognised as the oldest national anthem in the world although it was only officially designated as the Dutch national anthem in 1932.

Who hath his fancy pleased

Wilhelmus itself is very interesting. Among other things, despite the struugle to oust Spain from the Low Countries around that period, the anthem pledges loyalty to the Spanish king.

Wilhelmus

Re: Dutch Study Group

Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 3:44 pm
by tommus
Thank God It's Friday (TGIF)

On Friday in the Netherlands, it is common to end the week with a borrel, which is a glass of strong drink and also the associated little get together with maybe some snacks. All this should probably happen at the end of the day when the week's work is completed, but it seems more common at noon. So it has come to be called vrijmibo for vrijday + middag + borrel.

Today's vrijdag Sigmund cartoon addresses the issue.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vrijmibo

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borrel

Dutch News

Re: Dutch Study Group

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2019 11:43 am
by tommus
I just encountered the word "tig" in this Dutch sentence:
Nederlandse literatuur is en wordt in tig talen vertaald.

I don't recall every encountering that word before. The Internet dictionaries say it means "umpteen" or "zillion", basically, "a large number of". As such, it seems to be quite a useful colloquial adjective. Not sure how much it is used in everyday Dutch.

Re: Dutch Study Group

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2019 12:29 pm
by tommus
tommus wrote:I have been trying DutchPod101 for the last several weeks.

Despite my concerns about the errors and omissions I found while I was trying DutchPod101, and despite the fact that they did not answer my detailed email to them about these problems, I have signed up for a subscription. Why? Because as they sent me the daily email (or several) about the Word of the Day, they kept increasing the discount they would offer. I recall it being 28% and then 31% off. and finally they offered a huge discount. Their two year price for Premium was $240. which they suddenly reduced to $84 with the option of a complete refund within 60 days if you were not happy. So I now have Premium, and it seems to be very good. What impressed me the most is the huge amount of material there is, generally all with matching text and high quality audio. I am a little concerned if there is enough material at an advanced level, but there seems to be quite a bit. I'll have more info after using it a bit more.

Re: Dutch Study Group

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2019 12:49 pm
by Doitsujin
tommus wrote:The expensive Van Dale Dictionary is published by a private company and dominates the Dutch-language dictionary scene. [...] So although Van Dale and Het Groene Boekje promote the quality of the Dutch language, they may also be counter productive because of their monopoly and cost.
If you install the Kindle for iOS/Android app, you can download the (NL-NL, EN-NL, NL-EN) Van Dale dictionaries for free. If you have neither an Android device nor an iOS device, you can download the Kindle for PC/Mac app and download the monolingual version of the Van Dale Dictionary for free. (For an example definition, see the next section.)
Unfortunately, the dictionaries can't be directly accessed; you'll have to sideload at least one free Dutch or English book, look up a random Dutch or English term and tap Full Definiton to open the dictionary.
tommus wrote:I just encountered the word "tig" in this Dutch sentence:
Nederlandse literatuur is en wordt in tig talen vertaald.
The Dutch-English Van Dale dictionary has the following definition:
Van Dale wrote:tig
hoofdtelw - [informeel]
umpteen, (heel veel) zillions
• hij heeft er tig thuis liggen | he's got zillions of those at home
• ik heb het al tig keer gezegd | I've already said it umpteen times
IMHO, the last example sentence is spot on.

The monolingual Van Dale dictionary has the following definition:
Van Dale wrote:tig
hoofdtelw
[informeel]

aanduiding van een onbepaald groot aantal
• ik heb het je tig keer gezegd
synoniem(en): veel

Re: Dutch Study Group

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2019 7:49 pm
by tommus
Doitsujin wrote:If you install the Kindle for iOS/Android app, you can download the (NL-NL, EN-NL, NL-EN) Van Dale dictionaries for free. If you have neither an Android device nor an iOS device, you can download the Kindle for PC/Mac app and download the monolingual version of the Van Dale Dictionary for free.

I have the NL-NL dictionary on my Android smartphone and my tablet. But I prefer to read Dutch ebooks on my Windows 7 PC. Although the PC has 13 pop-up dictionaries, Dutch is not one of them. And Amazon tells me it is not available for a PC. Perhaps it is only available in Europe, not in Canada. However, the PC Kindle has a pop-up that immediately looks up the word in Google Translate in the browser. So that is not too bad.

Re: Dutch Study Group

Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:09 pm
by Elsa Maria
Kat wrote:
Lekturama Luistersprookjes, which I've mentioned before, is also very good and allows you to read and listen at the same time.
You could choose a very well-known fairy tale to start with, for example Roodkapje (Little Red Riding Hood). You'll find that on YouTube.

Thank you, Kat, for another perfect recommendation! And I don't know how I got so lucky, but I was able to purchase an incomplete set of these books for a very reasonable price. I got nine volumes, which will keep me busy for a long time! I really treasure vintage children's books, and these are delightful to have. The paper quality is very nice. And it is much easier for me to read along than using the screen.

Re: Dutch Study Group

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 2:47 pm
by Kat
Elsa Maria wrote:...lucky, but I was able to purchase an incomplete set of these books for a very reasonable price


That's great! I was pleasantly surprised by the Lekturama books, too, even though I use the digital version. When I checked, the only available copies were sold on Marktplaats and most sellers only had the books without the accompanying audio. Or they were selling USB sticks, not the originals.

My general experience with Dutch media is that you should grab the things you really want quickly. I could still kick myself for not purchasing the DVD set of Kinderen geen bezwaar when Bol had it some time ago. :cry: It wasn't exactly cheap but given the fact that it contained all 13 seasons the price was okay. Now it's sold out and second-hand copies aren't an option either, they are offered for at least twice the original price. It simply didn't occur to me that DVDs could sell out so quickly, with German or English media that usually doesn't happen. Either they only produce really small quantities because the Dutch market is so small or there was a lot more demand than anticipated.

Re: Dutch Study Group

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 5:28 pm
by Elsa Maria
Maybe I was not clear, but I only bought the books. They did not come with the audio.

The next time I visit the NL, I want to go to Efteling (The Fairy Tale Forest), so these fairy tales will be great preparation for that!

Re: Dutch Study Group

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 5:42 pm
by Kat
Sorry for the confusion! The fairy tale park looks cute. :)