An Inburgering Rant

How long can a girl go without writing about inburgering? Apparently too long! Though I had a bit of a sabbatical from classes (some may refer to it as milking my messed-up foot after falling back in the towards the end of March, I like to call it my sabbatical) don't be fooled. There is soooooo much going on in my inburgering world. Where shall I begin...Thanks to my inability to walk down the

How to Be a Dutch Dr. Doolittle

"If we could talk to the animals, learn their languages,  Maybe take an animal degree... ...If I could walk with the animalsTalk with the animalsGrunt and squeak and squawk with the animalsAnd they could squeak and squawk and speak and talk to me!"These are a few of the lines originally sung by Rex Harrison in the 1967 film Doctor Doolittle. Of course, the easiest way to talk to the animals is to

Learn DutchThrough Music: Part I - Bonus

Since the first playlist in the Learn Dutch Through Music series is all about music sung by my close harmony group, Divina, I thought it might be fun to do a bonus round. So here are a few numbers I was unable to find on Grooveshark as well as a few tunes by Divina (some including the all-male close harmony group The Dutchmen).Now, here comes the fun part... I'm leaving the translating up to you

Learn Dutch Through Music: Part I - BLØF

BLØF is without a doubt the most popular band on the Learn Dutch Through Music: Part I playlist. This four-piece rock band is also one of the most well-known Dutch band outside of the Netherlands due to their many collaborations with other bands from all over the world. In fact, a friend of mine recently emailed me asking for some tips and advice on learning Dutch and confessed that her reason

Learn Dutch Through Music: Part I - Spinvis

Erik de Jong is Spinvis. When he decided to take his music on the road, he brought on a few musicians. However, Spinvis is primarily a one-man-band. Spinvis' specialty is experimental pop and he has won numerous awards and distinctions for his music. Divina Close Harmony sings one song by Spinvis - Astronaut - and it appears on my Learn Dutch Through Music: Part I playlist.  I also like his song

Learn Dutch Through Music: Part I - Acda en de Munnik

Acda en de Munnik are two people: Thomas Acda and Paul de Munnik. The pop duo began in 1997. Other band members include Diederik van Vleuten, David Middelhof and Dave Van Beek. Acda en de Munnik also does cabaret and theater. The two actually met at the Amsterdamse Toneel & Kleinkunstacademie (Theater and Cabaret Academy of Amsterdam) in 1991.Divina Close Harmony sings one hit by Acda en de

Learn Dutch Through Music: Part I - Marco Borsato

Marco Borsato is probably one of the most famous singers here in Holland. He was born on December 21 1966 and began his career singing in Italian before switching to Dutch in 1994. In fact, most of his songs are Dutch covers and/or adaptations of Italian songs. He and his wife Leontine Ruiters have three children.Much of the Dutch music we sing in Divina Close Harmony are arrangements of Marco's

Learn Dutch Through Music: Part I

One of the best ways I have found to learn Dutch is through listening to Dutch music. Particularly if it's something catchy, you can find yourself singing along without even realizing it. You pick up the words, find out what they mean and see how they're supposed to be used grammatically. There are so many wonderful Dutch artists, it's not hard to find a great song to learn.To improve my Dutch,

Learn Dutch Through Music

This series, Learn Dutch Through Music aims to help you learn Dutch via the music of some of The Netherlands' best artists. Listening to and singing along with music is one of the best ways to learn a language. You get to hear popular language, correct grammatical usage and sentence structure, and learn new words.By introducing you to some of the most popular songs from some of the best Dutch

Happy Mother's Day!

Ok, so I'm a day late (or two or more or less... or even early depending on which time zone you live in), but that's no reason not to drag out the celebration of mothers. So I would like to wish you all a very happy Mother's Day. I hope all the mothers out there had a wonderful day surrounded by loved ones.Here in the Netherlands, the second Sunday in May is Moederdag, or Mother's Day. Like the