“It’s Sinterklaas weather.” It’s a reference to a December 5th holiday in the Netherlands. But the first time I remember hearing this phrase was actually in the month of August, in Amsterdam. It was a joke. But any cool, wet, … Continue reading
My Dutch language skills have been diminishing gradually since 2012, when our family moved back to Ohio after a decade in Amsterdam. I recently subscribed to a Dutch podcast, however, as a way to counteract that erosion. I expected that … Continue reading
I’m active and aggressive when it comes to unsubscribing from corporate e-mail flyers. I prefer to keep a clean inbox. So I excuse myself from as many of the mindless mountains of advertisements I possibly can… Unless they’re in Dutch. It’s weird, but … Continue reading
“It’s the last little bits of lead that weigh the most.” “Unfortunately peanut butter.” Some Dutch expressions make perfect sense in English. Others: not so much. “Helaas pindakaas” — “Unfortunately peanut butter” — only makes sense because of the rhyme (though I actually … Continue reading
The chart above and the study from which it was produced are a sort of sweet spot of intrigue for me: the place where the love of linguistics, statistics, and the cultures of Europe meet. From my personal experiences in … Continue reading
The two American household items pictured above are almost never juxtaposed side-by-side — though they are available in just about any American grocery store — yet they happen to represent two highly common household items which are almost always placed … Continue reading
Trying to hold onto a foreign language is like watching the tide come in, waves gradually sweeping away the foundations of a sandcastle. The moat fills in first. Then the outer sentry-posts begin to crumble and fall. Eventually, the waves … Continue reading
The influences of the English language on other world languages are many and varied. It seems to seep its way into other languages, including Dutch, in a lot of surprising and unexpected ways — though really it makes sense, given … Continue reading