My two new friends!

Learning Dutch can be a challenge at first. This is my experience so far. I’ve struggled with the pronunciation and with the fact that every rule has an exception, or even so many exceptions that you can’t actually consider it a rule. And don’t even get me started on telling the time! When our wonderful teacher explained how to tell the time in Dutch, I immediately had one question. How do we say “Sorry, I don’t have a watch?”.

However, I’m on my fourth lesson now and if anyone is looking for Dutch courses I highly recommend Koentact. After just four lessons (and a very exciting speurtocht-treasure hunt) I can honestly say I know how to speak a little Dutch. Ik spreek een beetje Nederlands! I don’t know if others feel this way, and if you do please share your experience in the comments, but it is such a nice feeling to finally get words and not just noise! I can count, I can introduce myself, I can order and pay and I can wish someone on their birthday! Or, you know, congratulate them!

Another great thing about learning Dutch is of course learning more and more about the culture of this country. This is guaranteed to make you feel more welcome. And trust me, Dutch people get so excited when they see foreigners trying to learn Dutch and they are happy to help you with the pronunciation. In my quest to familiarize myself with the Dutch culture, and after a recommendation from my Dutch teacher, I came across my two new friends, Bassie and Adriaan! If you are Dutch and reading this, please, oh please, tell me how was it for you watching this show as a kid.

For those of you who don’t know, Bassie and Adriaan where a Dutch circus duo starring in the homonymous TV show. Bassie is a clown and Adriaan is an acrobat. Their TV show made its first appearance in 1978 and ended in 1995 (thank you Wikipedia!). For me, these two guys are my new friends and valuable helpers in learning Dutch. I’ve watched so many videos of them, trying to find words I recognize, learn the alphabet, the numbers, the seasons and so on. Let me tell you, it really works! It also gives you a nostalgic vibe, it takes you back to the time when kids shows were actually kids shows, no one was killing anyone, monstrous characters and superficial non-heroes were not the norm and things were just innocent and… childish!

You can see below two of my favorite videos from Bassie and Adriaan. One will help you learn the alphabet and the other is a song about the four seasons! Enjoy!

Till the next post!

Tot ziens,

Roxanne