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In this monthly newsletter: |
April 2006 |
Dutch Delta>>
Groningen: Bommel in Cartoon Museum >>
The Dutch Language today >>
The 100th Sound Byte >>
More Bites >>
Expression of the month >>
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Dutch Delta |
Struggle against the sea
The Netherlands is known for its low altitude and vulnerability to flooding. If you fly to The Netherlands, your plane will land on Schiphol, which lies 4,5 meters below sea level! The highest spot in our country is only 323 meters above sea level. We like to call this a 'mountain'. So you do not need any further explanation about the name of our country. |
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The low-lying areas consist mainly of “polders”, flat stretches of land, surrounded by dikes, where the water table is controlled artificially. From the 16th century, windmills were used not just to keep the land dry, but even to drain entire inland lakes.
The Netherlands’ many bridges, dykes, windmills and pumping stations illustrate its long struggle against the sea. We Dutch have always fought the North-Sea and are experts in building dikes, windmills and waterworks. We reclaimed a lot of land from the Sea and were mostly victorious.
But sometimes we lost the fight. One of the most frightening events was the Flood of 1953.In that year a disaster occurred in Zeeland and South-Holland. |
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A tidal wave broke the dikes at several points, flooding the islands. In one night, 1,750 km² of country changed into a dead plain of water. 1835 people died, 500.000 became refugees and 260.000 ha. of fields were ravaged. Its effects could even be felt far inside the country. A national disaster. Chaos and confusion everywhere.
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Zeeland 1953 |
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To prevent another such catastrophe, the Dutch government launched the Delta project. The realization of this chain of dams protecting Zeeland and South Holland from the North Sea lasted from 1958 to 1997 and costs billions of guilders. All of the dams reduced the length of the shore by 700 kilometres, creating soft water reserves, putting an end to the fields saltiness, avoiding the floods, easing the communications and the area's soaring. |
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Most remarkable is the Storm Surge Barrier Oosterschelde. According to the original plans, the Eastern Schelde would be closed, just like the other river mouths. The water enclosed behind the dam would therefore become fresh, exactly like the water in the Haringvliet and the Lake of Veere.
There was some unexpected resistance against the construction of a closed dam, because people were concerned that the unique salt water environment of |
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the Eastern Schelde would cease to exist. Specifically, not only the environment, but also the fishing industry would suffer from a dam. In 1976, the Dutch government agreed to an alternative plan: instead of building a closed dam, an open barrier would be built, containing a number of sluices that would only be closed during heavy storms and high water levels. The unique freshwater environment and the favourable fishery conditions would be maintained. .Sixty-two openings, each forty metres wide, would be installed to allow through as much salt water as possible. It maintains the tidal movement.
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The Eastern Schelde storm surge barrier turned out to be one of the biggest structures of the world.
Watch the Video (1 min 10, windows media player) >>
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The Delta Project ended in 1997 with the completion of a storm surge barrier in the Nieuwe Waterweg. The barrier has two enormous hinged gates that can be lowered in severe weather to close off the 360-metre-wide waterway. It protects greater Rotterdam’s one million inhabitants from flooding without harming the environment.
http://www.deltawerken.com |
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Groningen |
Marten Toonder in National Cartoon Museum |
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Strip, or stripverhaal is the Dutch word for cartoon. In Groningen we have a national museum dedicated to classic and modern Dutch (and international) Cartoons: Het Nederlands Stripmuseum. |
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Famous Dutch cartoons are Suske en Wiske, Jan Jans en de kinderen, Paulus de Boskabouter, Sjors en Sjimmie, Olivier B. Bommel en Kuifje. Visiting the museum feels like entering an artist's workroom. You also can learn how to draw your own cartoon. They have a permanent exhibition and several different extra exhibitions a year. It is great for children. But adults like it too.
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In April they have a special exposition about Olivier B. Bommel, a classic cartoon character. This bear calls himself 'a distinguished gentleman'. The stories of Ollie B. Bommel and Tom Poes (a cat) are written by the famour Dutch writer Marten Toonder who lived in Ireland half his life.
His stories have influenced our Dutch language a great deal. Many common expressions are actually made up by 'Olivier B. Bommel'. Examples: "Een eenvoudige doch voedzame maaltijd" ( translated as a simple yet nourishing meal, actually a very rich dinner) and 'kommer en kwel' (dolour and torture) .
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Ollie B. Bommel & Tom Poes
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Their creator: Marten Toonder
(1912-2005)
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Toonder has many fans, there is even a special Bommel-society of 'distinguised gentlemen' in The Hague.
The museum is open all year, closed on Mondays.
www.stripmuseumgroningen.nl
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Language
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The Dutch language today
Dutch is the mother tongue of more than 22 million people in the Netherlands and Belgium. In north western France, around 60,000 people speak a Dutch dialect.
Dutch is used widely in government and education in the former colony of Suriname and in Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles, which are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In Indonesia, many lawyers and historians speak Dutch owing to historical ties. Afrikaans, which is spoken in South Africa, is an offshoot of Dutch. Dutch has also influenced other languages, especially in shipping, waterworks and agriculture.
Dutch is taught at around 250 universities around the world. In French-speaking Belgium, northern France and Germany, many pupils choose Dutch as their second language. In 1980, the Netherlands and Flanders founded the Nederlandse Taalunie (Dutch Language Union), which promotes Dutch worldwide and draws up rules for spelling and grammar.
Learn some more, visit www.sayitindutch.com
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Friesland
In the province of Friesland, they speak a separate language: Frisian. This officially recognised language is the mother tongue of around 400,000 people. It is similar in some ways to English and the Scandinavian languages. Dutch is used in schools throughout the country, including Friesland.
Listen to a Frisian greeting >>>
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100 sound bites |
Favourite sound bites
This month we published our hundredth Dutch sound bite on our blog! Many of you have become regular visitors of our blog. It turns out that the sound bites are really very popular.
We noticed by our web statistics that specific sound bytes are definitely favorite! We are happy to present you our list of most played sound bytes.
More new Dutch phrases with sound bites are published each week at :
http://sayitindutch.web-log.nl
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More bites ...
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Summer program: A bite of Dutch
This summer Say it in Dutch Language school presents a special Dutch Sunday Lunch program for visitors: a light meal and a mini conversation course in one. The course only takes two hours. It will be every Sunday in May, June and July in the inner city of Groningen. Visitors of Groningen learn their first Dutch phrases while they are having a Dutch bite. So we call this program 'a Bite of Dutch'.
More Information about this mini program >> |
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Say it in Dutch! |
Expression of the month
Als je begrijpt wat ik bedoel..
If you know what I mean... |
Listen! |
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