 |
In this April Newsletter: |
April 2007 |
Tulips, tulips, tulips >>
Koninginnedag >>
New: Skype lessons >>
Translated Dutch literature >>
New: In-company training>>
Expression of the month >>
|
| |
|
Tulips |
April: Tulip month
The Netherlands is best known for its tulips, windmills and clogs. April-May is Tulip Season, so many people visit Keukenhof Gardens.
This is a 80- acre park, situated just outside the town of Lisse, south of Haarlem. It features beds of tulips, crocuses, daffodils and other flowers from March 22nd until May 20th. Spring comes to life in a stunning display of breathtaking beauty. Millions of tulips and other bulb flowers will burst in bloom. A fantastic experience for everyone and a wonderful spectacle to photograph! |
Of all tourism gardens in The Netherlands, Keukenhof scores the highest visitor amount by far, with 700,000 visitors. |
| |
The tulip, introduced to Europe in middle of the 16th century from Ottoman Empire, experienced a strong growth in popularity in the United Provinces (now the Netherlands), boosted by competition between members of the upper classes for possession of the rarest tulips. Competition escalated until prices reached very high levels. By 1635, a sale of 40 bulbs for 100,000 florins was recorded. By way of comparison, a ton of butter cost around 100 florins and "eight fat swine" 240 florins. A record was the sale of the most famous bulb, the Semper Augustus, for 6,000 florins in Haarlem.
|
| |
Tulpmania
|
By 1636, tulips were traded on the stock exchanges of numerous Dutch towns and cities. This encouraged trading in tulips by all members of society, with many people selling or trading their other possessions in order to speculate in the tulip market. Some speculators made large profits as a result. Others lost all or even more than they had. |
| |
In February 1637 tulip traders could no longer get inflated prices for their bulbs, and they began to sell. The bubble burst. One of the first ‘booms’ ended and many Dutch were ruined. |
|
But that was then. Today the Dutch tulip is still very popular! You can see it in almost every garden in the Netherlands these days. More important, we export them! Millions of them. 60 % of the flower bulb export in the world comes from The Netherlands. So you can see tulips from the Netherlands all over the world.
Everything you always wanted to know about tulips: http://library.wur.nl/tulip/
|
Yearly export of flower bulbs :
Total € 510.000.000
- to Japan 270.000.000 bulbs
- to USA 414.000.000 bulbs
- to China 30.000.000 bulbs |
| |
Listen to the pronunciation of
Tulpen
tulips |
|
|
top |
|
|
Queen's Day
|
April 30th: Koninginnedag
April 30 th is a national Dutch holiday which is celebrated by street parties and other events. Everybody dresses up in orange, just like international sport events. This colour, symbolizing national and royal pride, stems from the royal family name - The Family Nassau, House of Orange.
|
|
| |
This year the Queen and other members of the royal family visit the festivities in old town Woudrichem and big town Den Bosch (‘s Hertogenbosch). The Royal visits are always broadcast live on national Dutch television..
April 30 th was actually Queen Juliana’s birthday, but when Queen Beatrix became Queen, she decided to keep 30 April as a day of national celebration. She did so out of respect for her mother.
See also or our Blog post of last year's April
Listen to the pronunciation of
Koninginnedag
Queen's Day |
|
|
|
|
|
Distant Dutch
|
New: Learning Dutch by Skype!
Now that many people know how to use Skype on their pc, Say it in Dutch has introduced two new options to learn Dutch from wherever you are:
Skype lessons are actually individual and tailored Dutch lessons, but instead of meeting face-to-face, our teacher will contact you by Skype telephone at a convenient . . .
read more >>
Skype Conversations are a more loose way to get your practice. You will do Dutch talking with our native and experienced Dutch teacher, and get live help to find the right words and how to . . .
read more >> |
 |
|
| |
|
|
|
Books |
Translated Dutch literature
Reading is a good thing to do when you are learning a language. But you will need quite some knowledge of the language before you can fully understand the famous Dutch novels and other Dutch literature. Luckily much Dutch literature has been translated into English. We recently opened an online shop with 45 specially selected translated novels/poems from Dutch novelists.
Take a look now >>
Looking for the original Dutch titles? Please let us know and we will help you to find them!
|
| |
|
Employees |
Working in the Netherlands
Several Dutch companies have international employees. Many of them are only temporarily staying here. Nevertheless they often desire to learn at least some of the Dutch language. That’s what we have been hearing lately!
So Say it in Dutch has decided to offer short in company courses to Dutch or international organizations in the northern parts of The Netherlands.
Foreign employees feel much more at home once they know how to use some basic Dutch! |
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
Say it in Dutch!  |
Expression of the month
Ik krijg er een punthoofd van !
[lit: I get a cone head of it]
It is driving me up the wall
|
Listen! |
 
|
|
