Many years ago--10 1/2 to be exact--I went to the Netherlands to visit the home of my friend Rosalie Beekman in Amsterdam. We spent time with other friends (Danny, Gabri, etc..) while she gave me a tour of her home. We went to Groningen, the Hague, and other places. I loved that trip and came back to visit a second time that year.
During my Dutch visits, I learned some words. I will share with you now what I remember. (These were brought to mind last week at a party when I was speaking with a Dutch woman. I started whipping out my Dutch to impress her with my knowledge.)
Dutch words to know*
Lekker = Tasty. "How's your mocha coffee? Lekker."
Gezellig = Cozy, comfortable, hamish (roughly approximate definition). Pronounced with the G's sounding like ח in Hebrew or 'ch' in the name Bach. "We had a great time at the party it was just gezelig." or "Do you like our home? Gezlig!"
Aardappel = Potato. Literally Earth+Apple. Don't ask why I remember this one.
Drop = Black Licorice. The Dutch have many varieties, and my favorite is the salty kinds. It is never expected that foreigners will enjoy Droop. This is not anything remotely like twizzlers.
Stroopwafel = Caramel filled waffle cookie sandwiches. The caramel is rather hard when you buy them, but you place them on top of your tea or coffee. It both keeps the hot drink hot and melts the caramel. One can buy these at Trader Joe's.
hottentottententententoonstelling = This is the Dutch equivalent of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Only this one means something: A tent-selling exhibition of the tribe of the Hottentots. If you learn to say this word correctly, you will be guaranteed to make any Dutch person laugh.
Ik spreek geen Nederlands. = "I don't speak Dutch." This was a very important sentence.
This concludes our Dutch lesson for the day. Next time, we will learn about geography, the origin of polevaulting, windmills and white bicycles.
*All spelling should be considered suspect. If you have any corrections to make in my Dutch, please feel free to send me a messages.
Limekiln
Can you spot the intrepid explorer? (You've reached the end of the blog.)
5 comments:
gezelig = gezellig
droop = drop, with a short o like in knock.
But you passed our inburgeringsexamen.
I have made the corrections, thank you. I have no idea what a inburgeringsexamen is. If broken up into English words, it sounds REALLY weird.
After trying to read the Dutch wikipedia entry at http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inburgeringsexamen, I'm going to take a guess that inburgeringsexamen is an immigration exam.
Am I right?
Adiv! Hoe gaat het met je? This is too weird...I googled my own name and stumbled upon your blog!
How have you been? If you want to stay in touch, you can email me at: rosalie.beekman@gmail.com
xx Rosalie
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