Posts in January 2009

Swimming lessons

Posted by Alie
Jan
25
2009

Today, a topic about ‘zwemles’ (swimming lessons) in the Netherlands and why it’s so important.

The Netherlands is one of the countries with the highest percentage of people who can swim. Since years and years and years, parents bring their young children to swimming lessons so they can learn how to swim.

What I can remember of it, it was horrible! But, truth be told, it is necessary.

Memories arise of strict instructors, yelling from the side of the pool with – oh horror – their large iron hook (just in case some kid threatens to drown, they could use that hook to pull the kid up again… I’m not kidding… it was a large hook…)

Luckily, the system has changed over the years and more and more you see instructors guiding and teaching the kids, among the kids. Still, they are very strict about the exercises the children have to do, whether they are afraid or not. I got that first hand when my daughter had her swimming lesson last Tuesday!

Anyway, children can receive a swimming diploma when they are good enough in the different swimming strokes. They can get an A,B and C diploma, but most kids stop after the B-diploma.

The most ideal age for children to learn to swim, is 5 years. At this age children start playing outside without constant supervision of their parents. Children need to be able to swim, especially during emergency situations and in Holland there are A LOT of brooks and ponds for a small child to fall in to. Also, research showed that children at age 5 have the right ‘motoriek’ to be able to learn swimming well. I’m not sure how to translate ‘motoriek’ but it means the level of control over the muscle system. Besides, usually kids love to learn how to swim (my daughter does J )

The downside, swimming lessons are expensive. Before a child reaches the level of the A- diploma, as a parent you spent 400 euro’s, a monthly fee of 20 euro’s . In dollars that would

$ 518, monthly fee of $ 26.

In Holland, swimming lessons are so important, that schools also have a swimming program, but not until the children are 8 and that is pretty late to start from the beginning.

Now, the reason for all this fuss about teaching children to swim, is a sad one.

The Netherlands is a country with a lot of lakes, brooks, ponds, rivers… we have a ‘wet’ country. And unfortunately, still every year young children drown, having escaped the supervision of their parents.

Where I grew up, there was a harbour and a beach in the old part of the village. Though many accidents involved children falling in the harbour (horrible stories plenty of how older sisters lost control of a baby carriage and it rolled straight into the water)… most accidents happen to small children living near a small brook or pond.

Last year, a mother lost the attention to her seven year old daughter at the beach, while she was reading a book or chatting with the neighbour next to her. When she no longer saw the girl, all people present started a search… but it was too late… they found the little girl in the water… she couldn’t swim.


Now, truth be told, knowing how to swim won’t always save a kid.

There are former neighbours of mine, who I never really liked because especially the wife could be quite arrogant. The husband was okay I guess, sweet tempered though maybe a bit misguided. Anyway, they were dealt a rotten hand of cards in life, the recent years, so I can’t help but feel sorry for them. First they lost their main source of income, their nightclub burned down, though some believe it was insurance fraud. They built a new club, right outside the village and rebuild their home (which was adjacent to the nightclub) for A LOT of money… until the Havana club started doing poorly and it had to be sold, later the wife barely survived cancer and she still had to work, just like her husband to makes ends meet… something she never had to do before… But I’m digressing from the actual story…

In the years when they were still living their life of arrogance, they were on vacation to God knows where… a luxurious camping no doubt… and there was a small pond nearby.

Mum and dad ordered the two big sisters to watch after their baby brother while they were drinking and smoking and having fun. Of course the two sister got caught up in their own leisure time and games and forgot all about their brother… A cute little boy, between the age of 3 and 4, knew how to swim because mum used to swim with him since he was a baby (there’s a special baby water program)… Roeltje was very curious and got to close to the pond and fell in. Now, the sides were too high and Roeltje swam around, looking for a way out… but there was none… He probably yelled for help, but was too far away from his parents and sisters… nobody could hear him and he probably just swam there until fatigue weighed his body down… and he drowned…

If the sides hadn’t been so high, he could have climbed out, because he was a good little swimmer, a regular water rat.

Then again, had his sisters done what their parents had asked, or better yet, had the parents kept a better supervision themselves… this never would have happened…

These are just two of the many, many, many, tragic drowning stories… And with all the water and dangers around, parents keep bringing their children to swimming lessons… awful strict teacher with a gruesome hook or not… it’s important to give your kid the benefit of knowing what to do and how to act when it accidentally falls into deep water.

 
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Feeling the language

Posted by Alie
Jan
15
2009

Like every other language, in Dutch you can say the same thing in many different ways. None is necessarily wrong (unless you break all grammar and spelling rules of course) but one or a few are always better.

With this topic, I’m hoping to encourage you to think outside the box. Think past all the standard Dutch Words and phrases you hear and learn. A very good way to do this, is to by a Dutch book with synonyms for example, or a very extended dictionary. This can really be a helpful tool to boost your knowledge about the Dutch language and it will lift you above the ‘tourist Dutch level’ you might otherwise get stuck in.

An example:

Gister liep ik met mijn moeder over straat - Yesterday, I walked with my mother down the street (I know this sounds odd in English, but to get my point across, I need to stick with the same word order as in Dutch)

Now, you can change the above sentence in a few different ways. You could change the order of the words, or you could substitute a few words with other, better sounding words.

Changing the order of the words:

Ik liep gister met mijn moeder over straat

Met mijn moeder liep ik gister over straat

Ik liep met mijn moeder gister over straat

Ik liep over straat met mijn moeder gister

All above sentences above are accepted Dutch sentences. Grammatically, nothing is wrong with them. Still, a few of the above examples would be never used that way, because some sentences flow better in a certain way. It also matters where you want the focus to be. What’s more important: what you did yesterday, who you were with yesterday or where you were yesterday.

Gister met mijn moeder over straat ik liep

Met mijn moeder gister ik liep over straat

I hope you can see how the above two sentences are NOT correct Dutch sentences. I could give you more examples but I know you get my point J


Okay, now to substitute a few words in the example sentence.

Ik – I

Like many other languages there’s only one word for ‘Ik’

Lopen (verb, ‘liep’ is first person past tense) – to Walk

Hmm, there should be a few different verbs that convey the same message, but with slightly different ‘feels’ and ‘meanings’

Slenteren, wandelen, kuieren, banjeren – all these words basically mean the same, but in meaning they can differ from casually strolling down the street, to a bored strolling down the street, to lounging around and a fancy promenade.

It all depends on what you want to say and how you want to say it.

Gister – Yesterday

One word to say Yesterday

Moeder – Mother

Many different ways to say ‘mother’, some forms are used in dialects only, some forms are more affectionately used and other forms are more commonly used.

Mama, ma, moe, mams, mem, moesje – all these forms basically mean the same, a few English equivalents are: mum, ma, mama, mumsy, mammy, etc. etc.

Straat – Street

Also a few different ways to say ‘street’, the meaning differing in terms of the area you are walking.

Boulevard, steeg, laan, weg, dreef, allee – all these forms basically mean the same, but in meaning they can differ from walking down a road, street, lane, back alley, boulevard, etc. etc.

As you can see, there are many ways to influence the meaning, sound and flow of a certain sentence.

 
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To have forgotten times two.

Posted by Alie
Jan
10
2009

You might think to yourself… What a strange title! To have forgotten times two? What could/ should you expect of a topic with that kind of title?

Well, this morning I remembered a fall out I once had with a former colleague of mine.

To explain, I will tell you something about the work I used to do.

A couple of years back, I was a receptionist at an accountancy office in Emmeloord. I took incoming calls, distributed mail and correspondence, called advisors for their visiting clients AND edited the outgoing correspondence.

Many of these letters were pretty common, fabricated with pre-written templates and just changed a bit to match their need.

But, of course, some of my former colleagues who thought themselves so clever and brilliant in the Dutch language, handed in concepts that really needed A LOT of editing!

And some of them really seemed to take the corrections as a personal attack … or a jab at their brilliancy.

So, one day one of the senior accountants who ran her own division, came to me all blazing and blistering why I had the nerve to make a correction in a perfectly good Dutch sentence.

“Ik moet helaas bekennen dat ik helemaal ben vergeten uw aangifte af te werken.”

“Unfortunately, I have to admit that I forgot to complete your tax report.”

Do you see the mistake? It’s very minor, but it’s there!

No? Don’t worry, neither did she… Yes? Well, good for you! I’m so proud! It’s something I had to learn as well!

For those who didn’t see. Let’s take a look at the verb ‘vergeten’ (to forget) in the sentence.

In Dutch, we say: Ik heb vergeten (I have forgotten)

And

Ik ben vergeten (I am forgotten, but usually it still means: I have forgotten, the only case ‘Ik ben vergeten’ literally means: “I am forgotten” is when someone else did in fact forget about you.)

Okay… so we have, ‘ik heb vergeten’ and ‘ik ben vergeten’… is there a difference?

Yes! A small one, but there is a difference!

In Dutch we say: “Ik heb vergeten…” when you forgot to DO something.

Examples: Ik heb vergeten de deur op slot te doen (I forgot to lock the door).

Ik heb vergeten het boek terug te brengen. (I forgot to return the book).

And we say: “Ik ben vergeten…” when something slipped your mind, when you forgot about a fact.

Examples: Ik ben je verjaardag vergeten! (I forgot about your birthday!)

Ik ben je telefoonnummer vergeten. (I forgot your phonenumber)

Let’s take a look at the sentence again.

Ik ben vergeten uw aangifte af te werken.(I forget to complete your tax report.)

It’s not like the tax report just slipped her mind… she forgot ‘to complete’ it, she forgot to DO something, she forgot an action in regard to the noun. So, obviously, it should have been:

Ik heb vergeten uw aangifte af werken.

When I pointed her out the subtle difference and even showed her the proof on a website about Dutch grammar, her jaw went rigid and she left in a huff. Me and my other colleague couldn’t help but smile.

 
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Pregnancy and child birth

Posted by Alie
Jan
5
2009

I just realized there’s a topic I would really like to discuss. I’ve seen countless movies and TV shows in which a pregnant woman goes into labor, is driven to a hospital at break neck speed (think ‘Nine months’) and delivers the baby in just an hour later or so.

And the delivering mother of course screams for an epidural.

Now, in the Netherlands women also deliver their babies in a hospital, but the practicing doctors (who still make house calls in smaller villages) often stimulate a delivery at home.

As I understand… a child delivery at home is quite rare in America, but it’s more the rule than the exception to the rule in the Netherlands.

Today it’s often a choice made by the mother.

The comfort of all available necessary units in case of an emergency in the hospital versus the comforting and soothing surroundings of your own home.

I myself delivered my two children at home and I’m glad I was able to do this at home.

Of course I also hear wonderful stories about deliveries in the hospital, but there’s just something very personal about a delivery at home.

Okay, once you find out you are pregnant, a woman in the Netherlands informs her doctor of these glad tidings and can make a choice. Either to find a gynecologist of your choice or your personal doctor. I can only tell you how things happen when you choose to deliver your baby at home!

Anyway, from that point on, you are under close observation by the doctor/gynecologist.

This means frequents visits to monitor the weight gain, blood pressure, position of the baby and a sonogram. Sometimes for medical reasons you also get an echogram, in this case the expenses are covered by the insurance company. Otherwise, you can also choose to make an echogram at your own expenses in a later stadium of the pregnancy.

Several services are available for first time mothers, like Lamaze, pregnancy yoga or ‘mensendieck’. I took a Lamaze class during my first pregnancy, but I found out it was more a social gathering with first time mothers than that I really learned something. All the huffing and puffing was a waste of time for me because when you go into labor, you find your own way to cope with the pain.

At the local ‘Care program’ you can get all the necessary items for a home delivery. Like a bed pan, plastic covers to protect the bed (not just for the delivery itself but also in case the water breaks early) and ‘klossen’ these are square wooden objects to raise the bed to comfortable height for the nurse to work at.

For a delivery at home, there are also certain products you have to get yourself (which you would also have to pay for when you deliver the baby in a hospital) such as: ‘kraamverband’

I couldn’t find a proper translation, but these are bandages for the excessive blood loss after the delivery.

You can either ask for an assisting nurse at the local ‘Care program’ or you can choose for someone from a private agency.

The assisting nurse will help during the delivery and take care of mother and child for a certain amount of hours spread over the first eight days after the delivery.

This means that right after the delivery, she makes sure the mother is washed and clothed, the baby gets cleaned and dressed, assists the mother if she chooses to breast feed the baby, in the morning helps the mother get bathed or showered, helps bathe and dress the baby, is there to supply coffee and cake (and of course Dutch brisk with blue or pink sprinkles on top) for visiting family members and friends… and makes sure the most elemental and important housekeeping duties are performed.

I can tell you, it’s a bliss to be pampered in such a way after a delivery!

The Dutch brisk with blue or pink sprinkles is of course a hard to forget tradition! Fathers often give this as a treat to colleagues, big brothers and sisters often treat this to their friends and teachers at school and often it’s the very first treat given to visiting family members and friends.

The doctor also pays a few regular visits to make sure mother and child are doing fine!

 
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