Dutch this week stepped
up a pace again. The cultural aspects were a focus on the geography
on the Netherlands, with particular focus on the fact that a lot of
the country is below sea level. I got the feeling that the proximity
of the sea and the constant threat of flooding adds a lot the the
psychology of the character of the people. I'm reading a German novel
at the moment, Theodor Storm's “The Rider on the White Horse”. He
lived in North Friesland, now a part of Germany (but back then it was
a part of Denmark), but it is a coastal area also protected by dikes
from the same cold, biting North Sea, and I am captivated by the way
the nature of the threat of the water and the profile of a dark and
forboding, savage sea seems to seep into the characters. I wouldn't
be surprised if there was a hint of something similar coursing
through Dutch literature, as well as Frisian literature.
This week was focussed
on more verbs. It began with a much needed revision session of
regular, or weak, Dutch verbs. Then it was on to strong verbs. The
difficulty with strong verbs is that they are irregular, and change
unexpectedly in form and sound. We were advised to learn them, and I
noticed a lot of similarities with German irregular verb forms, so
hopefully my knowledge of will serve as a useful prop.
To finish off, we
started to form sentences. I have already noticed similarities with
German sentence structure, so again this may assist my learning. We have homework for this.
Next week is the half
term break, so there will be no class. I have a lot on next week,
particularly as I'll be attending 42 Worcester, to launch my new
poetry book (or possibly more!). However, this does not rule out any
work on my part with Nederlands, as I have obtained a Dutch
movie on DVD to watch, so that I'm still doing . Naturally, due to my
deliciously dark nature, it is a horror film, and is called “Sint”
(Saint). It is set on 6 December, and will hopefully give an insight
into the Dutch customs of celebrating the coming of St Nicholas,
albeit with a horror twist.
Update, January 2015: I need to write another diary entry for learning Dutch. Sorry, I'll be on it soon.
