From our blog
News, developments and articles from Regina Coeli
This is the best vacation I have ever had!
Language Institute Regina Coeli is undoubtedly one of the most international places in the Netherlands. Not only do people from 20 countries work here, but the students who take our language courses also come from every corner of the world. One of those is Cat Dawson, a bubbly American go-getter who is currently studying in Spain and came to learn German in the Netherlands.
New Year festivities in the Netherlands
December is a month of festivities in the Netherlands. It all starts with St. Nicholas which is celebrated by young and old. But almost as soon as he has weighed anchor and set sail for Spain in his trusted steamboat, the Dutch are making plans for Christmas and the New Year. Whereas Christmas is generally a more intimate celebration when families get together for a festive meal, New Year’s celebrations are much more exuberant. How do you survive New Year’s Eve and the countless New Year’s drinks parties that are held in January?
The Netherlands—a hotspot for learning German
In any given week this summer, almost half of the students learning German were not Dutch and had seemingly no connection whatsoever to the Netherlands. So how did they end up at Regina Coeli for their foreign language training?
Learning Dutch at the kitchen table and in museums
Most people know Regina Coeli thanks to our “week with the Nuns” concept. At times, clients have somewhat unique training requests, which we do not at all mind because we then get the opportunity to rise to the challenge. Fifteen-year-old Dafna Heule’s programme is a good example of a course that was composed entirely according to the client’s needs.
Correct word order in Dutch sentences
The structure of Dutch sentences is something that many people who learn Dutch struggle with. That is not surprising. While many languages have a fixed sentence structure, Dutch has three! In this article, we look at the general rules concerning Dutch sentence structures.
The difference between ser and estar
One of the first things you discover when you start learning Spanish is that there are two words for the verb ‘to be’: ser and estar. So in Spanish—to paraphrase Shakespeare—the question is: ‘to be or to be’? In this article we briefly explain when you use one and when you use the other.