From our blog
News, developments and articles from Regina Coeli
Language learning tip: set your goals
You have probably heard quite a few people you know mentioning that they would like to learn Spanish someday. Or that they really need to put some serious effort into learning German for business. And yet most of the time, nothing comes of it. When a desire remains vague, it is not likely to become a priority. That is not necessarily a bad thing, of course. It is okay to have a dream or two. But if mastering a foreign language would help you immensely in your work, your career or your studies, you would be somewhat mad not to pursue it as a matter of priority.
Celebrating Chinese New Year
Every year, more than one quarter of the world’s population will celebrate the Chinese New Year (new is “Xin”; year is “Nián” in Mandarin pinyin). Chinese New Year -also known as the Spring Festival- is celebrated on the second new moon after the Winter Solstice and can fall anywhere between late January and the middle of February. New Year festivities traditionally start on the first day of the month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest.
Alaaf! The language of Dutch Carnival
Seven weeks before Easter Sunday, Carnival starts in a large part of the Netherlands. Especially in the provinces of Noord-Brabant and Limburg, life is dominated by this feast for a few days, but Carnival is also celebrated in some places in the eastern part of the country. Carnival means ‘carne vale’: farewell meat. Carnival marks the beginning of a fasting period, although few Carnival-goers still honour that tradition...
Through any kind of weather
Dutch people go by bike to work, school, the pub, the sports club, you name it. And you’ll generally find them cycling through any kind of weather. A heavy downpour doesn’t stop the Dutch (and the expats who have also adopted the habit) from hopping on their bikes. How do they manage?
The power of an intensive training course
Does learning a language quickly also mean forgetting it quickly? If you do it right, it doesn't.
You learn about the culture alongside the language
Even if you speak a language completely correctly when it comes to grammar, the approach you take can often be vastly different to what you might do in your mother tongue. This has everything to do with cultural differences.