From our blog
News, developments and articles from Regina Coeli
‘To be able to manage, it’s useful to speak Russian’
Paul van Deuren took a Russian course at Regina Coeli about a year and a half ago. Because of COVID-19, he spent less time in Russia than he would have liked. But, now that the Russian lockdown is over, he’s working at the McDermott office in Moscow again. We reflect with him on learning the Russian language.
Business Spanish for beginners
Have you ever looked into Spanish courses for beginners? Apparently, if you want to learn the language, you can’t get around learning the names of fruits and vegetables, colours and all kinds of sports. But what if you mainly need the language to speak with Spanish-speaking suppliers or customers? Then it’s a bit handier to be able to present your product and write a decent email than to be able to name every fruit and vegetable in the produce section of the supermarket.
Take a journey by reading a book
When you were in school, you probably frequently heard that reading books was good for your language development. No matter how much education has changed, schools still really promote reading, so an idea that has survived all these years must have some merit to it, you might say. In fact, reading books helps you develop your language skills even when you learn a foreign language as an adult.
The language of the ‘Hollandse pot’
Every winter, steaming hot plates of food magically appear on tables in Dutch homes everywhere—things like big pots full of snert, boerenkool or hutspot. These are collectively called Hollandse pot, or stamppot. These are quite hearty meals that fill the belly and warm up you right down to your toes. Even though Dutch winters aren’t as cold as they used to be, these dishes are still wildly popular in the winter months.
Groetjes!
You’ll come across the word ‘groetjes’ in all sorts of places in the Netherlands. In the closing phrases of emails, on postcards in souvenir shops (groetjes uit Amsterdam), but also during conversations when you’re out and about. You might hear ‘groetjes’ instead of ‘doei’ or ‘tot ziens’ when someone says goodbye. And have you ever heard someone say, ‘Doe de groetjes aan Jan’?
Building trust and a network through Arabic
Samuel Hanna Gadalla started a new job in sales at Story Auto Import-Export over six months ago. Exactly the right man for the job, his boss thought. That’s because Samuel not only knows everything about cars, but he also speaks fluent Arabic. At Story Auto Import-Export, they could put that to good use because they export loads of cars to Arabic-speaking countries. So why did we spot Samuel attending an Arabic course at Regina Coeli?