From our blog
News, developments and articles from Regina Coeli
Dutch on thin ice
Dutch sports are dominated by skating in winter. You can follow all the major competitions live on TV. And when a Dutch skater wins, loses miserably or makes a mistake, you’ll find everyone talking about it around the coffee machine at work the next day, so it helps to know a little about the Dutch culture and a few words related to skating.
How long does it take to learn a language?
How long it takes to speak a foreign language depends on several factors: the desired level, your starting situation, the language you want to learn, the number of hours you put into it and the effectiveness of the method.
Once upon a time, ‘er’ was a little word...
Anyone who learns Dutch as a foreign language gets to take on the fun challenge presented by the simple combination of two letters: the word 'er'. ‘Er’ seems to be an insignificant word which doesn’t mean much of anything, yet it is used all over the place in Dutch and you cannot just omit it.
The language of Dutch weather
One of the hottest topics in the Netherlands is the weather. That’s not surprising of course, since it changes quite a lot. If you’re learning Dutch—no matter how early in the process you may be—it’s best to learn how to chat about the weather. It’s always a good way to strike up a conversation with someone.
‘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.