From our blog
News, developments and articles from Regina Coeli
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?
Learning Dutch: when are you going to get started?
When you’ve just arrived in the Netherlands, you face an important decision: are you going to learn Dutch? And when will you do that: right away or after you settle in a bit?
What language do you communicate in?
When you zoom in on language, you find that a multitude of languages are spoken in the Netherlands. Recent research has shown that 25% of adults here prefer to speak a language other than Dutch at home.If you aren’t required to learn Dutch, you can generally get by with English. An important question then is: is your English and that of your conversation partners up to scratch? And you could also ask yourself whether you’re comfortable not being able to understand and speak Dutch.
‘The Nuns’ are coming to the High Tech Campus to teach Dutch
The High Tech Campus in Eindhoven has been called the smartest square kilometre in Europe. To make the area even smarter, Language Institute Regina Coeli (‘the Nuns of Vught’) will be kicking off Dutch courses on location as of January 2023. The aim is to make learning the language and culture more accessible for the many expats—and their partners—who live and work in the Brainport region.
Is Dutch your stumbling block?
In terms of language, the Netherlands is an easy country to live in as an expat. With English and basic knowledge of Dutch, you can get by just fine. Until the moment you notice that you’re not getting any further...
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.