Watch Your Language Blog

Stroopwafels, anyone??

April 30th is Koninginnedag (Queen's Day), the national holiday of the Netherlands in honor of Queen Beatrix.

On Queen's Day, the streets and canals of Amsterdam overflow with people dressed in Dutch orange; there are parades, parties, concerts, and dances; and vrijmarkten ("free markets"), a bit like collective yard sales, are held throughout the country. So it's a great time to practice some Dutch.

Here are a few key phrases related to the celebration.

Er is een mooi défilé op Koninginnedag.
(air is uhn moy day-fee-lay op koh-ning-in-nuh-dakh.)
There's a beautiful parade on Queen's Day.

Wil je iets te drinken?
(vil yuh eets tuh drink-uh?)
Do you want anything to drink?

De stroopwafels zijn lekker!
(duh strope-vah-fulz zine leh-ker!)
The stroopwafels (thin waffle-like cookies filled with syrup) are delicious!

Nee, ik wil niet met je dansen.
(nay, ik vil neet met yuh dan-suh.)
No, I don't want to dance with you.

If you'd like to learn some more Dutch, it's the perfect time to introduce an addition to our Spoken World series. Spoken World: Dutch was recently published, along with Croatian, Thai, Polish, Greek, and Irish.

But if you're into Queen's Day more for the festivities than the language, mark the date in your calendar for next year! Lang zal ze leven! ("May she live long!" kind of like "Happy Birthday!")

[Chris]

Tags: Dutch, Koninginnedag, Queen's Day, stroopwafels
April 29, 2009