![\"DutchCP_image\"](\"http:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/DutchCP_image.jpg\")
<\/a>Image via <\/i>Massimo Catarinella<\/i><\/a> \/ Wikipedia<\/i><\/p>\n![Massimo Catarinella<\/i><\/a> \/ Wikipedia<\/i><\/p>\n1. Listen to Dutch bands<\/b><\/p>\nThough you\u2019ve probably never heard of Maaike Ouboter, it\u2019s a household name in the Dutch-speaking world. Her most popular song, Dat Ik Je Mis (Because I Miss You<\/a>), is a heart-wrenching autobiographical number about the loss of her parents. The song was a #1 hit single when it was released, and its video has over 4 million view on YouTube.<\/p>\nFor a more uplifting tune, have a listen to Andre Haze\u2019s Wij houden van Oranje<\/a> (\u201cWe Love Orange\u201d), a song celebrating the Dutch soccer team. Andre Haze is a legendary Dutch folk singer; if you mention him to your Dutch friends, they\u2019ll surely know his name. Soccer is an important pastime in the Netherlands, so if you find yourself watching a soccer game with your Dutch friends or colleagues, remember the lyrics to this song and be prepared to sing along.<\/p>\n2. Watch Dutch comedies<\/b><\/p>\nThe Netherlands is a country of many different cultures, and a great way to get a fresh multicultural perspective — and practice your Dutch comprehension skills at the same time — is to watch Hush Hush Baby!<\/a>, a comedy about a Moroccan living in the Netherlands. Though the movie is primarily a comedy, it also raises important topics about social justice in the Netherlands, and is great to use as a conversation starter with your Dutch-speaking friends.<\/p>\nAnother popular Dutch comedy, New Kids Turbo<\/a>, is about five unemployed friends who live in the North Brabant province of the Netherlands. In addition to being a great comedy, it\u2019s especially useful for learners of Dutch, as it has changed the way that people speak in the Netherlands. Indeed, the humorous swear words used by the protagonists — such as koekwous <\/i>(an offensive term for a crazy person) — can now be heard in streets and schoolyards all throughout the country.<\/p>\nHow good are your Dutch language skills? Find out by taking a <\/i><\/b>free language level test<\/i><\/b><\/a>!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n3. Read Dutch-language books<\/b><\/p>\nTaal is zeg maar echt mijn ding<\/a> (\u201cLanguage is Like Really My Thing\u201d) is a perfect book for Dutch learners, for several reasons. First, it consists of digestible, easy-to-read short stories that are entertaining and use mostly simple language. Second, the stories themselves are about language — you\u2019ll learn a ton about various Dutch words, such as the perceived fakeness of echt <\/i>(\u201creally\u201d) and the connotations of the word ding <\/i>(\u201cthing\u201d). Finally, the book is exceptionally quotable, containing endless clever instances of wordplay. Try busting out this one to your Dutch-speaking friends: \u201cUniversiteit is niet het tegenovergestelde van diversiteit. Waarom is dat<\/i>?\u201d (\u201cUniversity is not the opposite of diversity. Why is that?\u201d).<\/p>\nThere\u2019s plenty of Dutch-language media out there, but it can be hard to find in the English-speaking world. This list is a great introduction to the excellent songs, movies, and books that the Netherlands has produced. However, there\u2019s still much more to explore — check out the rest of our Dutch song<\/a>, movie<\/a>, and book<\/a> reviews. Still, the best way to gain insider knowledge of the Dutch language and culture is to take individually-tailored classes from a qualified, native speaking professional — consult our Dutch-language course and package options here<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite the Netherlands\u2019 thriving musical, cinematic, and literary scene, Dutch-language popular culture remains relatively unknown to the…","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":4656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,700],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dutch","category-learning-resources"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1923"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4657,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions\/4657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Canals_of_Amsterdam#mediaviewer\/File:KeizersgrachtReguliersgrachtAmsterdam.jpg\"){kind=link}
1. Listen to Dutch bands<\/b><\/p>\n
Though you\u2019ve probably never heard of Maaike Ouboter, it\u2019s a household name in the Dutch-speaking world. Her most popular song, Dat Ik Je Mis (Because I Miss You<\/a>), is a heart-wrenching autobiographical number about the loss of her parents. The song was a #1 hit single when it was released, and its video has over 4 million view on YouTube.<\/p>\n For a more uplifting tune, have a listen to Andre Haze\u2019s Wij houden van Oranje<\/a> (\u201cWe Love Orange\u201d), a song celebrating the Dutch soccer team. Andre Haze is a legendary Dutch folk singer; if you mention him to your Dutch friends, they\u2019ll surely know his name. Soccer is an important pastime in the Netherlands, so if you find yourself watching a soccer game with your Dutch friends or colleagues, remember the lyrics to this song and be prepared to sing along.<\/p>\n 2. Watch Dutch comedies<\/b><\/p>\n The Netherlands is a country of many different cultures, and a great way to get a fresh multicultural perspective — and practice your Dutch comprehension skills at the same time — is to watch Hush Hush Baby!<\/a>, a comedy about a Moroccan living in the Netherlands. Though the movie is primarily a comedy, it also raises important topics about social justice in the Netherlands, and is great to use as a conversation starter with your Dutch-speaking friends.<\/p>\n Another popular Dutch comedy, New Kids Turbo<\/a>, is about five unemployed friends who live in the North Brabant province of the Netherlands. In addition to being a great comedy, it\u2019s especially useful for learners of Dutch, as it has changed the way that people speak in the Netherlands. Indeed, the humorous swear words used by the protagonists — such as koekwous <\/i>(an offensive term for a crazy person) — can now be heard in streets and schoolyards all throughout the country.<\/p>\n How good are your Dutch language skills? Find out by taking a <\/i><\/b>free language level test<\/i><\/b><\/a>!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n 3. Read Dutch-language books<\/b><\/p>\n Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding<\/a> (\u201cLanguage is Like Really My Thing\u201d) is a perfect book for Dutch learners, for several reasons. First, it consists of digestible, easy-to-read short stories that are entertaining and use mostly simple language. Second, the stories themselves are about language — you\u2019ll learn a ton about various Dutch words, such as the perceived fakeness of echt <\/i>(\u201creally\u201d) and the connotations of the word ding <\/i>(\u201cthing\u201d). Finally, the book is exceptionally quotable, containing endless clever instances of wordplay. Try busting out this one to your Dutch-speaking friends: \u201cUniversiteit is niet het tegenovergestelde van diversiteit. Waarom is dat<\/i>?\u201d (\u201cUniversity is not the opposite of diversity. Why is that?\u201d).<\/p>\n There\u2019s plenty of Dutch-language media out there, but it can be hard to find in the English-speaking world. This list is a great introduction to the excellent songs, movies, and books that the Netherlands has produced. However, there\u2019s still much more to explore — check out the rest of our Dutch song<\/a>, movie<\/a>, and book<\/a> reviews. Still, the best way to gain insider knowledge of the Dutch language and culture is to take individually-tailored classes from a qualified, native speaking professional — consult our Dutch-language course and package options here<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite the Netherlands\u2019 thriving musical, cinematic, and literary scene, Dutch-language popular culture remains relatively unknown to the…","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":4656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,700],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dutch","category-learning-resources"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1923"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4657,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions\/4657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}