We had a meeting on Tuesday after my Finnish class. I had to teach Dutch to Anna and Satu. It was my first time that I taught my language, so I prepared myself. This lesson was about the pronunciation of my mother language. We had a basic conversation and I explained some facts about Belgium. Michael Kloet (form the Netherlands) joined us out of curiosity.
This is a summary of the possible vowel combinations.
| Combination | pronunciation | explanation | example | translation |
| ij and ei | (ei) | ‘ij’ and ‘ei’ are pronounced on the same way | ijs
klein |
ice
small |
| Unstressed e | ‘Lijk’ at the end of a word and unstressed | vreselijk | terrible | |
| ou and au | ow | ‘ou’ and ‘au’ are pronounced on the same way | pauw
koud |
peacock
cold |
| ie | (ii) | riem | belt | |
| ui | ui | vuil | dirty | |
| oe | (u) | poes | cat | |
| eu | (ö) | leuk | fun | |
| eeuw and ieuw | eew and (iiw) | eeuw
nieuw |
century
new |
|
| aai, ai, ooi, oi, oei | aaj, aj, ooj, oj, (uj) | fraai
mooi hoi moeite |
nice
beautiful hello effort |
And some interesting facts.
- There are +/- 24 million native Dutch speakers
- A few years ago, Belgium had no government for 541 days! We broke the record of Iraq (249 days). There was a manifestation organised by students, but it ended up in a festival.
- We have 2 kings and 2 queens. King Filip I, King Albert II, Queen Mathilde, Queen Paola. Queen Fabiola recently died.
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