{"id":707,"date":"2021-09-08T10:31:43","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T10:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nadiamakessomeart.nl\/?p=707"},"modified":"2022-01-25T12:18:16","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T12:18:16","slug":"reading-books-in-dutch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nadiamakessomeart.nl\/index.php\/2021\/09\/08\/reading-books-in-dutch\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading books in Dutch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
art by Nadia Prins, 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This year I decided to bring my Dutch to a new level and embrace reading a book in Dutch. Reading a book sounds like a scary milestone, so I knew that getting over it will help me to realize how far have I come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far I read \u201cDe engelenmaker\u201d – Stefan Brijs (sci-fi, mystery page turner) and \u201cPogingen iets van het leven te maken\u201d- Hendrik Groen (short stories of a Dutch man who lives in the retirement home). I am thinking to go for Anne Frank Diary next. It seems to be a very emotional book about a historical event, I have visited the museum in Amsterdam, and a book is not so long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that I am done with the book #2 – time to reflect!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenge one: reading stops being relaxing.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To some extent, we read a lot these days: posts on LinkedIn and captions on YouTube<\/em>. At the same time our attention spans are getting shorter. As years go by, it is getting harder to force yourself to sit down with a book. Reading is usually considered to be your leisure time; and reading in a new language is not always (never?) a relaxing activity.   <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solution<\/strong>: I set timer to read \u201cjust for 15 minutes\u201d<\/em>. After 15 minutes, while you  are in the zone, you are more likely to go on and read more. I also do not treat this particular reading as \u201crelaxing time\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I treat it as \u201clearning Dutch\u201d moment. For relaxing, I do other things.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It removes the pressure of \u201cenjoying the read\u201d. Yes, you like the book; at the same time you know that now you dedicated time for your improvement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenge two: what to read.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Starting with  children books is a common advice for those who learn Dutch.  \u201cJip and Janneke\u201d are waiting  for you!<\/em> I appreciate this tip, but I find children books boring. I can recommend one children book I liked though – Het ministerie van Oplossingen<\/strong>. It is a bit of a children  detective story. Finding such treasures in the shelves of kid books was always hard for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solution<\/strong>: my solution was to ditch books for a while and learn Dutch in other ways: read newspapers, watch TV shows, do exercises. If I am not enjoying the plot, I could not force myself to keep going with the book.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are plenty of textbooks, newspaper articles or short stories to select from until you feel confident reading a book that is actually fun.  <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Challenge three: not understanding what you read<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

That actually was a true problem with the first book I read this year (de Engelemaker). The book is a combination of mystery, science, religion. I must admit, some explanations and references were hard to get. Missing a couple of pages can put you off, and force you to throw a book away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solution<\/strong>: I have a couple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(1) reading digital copies. When I read on iPad, I can hold a finger above any word, and immediately see a translation. It releases some frustration and allows to look up any word seamlessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(2) having a book with a longer plot rather than short  stories. Reading a book with a complex plot was at times hard for me; but missing some paragraphs still allowed me to follow the plot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Missing a paragraph in the short story often meant not understanding the punch line of the story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And people who read the Stories of Hendrik Groen can relate that it has a lot of cultural references and jokes that are not quite expat friendly. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(3) just rolling with it \u2013 reading as it is, inventing plot along the way. It also helps if someone else reads a book together with you, so you can share your thoughts and fill in the gaps!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What can I suggest to those who want to pick up their first book in Dutch? Just do it!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did I learn much from reading these two books in Dutch? Unsure. I still found reading longer opinion pieces in newspapers (such as NRC) way more useful for learning of the language. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would I recommend? \u2013 of course! <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For me it was (and is) an exercise in confidence, allowing myself to develop. It also helps to learn something new about the language and culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have any good books in Dutch  written by Dutch Speaking authors? Bonus points if they cover a historical event or shed light on the culture. Share away! <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article in which I share tips on reading books in Dutch! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/nadiamakessomeart.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/5108F89B-9167-4D6C-B1D3-B8236182EF07.png?fit=600%2C600&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nadiamakessomeart.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nadiamakessomeart.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nadiamakessomeart.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nadiamakessomeart.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nadiamakessomeart.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nadiamakessomeart.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":713,"href":"https:\/\/nadiamakessomeart.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions\/713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nadiamakessomeart.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nadiamakessomeart.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nadiamakessomeart.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nadiamakessomeart.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}