Category Archives: video

Reading ‘Western European’ through a Dutch lens

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I’ve just published a Dutch-language book titled Seven Languages in Seven Days. It teaches the Dutch-speaking reader how to understand written Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and West Frisian based on the languages they already know: their native Dutch, their (semi-)fluent English and their typically rusty school German and French. For them, I made the below video.

This book could also be written – rather than simply translated, since it will require quite an overhaul – for speakers of German and the Scandinavian languages. To make the video accessible for them, I’ve added English subtitles (machine-translated and lightly edited). But of course, if you’re a native speaker of yet another language, such as English, you’re still cordially invited to have a peek. Be welcome!

By the way, I’m delighted to say that the book has been very successful in the first three weeks of its life. Loads of media attention, extremely positive response from potential readers and even an official bestseller listing – my first ever in the Netherlands. There was even a great blogpost in English about it, written by my Portuguese language friend Marco Neves.

A love song to languages

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Two years ago, at a camping site in France, I wrote a song. In English, which was actually a first for me. I’d just written a whole book in English, but all my lyrics so far had been in Dutch (or occasionally Limburgish).

In autumn, I recorded it in Leon Coolegem’s PlayOn Studio. And then – nothing. The song sat on my laptop, gathering digital dust. Until I thought of (and developed the skills for)  making a video.

If you like it, do not hesitate to share it on social media.

A stream of Cape Week’s End videos, and more to come

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schermafdruk introI’ve recently been posting a lot of Cape Week’s End videos, on a wide variety of language-related subjects. And while they’re mostly in Dutch, I add English subtitles whenever I believe the subject to be of some interest to international viewers.

(I always subtitle the original words, so if you ever studied Dutch or if you’re fluent in German or Afrikaans, you can probably figure out most of what I’m saying – and improve your language skills in the process!)

What I don’t do is consistently advertise the videos here on languagewriter.com. If you want to get notified of the newest Cape Week’s End episode, I recommend that you either subscribe to my YouTube channel  or like & follow my professional Facebook page, which tends to be bilingual. Another option is subscribing to my Dutch blog (fill in your email address at the top of the right-hand menu and confirm by clicking on the button). At the moment, nearly all new blog entries are videos.

Here are a few recent videos:
* Basque words in Iceland and Canada, based on an interview with Siru Laine.
* Dutch spelling and its unique trick (and English could do worse than steal it)
* A sneak preview from my next book, The Dutchionary.

If you want to indulge yourself by binge-watching my whole back catalogue of videos spoken or subtitled in English, pour yourself a drink and click here for a full list. At the time of writing, it offers 11 items, ranging from a 99-second interview to a 40-minute presentation. And should you be into the Nordics: there’s one video with Norwegian subtitles.