I really enjoyed this! I had heard about 'the nuns" and my husband and I have been thinking about taking this course. I now know more about what to expect and that there aren't any actual nuns there anymore! You are a talented, engaging and humorous writer. Thank you!
Thank you for such a lovely comment. I hope you and your husband find it as mad and inspiring as I did if you do go! Please let me know! I do 100% recommend having more Dutch under your belt than I did before heading there though – I could have made much more of the course if I wasn't a total beginner. Thanks again!
Just got an email from my boss suggesting "a week with the nuns in Vught." You were the 2nd search engine result. Thank you for explaining so nicely what the hell she is talking about. I'm gonna do it.
Amazing! Good luck. Just remember, once you've survived Wednesday you're on the home stretch. And thanks so much for the comment! I had no idea I was the second search result – that's made my day.
very motivating writing, thank you Jo. Looks like you were in a same boat as I am now - angry for unable to learn the language on my own. I see coincidentally you are also a freelancer ( as I am too ), and until recently I have put this option aside as my bookie told me I cannot expense it back. Have you had any trouble with? I might just follow your path too.. :)
Hi GK, thanks for your comment! So glad you enjoyed the piece. Re. expenses: it depends what your business is. As I work in language and writing, and I work for Dutch companies where I specifically translate Dutch text into English and vice versa, it is directly relevant and helpful to my business and so I could claim part of it. If it wouldn't be directly relevant for yours, I guess it would be a no-go! Best of luck with it all! Jo
Thank you for your quick response! I'm about to start working for a dutch company (working in IT), and 90% of the onboarding documentation already in dutch. Previously have worked for another dutch company, where I often received confidential information that cannot be put into google translate, and always had to ask the other party to translate it for me/explain what it contains. Also more often than not I'm the only person in meetings who is not speaking dutch.
Having read your article (sorry, I'm only just working back through your musings) I should check out the Nuns. I'm resident in Portugal (I spend about half the year here in the Algarve). I've been trying to learn to speak Portuguese for several years. I've reached a plateau where I can speak basic present-tense Portuguese in common situations, but it's so easy just to speak English. Most of the Portuguese here are so good at English that they can't be arsed waiting for me to form Portuguese sentences. So I'm not progressing any further. I'm also not helped by the local Algarvian accent - in the Algarve they tend to miss off the endings of all the words, but because Portuguese doesn't use personal pronouns in normal usage, the only way you know what's the subject and object of a sentence is from the endings. So here in the Algarve you're either fluent, or you're lost... there's no in-between!
However, if I can pass a Portuguese language test I will soon be able to apply for citizenship and a Portuguese passport - which given Brexit and the now relative uselessness of a UK passport would be very useful. A week in the Netherlands being immersed in Portuguese sounds like a feasible option to me...
My sister just got sent to the nuns by her job to learn Dutch. Your wonderful blog exactly described her experience. I snort laughed my way through! Thank you!
I don't think it did. But before we even saw your blog, she sent me similar photos of herself looking like a deer in the headlights in the nun's language lab (that looked exactly like the language lab at our high school in 1989).
Went to the nuns twice to learn Italian and everything you say is true. I am by no means “finished” but hold a quite proficient level now. Which I can directly relate to my two weeks at the nuns AND all the hours I worked on it at home and plainly throwing myself at it working in Italy. It wouldn’t have been possible without either. I also emigrated from Brazil to The Netherlands almost 15 years ago. You will get the hang of it :-)
Thank you! What a great message to receive. So glad the nuns worked out for you and that you sound like you're enjoying the language. I need to throw myself into Dutch much more than I have, now I feel less resentful over the whole process! Best of luck in NL and with your Italian.
I have been there in Vught to learn two different languages German and lately for Italian. I must say it is the best language school you can attend. I say this because I also attended other langiage schools abroad and in the Netherlands and Regina Coeli is my favorite language school.
Bravo for your courage! I know what it takes since I am one of the teachers of Dutch ;-) You described the whole experience so well (and it was also a funny read!). I recognize what you wrote about being exhilirated: I took a one-week beginners course Spanish. I was a beginner for speaking, for the reading/understanding I had the avantage of being a teacher of French too, I could deduct a lot. Yet the speaking was very basic and still... on the Thursday I started talking Spanish and more than the usual 'My name is ... and I live in....' And that was a special feeling after only 4 days! Keep up the good work!
Dank je wel, Willem! I guess the trick is to keep up the momentum as it's so much easier NOT to do it – especially when it's not a particularly enjoyable process (when you don't love it/it doesn't come easily). Am aiming to psych myself up for another period of learning soon. Thank you for the kind words. Much appreciated!
Dank je wel! And extra thanks for appreciating my pun. I feel like there are numerous missed opportunities in here for more puns. "Nun for that", "Master of nun" etc. but maybe I'll save those for a follow-up piece.
What a lovely comment! Thank you so much, Justine. I really appreciate it. Good luck if you go! I'm just starting up individual lessons and am relying on much I learned at the nuns. However, I would HIGHLY recommend having a baseline of knowledge before you go, if you go. I knew NOTHING before going and would have gotten a lot more out of it if I at least had a gist.
Beautiful writing - truly exhilarating and inspiring! I loved this!
Thank you so much! That really means a lot. I wish I could reply in Dutch, but alas... xx
I really enjoyed this! I had heard about 'the nuns" and my husband and I have been thinking about taking this course. I now know more about what to expect and that there aren't any actual nuns there anymore! You are a talented, engaging and humorous writer. Thank you!
Thank you for such a lovely comment. I hope you and your husband find it as mad and inspiring as I did if you do go! Please let me know! I do 100% recommend having more Dutch under your belt than I did before heading there though – I could have made much more of the course if I wasn't a total beginner. Thanks again!
Just got an email from my boss suggesting "a week with the nuns in Vught." You were the 2nd search engine result. Thank you for explaining so nicely what the hell she is talking about. I'm gonna do it.
Amazing! Good luck. Just remember, once you've survived Wednesday you're on the home stretch. And thanks so much for the comment! I had no idea I was the second search result – that's made my day.
very motivating writing, thank you Jo. Looks like you were in a same boat as I am now - angry for unable to learn the language on my own. I see coincidentally you are also a freelancer ( as I am too ), and until recently I have put this option aside as my bookie told me I cannot expense it back. Have you had any trouble with? I might just follow your path too.. :)
Hi GK, thanks for your comment! So glad you enjoyed the piece. Re. expenses: it depends what your business is. As I work in language and writing, and I work for Dutch companies where I specifically translate Dutch text into English and vice versa, it is directly relevant and helpful to my business and so I could claim part of it. If it wouldn't be directly relevant for yours, I guess it would be a no-go! Best of luck with it all! Jo
Thank you for your quick response! I'm about to start working for a dutch company (working in IT), and 90% of the onboarding documentation already in dutch. Previously have worked for another dutch company, where I often received confidential information that cannot be put into google translate, and always had to ask the other party to translate it for me/explain what it contains. Also more often than not I'm the only person in meetings who is not speaking dutch.
Having read your article (sorry, I'm only just working back through your musings) I should check out the Nuns. I'm resident in Portugal (I spend about half the year here in the Algarve). I've been trying to learn to speak Portuguese for several years. I've reached a plateau where I can speak basic present-tense Portuguese in common situations, but it's so easy just to speak English. Most of the Portuguese here are so good at English that they can't be arsed waiting for me to form Portuguese sentences. So I'm not progressing any further. I'm also not helped by the local Algarvian accent - in the Algarve they tend to miss off the endings of all the words, but because Portuguese doesn't use personal pronouns in normal usage, the only way you know what's the subject and object of a sentence is from the endings. So here in the Algarve you're either fluent, or you're lost... there's no in-between!
However, if I can pass a Portuguese language test I will soon be able to apply for citizenship and a Portuguese passport - which given Brexit and the now relative uselessness of a UK passport would be very useful. A week in the Netherlands being immersed in Portuguese sounds like a feasible option to me...
I've just seen the course fees! You said it wasn't cheap. You were right. Hmm, maybe I can find an immersion course here in Portugal...
Signing most off as a business expense is one of the only feasible ways to do it for individuals!
My sister just got sent to the nuns by her job to learn Dutch. Your wonderful blog exactly described her experience. I snort laughed my way through! Thank you!
What lovely feedback – thank you! So glad you enjoyed it. And I hope your sister's Dutch has fared better than mine since her visit...
I don't think it did. But before we even saw your blog, she sent me similar photos of herself looking like a deer in the headlights in the nun's language lab (that looked exactly like the language lab at our high school in 1989).
I can say yes to A, B and C.
Went to the nuns twice to learn Italian and everything you say is true. I am by no means “finished” but hold a quite proficient level now. Which I can directly relate to my two weeks at the nuns AND all the hours I worked on it at home and plainly throwing myself at it working in Italy. It wouldn’t have been possible without either. I also emigrated from Brazil to The Netherlands almost 15 years ago. You will get the hang of it :-)
Thank you! What a great message to receive. So glad the nuns worked out for you and that you sound like you're enjoying the language. I need to throw myself into Dutch much more than I have, now I feel less resentful over the whole process! Best of luck in NL and with your Italian.
I have been there in Vught to learn two different languages German and lately for Italian. I must say it is the best language school you can attend. I say this because I also attended other langiage schools abroad and in the Netherlands and Regina Coeli is my favorite language school.
Loved it! Very impressed you've been twice for different languages! I am tempted to go again for Dutch now I have more of a basic understanding.
Bravo for your courage! I know what it takes since I am one of the teachers of Dutch ;-) You described the whole experience so well (and it was also a funny read!). I recognize what you wrote about being exhilirated: I took a one-week beginners course Spanish. I was a beginner for speaking, for the reading/understanding I had the avantage of being a teacher of French too, I could deduct a lot. Yet the speaking was very basic and still... on the Thursday I started talking Spanish and more than the usual 'My name is ... and I live in....' And that was a special feeling after only 4 days! Keep up the good work!
Dank je wel, Willem! I guess the trick is to keep up the momentum as it's so much easier NOT to do it – especially when it's not a particularly enjoyable process (when you don't love it/it doesn't come easily). Am aiming to psych myself up for another period of learning soon. Thank you for the kind words. Much appreciated!
geen dank :-)
love this - thank you, Jo
Dank je wel, Nick!
What a life experience and what a tale to tell! The whole story is brilliant, and I particularly enjoyed ‘Nun the wiser’. Nice work / goed gedaan!
Dank je wel! And extra thanks for appreciating my pun. I feel like there are numerous missed opportunities in here for more puns. "Nun for that", "Master of nun" etc. but maybe I'll save those for a follow-up piece.
What a lovely comment! Thank you so much, Justine. I really appreciate it. Good luck if you go! I'm just starting up individual lessons and am relying on much I learned at the nuns. However, I would HIGHLY recommend having a baseline of knowledge before you go, if you go. I knew NOTHING before going and would have gotten a lot more out of it if I at least had a gist.