Learn how to make a simple phone call
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Michael: Hi everyone, and welcome back to DutchPod101.com This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 6 - Making a Phone Call in the Netherlands. Michael here. |
| Jacob: Hallo. I'm Jacob. |
| Michael: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to exchange customary courtesies and understand the meaning of family in Dutch. This conversation takes place over the telephone. |
| Jacob: It's between Jan and an old friend of his father's. |
| Michael: The conversation takes place between a young man and his father's friend, so the speakers will use formal Dutch. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Meneer Hek: Met Hek. |
| Jan: Dag meneer Hek, u spreekt met Jan Kok. Ik ben op luchthaven Schiphol en bel om de groeten te doen van mijn vader. |
| Meneer Hek: Wat leuk! Dank je wel. Hoe gaat het met hem en jullie familie? |
| Jan: Goed, dank u wel. Hoe gaat het met u en uw gezin? |
| Meneer Hek: Uitstekend. Ik werk nog en onze twee kinderen studeren. Kom je nog even langs? |
| Jan: Nee helaas niet meneer Hek. Mijn vliegtuig vertrekt over een uur. |
| Meneer Hek: Nou, dank voor het bellen en een goede reis. |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Meneer Hek: Met Hek. |
| Jan: Dag meneer Hek, u spreekt met Jan Kok. Ik ben op luchthaven Schiphol en bel om de groeten te doen van mijn vader. |
| Meneer Hek: Wat leuk! Dank je wel. Hoe gaat het met hem en jullie familie? |
| Jan: Goed, dank u wel. Hoe gaat het met u en uw gezin? |
| Meneer Hek: Uitstekend. Ik werk nog en onze twee kinderen studeren. Kom je nog even langs? |
| Jan: Nee helaas niet meneer Hek. Mijn vliegtuig vertrekt over een uur. |
| Meneer Hek: Nou, dank voor het bellen en een goede reis. |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Mr Hek: Yes, Hek speaking. |
| Jan: Hello Mr. Hek, this is Jan Kok. I'm at Schiphol airport and I'm calling to say my father sends his regards. |
| Mr Hek: Well thank you, that's nice. How are your father and family? |
| Jan: He's fine, thank you, and how are you and your family? |
| Mr Hek: Fine! I'm still working, and both our children are studying. Will you come and visit us? |
| Jan: No, I'm afraid not Mr. Hek. My plane leaves in an hour. |
| Mr Hek: Well, thank you for calling and have a good journey. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Michael: It seems like most communication is happening over the phone these days. |
| Jacob: That’s right. It’s the same in the Netherlands, but there are some people who miss the old ways of communicating with each other directly. |
| Michael: You mean like in the 70s? |
| Jacob: Yes. After World War II many people let go of their once strict religion, and we had the rise of the hippie generation - you know, flower power. It had a big impact on Dutch society. Amsterdam became the “Hippie Capital” of the world. |
| Michael: I can imagine that with that kind of culture, people want to communicate in person. |
| Jacob: That’s right. Also there were many changes happening around the time, so much that it’s still affecting the culture of the Netherlands. It made the Netherlands the first country to tolerate some items restricted in other countries, which definitely liberalized Holland. |
| Michael: That's interesting! Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Michael: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Jacob: vertrekt [natural native speed] |
| Michael: leaves |
| Jacob: vertrekt [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: vertrekt [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: luchthaven [natural native speed] |
| Michael: airport |
| Jacob: luchthaven[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: luchthaven [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: groeten [natural native speed] |
| Michael: greetings |
| Jacob: groeten[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: groeten [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: wat leuk [natural native speed] |
| Michael: how nice |
| Jacob: wat leuk[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: wat leuk [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: familie [natural native speed] |
| Michael: family |
| Jacob: familie[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: familie [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: uitstekend [natural native speed] |
| Michael: excellent |
| Jacob: uitstekend[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: uitstekend [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: langs [natural native speed] |
| Michael: along, by |
| Jacob: langs[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: langs [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: vliegtuig [natural native speed] |
| Michael: airplane |
| Jacob: vliegtuig[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: vliegtuig [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Michael: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Jacob: De groeten doen. |
| Michael: meaning "Give regards." It’s just a way to ask a friend or relative to say hello to another friend or relative when you know he's going to see him or her before you do. What’s the literal meaning of this phrase? |
| Jacob: Literally "de groeten doen" means “do greetings.” When you use it, there always has to be another person to refer to, for example "Doe Peter de groeten van mij". |
| Michael: “Give Peter my regards.” |
| Jacob: I added the person’s name and the phrase "van mij" meaning “from me.” |
| Michael: But sometimes we can skip mentioning the name, right? |
| Jacob: That's right. If the person to whom you’re giving your regards to is clear from the conversation, you can just say "De groeten doen". |
| Michael: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Jacob: U en uw familie, |
| Michael: meaning "You and your family." It can be used when you want to pass news to somebody and all of his or her relatives, or when you want to give all of them your regards. |
| Jacob: In the expression, we have "U", meaning “You.” |
| Michael: That’s how you address a person formally. |
| Jacob: "Uw" is the word meaning “your” and it’s the personal pronoun that comes with it. |
| Michael: So be careful not to mix them. They have the same sound, but different meaning. |
| Jacob: We also have the word "gezin". |
| Michael: It also means “family,” but only includes a father, a mother, and children, no one else. Can you give us an example of talking about family? |
| Jacob: Sure. For example, you can say.. Wij hebben een sterke familieband. |
| Michael: .. which means "We have a strong sense of family." Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Jacob: Kom je nog even langs? |
| Michael: meaning "Will you come and visit us?". This is an invitation to drop by for a short visit. |
| Jacob: But there’s something you should know about "Kom je even langs?", |
| Michael: meaning “Will you drop by?”. If someone asks you this, they mean for a cup of coffee or a drink. Don't consider it an invitation to stay for two weeks! |
| Jacob: The word "nog", “still,” is used to ask for a short visit. |
| Michael: And let’s talk about the last word in the sentence, which is.. |
| Jacob: langs. |
| Michael: It means “by,” as used in “come by for a visit.” |
| Jacob: but listeners, don't confuse it with "langs" meaning “along,” as in "Ik loop langs een Amsterdamse gracht". |
| Michael: which means “I walk along an Amsterdam canal.” Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson you'll learn about exchanging customary courtesies and understanding the meaning of family in Dutch. |
| Jacob: First, let’s take a look at how to exchange customary courtesies in Dutch. |
| Michael: What’s the most-used informal greeting in Dutch? |
| Jacob: It’s "Hallo!" |
| Michael: It means "Hi" or "Hello." You should only use this greeting with friends or relatives. |
| Jacob: In some other parts of the country people tend to use "Hoi!". This has the same informality as "Hallo". |
| Michael: And there are other expressions that we can use depending on the time of day, right? |
| Jacob: That's right. Let's start with "Goedendag!". Literally this means "good day." As a rule of thumb, we can use “goedendag” only during the daytime—from late morning until early evening. |
| Michael: Then what about the expression for the morning? |
| Jacob: In the morning, we say "Goedemorgen", "good morning!". And during the afternoon, many people use "Goedemiddag". During the evening we say "Goedenavond!". "Goed" is Dutch for "good." |
| Michael: So it’s the same in English, just using different words to indicate the time, right? |
| Jacob: That’s right. Those are "Dag", "morgen", "middag" and "avond" meaning "day," "morning," “afternoon,” and "evening" respectively. |
| Michael: What should you say when you leave? |
| Jacob: Dutch people usually say "Tot ziens" when leaving in a formal situation. "Tot zien"s means "Till the next time we meet." If we say "Goodbye" to friends or our relatives, we use the informal word "Dag!". You can also say "Doei!". The expression "Doei!" is commonly used in informal situations. |
| Michael: Okay. And now let’s move to the second topic of this lesson, family. Unlike in many other languages, Dutch has two words for “family.” What are they? |
| Jacob: First, we have the word "gezin". |
| Michael: It’s for the family on a small scale, so this only refers to the father and mother and their children. That means the other word is for family in the wider sense? |
| Jacob: Yes, that’s right. The word "familie" is used for the family on a larger scale, so it includes grandfathers and grandmothers, uncles, aunts, nephews, and nieces. |
| Michael: Great. By the way, listeners, note that Dutch uses the same word to mean both “cousin” and “nephew.” |
| Jacob: That’s right. "Neef" is the word meaning both “cousin” and “nephew,” and the same applies to "nicht", “cousin” and “niece.” |
Outro |
| Michael: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Jacob: Tot ziens. |
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