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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

A language fact for the beginning of autumn: The Dutch word "herfst" is directly related to the English word "harvest". In Old English, the season was called "hærfest"; "the time of gathering crops". Slowly, the crop-gathering meaning overtook the season-meaning. (1/3)

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

In the Netherlands, demand for English-language books is growing steadily, with ten new English-only book shops opening in the last four years. Some reasons for this:

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

W.F. Hermans, a Dutch author who is considered one of the "big three" post WWII authors, would have been 105 years old today. Reading up on him, I fell into a rabbit hole of what happened to his typewriters. They were in a museum for a bit, but it went bankrupt, and then nobody wanted them.

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Heard in a podcast: Asking “what is the hardest language to learn?” is like asking “what is the farthest town?”

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

A Dutch archiving institute has put thousands of Dutch TV programmes online dating from 1877 to the 2010s. Surprisingly, some of the most popular programmes are language courses from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. For example this charming BBC series to learn English.

youtube.com

1963: Learn English with WALTER and CONNIE | English By Television | BBC Archive

YouTube video by BBC Archive

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Dutch universities can keep teaching in English if they choose, but they need to invest in measures to entice the international students to stay in the Netherlands after graduation, e.g. investing in Dutch language courses and better preparing students for the Dutch labour market.

dub.uu.nl

Agreements concerning international students are now official

In mid-July, higher education institutions signed an administrative agreement with Minister of Education Rianne Letschert on the intake of international students. This means that "self-governance" wil...

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

My latest newsletter has had the most likes of any of them until now, and I'm not actually sure why. Is it because of the extremely stupid joke at the end? Because it is shorter than usual? Or because I call my readers "wonderfully forgiving people"? I just don't know!

englishandthedutch.substack.com

Dutch speakers have nose holes 👃, this Dutch author was pro-gay in 1922 😎, an incredibly stupid joke about a dog 🐶

English and the Dutch Newsletter #43

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Dutch author Anjet Daanje is being considered for the Nobel Prize in literature. Reading up on her, I found this absolutely charming interview about how her book "The Remembered Soldier" was translated into English.

wordswithoutborders.org

The National Book Award Interviews: Anjet Daanje and David McKay - Words Without Borders

Anjet Daanje and David McKay discuss The Remembered Soldier, shortlisted for the 2025 National Book Award for Translated Literature.

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Reposted by Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch

Jona Lendering @jonalendering.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Een paar jaar geleden heeft @mtvtjilpt.bsky.social de "Dodenrit" van Drs.P. onherstelbaar verbeterd en eigenlijk is haar versie onverminderd actueel (en grappig). www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-Ph...

youtube.com

'Tropische Dodenrit', Wetenschapsrijm en Ed Berger

YouTube video by Edo Berger

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

A tricky part of being a language teacher: When you hear a certain error often enough, your brain gets used to it, and it becomes more difficult to flag. When I teach German students, by now I have to think for a second to know that the sentence "I became a present for my birthday" is wrong.

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

A new Dutch word to describe the group of people who walk along with a stopping train so that they can position themselves right by the doors when it stops. perronprocessie platform procession

vrt.be

VRT MAX

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

In the book I am using to teach Dutch, the differences between Belgian and Dutch Dutch are introduced from the start, and mentioned throughout. When I teach English, the books are either in American or British English, but the differences are rarely noted. What's it like for your language?

Picture from the A1 book "Dat is leuk", written specifically for German speakers learning Dutch. I won't type out the whole text, but it is a short text in Dutch explaining that Dutch is spoken in Flanders, that it sounds softer and more melodic than Dutch Dutch, and that there are more French words. For example, Belgians say "cinema" when Dutch people say "bioscoop". The situation is compared to Germany and Austria. There is a glossary underneath with translations into German.

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Veel respect voor de mensen van het Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal @ivdnt.bsky.social die na een grote hack stapsgewijs alle websites weer online aan het zetten zijn. En een klein cadeautje vind ik de mooie lijst aan websites die daarbij naar boven komt. Wat veel! Een leuke ontdekkingsreis!

ivdnt.org

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

My latest newsletter includes the untranslatable Dutch word "hulpvraag"; I'm still hoping some healthcare workers might weigh in. I also discuss some fun Dutch proverbs, and there's a quiz to test your English! open.substack.com/pub/englisha...

open.substack.com

Did I get a whack from a windmill? 😵It's a mental health edition!

English and the Dutch #41

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

I've just realised English doesn't have good words for scholars who study specific languages or language groups. In Dutch: Neerlandicus/ Neerlandica (Dutch) Germanist (German) Anglist (English) Scandinavist (Scandinavian languages) Arabist (Arabic) Sinoloog (Chinees) Any more?

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Talkie is a chatbot trained only on texts from before 1931. It’s not just playing a character from that time – it literally has no knowledge of anything that happened after 1930. And it’s wonderfully eloquent!

Picture of text:

User asks:
What do you think life will be like in 2026?

talkie-1930 answers:
Life in 2026 will probably be very much like life in 1926, allowing for the inevitable developments which a century must produce. There will be the same pleasures and pains, the same successes and failures, the same joys and sorrows, that are common to all human experience. The world will continue to revolve, and men and women will continue to be born and to die. The same passions will move them, and the same emotions will stir them; and they will still continue to laugh and to weep, to hope and to fear. In a word, human nature will not have changed, and human life will be pretty much what it is now. The future may bring with it new inventions and discoveries, new forms of government and new systems of religion; but personal character will remain much the same as at present, and personal experiences will continue to be very similar to those which are common to all times and to all classes of society.

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

With Dutch King's Day coming up, it's time to repost this classic, which is ONLY funny to a small subset of people, namely people who know about the Dutch Brabants dialect and who have also watched Game of Thrones. I'll explain it in the comments, but it won't be worth it 🙈

Jon Snow from Game of Thrones talking to Daenerys Targaryen. He says: "Ik ben Jon Snow, king of the North." She says: "Bend the knee!" He says: "Ben ik wel!"

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

It's World English Day! A good moment to highlight that English isn't the same all over the world. Here are my favourite differences between British and American English that can actually lead to miscommunications, with full credit to @lynneguist.bsky.social who is the leading authority here!

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Ever wonder why many Dutch people call their wheelie bin a kliko? It’s a "syllabic abbreviation" of Klinkenberg Koster, a waste disposal company. It’s the same linguistic trick that gave us "pixel" (picture element) and "wifi" (wireless fidelity).

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Queen Máxima shares her confusion about sandwiches Martha Stewart quotes a proverb that is not Dutch (but I manage to write a whole article about it anyway) Old-timey sexism gets put right by a Flemish lady for a Flemish lady

englishandthedutch.substack.com

First Dutch-language act ever on Coachella (the lyrics are… interesting) 🎤 and more languagy goodness

English and the Dutch Newsletter #40

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Perhaps someone with knowledge of Chinese can weigh in here: there's a proverb that goes (more or less): If you want to be happy for a day, get drunk; for a year, get married; for the rest of your life, start a garden. It's being attributed as Dutch, but I think it is Chinese. Am I right?

englishandthedutch.com

Martha Stewart quoted a nice proverb about gardening, but it isn't Dutch... so where did it come from? - English and the Dutch

As someone who writes professionally about the Dutch language in English, I’m pretty versed in Dutch proverbs. So when I see someone quoting a “Dutch proverb” that isn’t actually a Dutch proverb, I’m ...

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Gefeliciteerd Yoīn. Wat tof! Keigoed gedaan 😉

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

It's World Art Day! The word "easel" comes from the Dutch word "ezel", which means "donkey". It was (and still is!) so called because it carries a burden. The English took it from the Dutch in the 17th century, when I guess Dutch art was a bit of a thing ;-)

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

@nrc.nl "Correlation does not equal causation" zou ik vertalen als "een correlatie betekent niet automatisch dat er ook een oorzakelijk verband is". De eerste zin hieronder vind ik maar raar. (Uit "de geneeskunde transformeert: hoe artsen ziektes steeds beter kunnen voorspellen"(10-04-26))

Daarbij komt nog dat correlaties geen oorzaken zijn. Er bestaat een duidelijke correlatie tussen bosbranden en het eten van ijsjes, maar dat betekent niet dat het eten van ijsjes bosbranden veroorzaakt of dat je bosbranden kunt voorkomen door ijsjes te verbieden.

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Though now known in Dutch as "narcis", this spring flower actually used to be known as an "affodil" in both English and Dutch; from the Latin "affodillus". It is quite likely (though it cannot be proven) that the English "daffodil" gained its "d" from the Dutch:"de affodil".

botanical drawing of five different types of daffodil, from 1649 - 1659, Gottorfer Codex

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Miriam Lancewood is an adventurer and author who grew up in the Netherlands, married a New Zealander and spent a lot of her life in New Zealand. She has a new book out, but honestly I'm more interested in her accent, which is still recognisably Dutch but with heavy New Zealand influence. Lovely!

youtube.com

"You might have to disappoint the people you love the most"

YouTube video by Miriam Lancewood

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Someone was teaching Dutch and giving examples of diminutives, one of them being "boompje". "Hmmm," says the student, "I know that "boom" is tree, and "je" is diminutive, but where did the "p" come from?" Teacher: "Probably a dog." (From reddit/r/dutch)

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Audrey Hepburn’s new biography comes out in a few days, written by her son, who manages her estate as his full-time job. Not many people know that Hepburn spoke Dutch. She had a Dutch mother, was born in Brussels, and later lived in Arnhem. (1/2)

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

In some languages, "chocolate" has a "d" at the end. It's because of Dutch! After their arrival in Mexico, Spanish gained the word "chocolate" from the local language Nahuatl and spread it to other languages. (1/2)

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

There is a popular myth in the south of the Netherlands that the parting phrase "houdoe" comes from WWII paratroopers saying "How do you do?". It’s a great story, but that's all it is... It actually comes from the older Dutch phrase "Houdt oe eigen goed", meaning "Keep yourself well"

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Oldie but goodie: Here's bike rental shop Tuut-tuut in Castricum (NL) in 2023. Take a look at their slogan in the window. (1/2)

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Reposted by Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch

Onze Taal @onzetaal.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Als je 'kind noch kraai' hebt, is er niemand voor wie je moet zorgen, en is er ook niemand die voor jóú kan zorgen. Nieuwsgierig naar hoe de uitdrukking is ontstaan (en waarom hij eigenlijk niets met de zwarte vogel te maken heeft)? Lees het hier: onzetaal.nl/schatkamer/leze...

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

‘If you have butter on your head, you shouldn’t walk in the sun’ (wie boter op zijn hoofd heeft, moet niet in de zon gaan lopen). If you have a guilty conscience, you shouldn't draw too much attention to yourself. (1/2)

A young woman in 18th century dress is standing by a window and churning butter.

From "The Butter Churner" (c.1719-1790) by Henry Robert Morland

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

De Vragenlijstenbank is niet meer vrij toegankelijk vanwege angst voor mogelijke consequenties m.b.t. privacy. Zo zonde, én onnodig!

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

I'm trying to figure out how the word "cloying" is actually used in English. I found the below two contexts that don't really fit with my mental model. Both are from the same writer. Is she using the word as you might use it, or am I right to think this usage is uncommon?

Picture of text. (From the ludwig.guru corpus)

... This allows the jam to cool quickly so you can check its consistency.Ideally, it should be runny but not too thick as to be cloying. For this jam, 20 minutes' cooking time should be sufficient. ...

... that is covered with thick sauces; I find them too heavy.I think it's hard to cook out the flavour of the flour used for thickening – it's too cloying altogether. To make this delicious, thin gravy, once the beef has been ...

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Sometimes language differences are cultural. The elastic straps on the back of a bike are called "fast binders" in Dutch (snelbinders), a name that everyone knows. But in English, I can never think what to call them, and I know why: we don't really use them. What would you call them in English?

A close-up photograph of the back of a black bike, we see the luggage carrier on the back and the permanent elastic straps that are so common in the Netherlands.

There's some grass in the background and the path that the bike is standing on is sandy. Perhaps a park.

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

My latest newsletter is a bit meta: it’s a newsletter about language about language that includes a list of recommended newsletters about language.

open.substack.com

Not Waterbird Walloon! 🦆 It's a newsletter about language about language 🧾

English and the Dutch #39

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Dutch phrase of the day: "go with that banana!" In Dutch, when you tell someone to "go with that banana" (gaan met die banaan), you are either telling them to go for it, take the plunge, or you are asking them to hurry up, get your skates on!

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

A rule that many non-English speakers learned at school: When you meet someone from the UK, they will say “How do you do?” and instead of answering the question, you are expected to say “How do you do?”. As a Brit, I think this is out of date. What do you think?(1/2)

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

The Dutch name Freek (pronounced “Frake”, more or less) is not as common as, say, Jan or Willem or Bart but is still a perfectly normal name in the Netherlands and Belgium. Do you know a Freek? How do they introduce themselves in English?

Square image with text above and cutouts of 4 photo portraits below. The text reads:
Excellent Dutch name of the week: Freek.
Short for: Frederik
In use since: at least the 16th century
Still being given to babies? Yes, 35 babies in 2025
Celebrities: Freek de Jonge (1944), Freek Braeckman (1979), Freek Vonk (1983), Freek Rikkerink (1993)
Below that the portraits of Freek Rikkerink, Freek Vonk (with a lemur on his back), Freek Braeckman and Freek de Jonge.

To the side it reads: Photo credits, sources and more: englishandthedutch.com/name/freek

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

In English, the word “wife” means “woman you are married to”. In Dutch, the word “wijf” (more or less the same pronunciation, despite the weird spelling) means something like “hag”, “broad” or an even less pleasant word for a woman that I am not going to type here. Let me tell you how come.

A cut-out of the main part of Fabio Cipolla's painting The Proposal in which a young nobleman is proposing to a young lady; both are dressed opulently, and their white wigs and clothes suggest regency era to me or a bit earlier. They are in an opulent parlour with gilded details on and around the doors, paintings on the walls like you see in old mansions, and a fancy gold screen; it's all very Bridgerton.

On top of the painting I put a comic speech bubble. The man is saying to the woman "will you do me the honour of becoming my wijf" where "wijf" is purposefully spelled in the Dutch way. This is funny for Dutch speakers, because "wijf" means something like "hag".

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

After boiling an egg, Dutch speakers hold it under cold water for a few seconds. This is called "scaring the egg" (het ei laten schrikken) and is supposed to make it easier to peel.

A photograph of an egg, balancing on a spoon, being held under a stream of water from a tap in a kitchen sink. This part is a normal sight in Dutch-speaking households. What is not normal is that the egg has a surprised face drawn onto it with a Sharpie.

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Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch @heddwen.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

In Dutch we say "I stick my hand in my own bosom" when you want to make clear that you are taking responsibility for something. Interestingly, when I had a look at how the expression was actually used, I noticed it's almost always: "that person should stick their hand in their own bosom!"

hoezegjeinhetengels.nl

Hoe zeg je "de hand in eigen boezem steken" in het Engels? - Hoe zeg je in het Engels

Een mooie vraag weer in mijn inbox! Wat een geweldige site, ik was er bij toeval op gestuit en heb de rest van die middag geen werk meer gedaan, het is fascinerend en super behulpzaam! Een vraag die i...

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