My name is John and I am a second year at Sheffield studying Spanish, Dutch and German on the BAML course. This summer, I went to Amsterdam to see a performance at CC Amstel Theatre to see one of my all-time favourite actresses, Willemijn Verkaik. It was my first time travelling solo as well, so that added to the excitement and it made the experience even more personal as it was something that I’d done by myself, for myself.
After arriving on Schiphol Airport, I took the train to Amsterdam Centraal and went straight to my hotel to check in for my stay. As I was only there for one night, I booked a relatively cheap hotel about 10 minutes out of the centre which gave me the chance to explore a less touristy side of Amsterdam. That evening, I headed to the theatre which was very small (only around 150 seats) and, after asking one of the stewards where the toilet was in Dutch (‘Waar is het toilet?’)I took my seat. While I was waiting, I was able to eavesdrop on people’s conversations and practise my listening skills. The show I was seeing was Vrouwen op de rand van een Zenuwinzinking, based on the film Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios by Pedro Almodóvar, which I had already seen and studied, so I was able to follow along with the story fairly easily. Only when the actors would speak or sing fast, I found myself losing track of what was happening. I was surprised at how many English words were used; even whole English phrases were thrown in which threw me off when I was trying to listen to Dutch.
As my first experience watching a play in Dutch, I would say that it was a success and would definitely recommend it for anyone who is interested in both theatre and languages. The following day, the first thing I did was head to a bookstore and buy a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in Dutch (Harry Potter en de Steen der Wijzen) to practice my reading. I headed to a pannenkoekhuis for some breakfast (and to escape the rain), ordered my pancake in Dutch (and to my surprise, the waiter continued to speak to me in Dutch!) and read my new book. Once the rain had calmed down, I went to a few tourist sites, such as the Begijnhof and the Homomonument, using the trams to get around.
On the tram, I started talking to an elderly lady (originally about how big mobile phones had gotten recently) but we started talking about why I was in Amsterdam. We spoke in both English and Dutch, switching between the two when the conversation required (she didn’t know what ‘show’ was, so I used the Dutch word ‘toneelstuk’). I was pleasantly surprised at how I was able to keep talking in Dutch, and switch between English and Dutch in the middle of a conversations without many problems!
The whole experience filled me with lots of confidence as I was able to practise my speaking, listening and reading skills with natives and left Amsterdam feeling very pleased with myself and my Dutch skills after only one year of Dutch classes!
John Cairns
