"Our Dutch Sandra"

disse o J. para o seu companheiro, o M, após eu lhe ter contado, em holandês, tudo o que fizémos no jardim, nas últimas semanas. Estou com um sorriso de orelha a orelha. Mesmo os sms's que lhes envio são sempre em holandês. A sério, que me esforço. Faço os possíveis por falar em holandês com a vizinhança, sendo que a F. é a que puxa mais por mim. Não me dá tréguas e gosto muito dela, também, por isso.

Há pouco, atendi um telefonema que decorreu exclusivamente em holandês. Nas lojas, nos restaurantes e nos cafés, faço questão de me expressar também na língua nativa - mesmo quando tentam mudar para inglês (os lojistas daqui gostam de mostrar que sabem falar a língua de Shakespeare). E quando não sei, pergunto. No dia em que comprei o spray facial da Evian, pedi ao lojista que me dissesse em holandês " O senhor salvou o meu dia." (eu estava a sentir-me mal com a humidade) e ele até escreveu num papel como era. Tenho pena que durante o curso de holandês, os professores não tenham ensinado expressões idiomáticas . Mas não há problema, que já comprei uns livrinhos sobre o tema.

Mesmo em conversas ou reuniões mais sérias, já vou arriscando, embora saiba que ainda há muito chão pela frente....

Por outro lado, também mudei de atitude face aos meus erros. Antes de vir para cá, sentia-me muito desconfortável ao errar, e agora, não. Durante o processo de aprendizagem de holandês, tive de aprender a pôr a vergonha de lado, quer quanto à pronúncia da língua, quer quanto à construção frásica. Hoje, de uma forma geral, já me sinto menos penalizada quando erro e aprendi também a aceitar melhor os meus lapsos e enganos  -  há dias, no blogue, escrevi uma frase interrogativa em inglês, em que o verbo auxiliar estava no presente e o verbo principal no passado quando devia estar no infinitivo. Assim que vi, corrigi, claro, mas já não me senti "doente" por causa disso e até me ri da situação. A experiência de aprendizagem da língua holandesa acabou assim, por se revelar assaz libertadora, ao ensinar-me a aceitar melhor os meus erros, enganos, lapsos e limitações.

(Texto reeditado a 3 de Julho para precisar melhor o último parágrafo)

Learning Dutch (6): Taxes (1)

From Coisas Minhas

A month after our arrival in The Netherlands, we received a letter from Tricijn.
I understood it was something related with taxes [belasting].The amount [bedrag] was quite high. As I was not familiar with the taxes in the Netherlands, I knocked at my neighbours door to ask Bas about it. He explained to me what kind of taxes we were talking about and then I went home to translate the letter.
...

Let's see this year's letter, it's easier...;-)

After confirming my aanslagnummer [fiscal number/número fiscal] and my address through the betreft object [referente a/refering to], I checked all the main points of the Aanslagbiljet [tax statement/folha de impostos]:

dagtekening [date/data]: 25.01.2011
heffingperiode [refering period/período a que diz respeito]:01.01.2011 t/m 31.12.2011
belastingjaar [fiscal year/ano fiscal]: 2011
vervaldatum [payment deadline/data limite de vencimento]: 25.03.2011

We have two months to betalen [to pay/pagar]. In our case, a bedrag [an amount/total] of €254,94.

How did they come to this value? By a berekening [calculation/cálculo] that I shall explain now.
...

In fact, we are paying two taxes: the watersysteemheffing ingezetenen and the Zuiveringsheffing.

1.The watersysteemheffing ingezetenen

As far as I understood, this one is related to the dijken [dams/diques] maintenance and repairs to avoid overstromingen [floods/inundações] and keep the zeespiegel [sea level/nível do mar] or the waterpeil [water level/nível da água] at safe levels.

For this one, we pay €73,53.

I'm sharing this with you because in Portugal we don't have this specific tax and if you are thinking about moving here it's useful to be aware of this.

2.The Zuiveringsheffing

This one is similar to our taxa de saneamento básico [sanitary taxes].
Zuivering means "purification" or "purificação".
This tax is to take care of the afvalwater [waste waters/águas residuais] and the riolen [sewers/esgotos].
If there is only one person in the household, we pay €60,47.
If there are 2 or more persons in the household, we pay 3 bedrag per vervuilingseenheid [unitary pollution cost/custo unitário de poluição]. The total is €181,41. It's our case.

That means that the bedrag van de aanslag, or the total amount, is €254,94.

During this period, we are more careful with our expenses, but we don't mind. In our opinion, the taxes are well spent.

Learning Dutch (5): Dutch Letters

As you know, we moved to our first house in Almere, in December 2007. As you also may remember we brought everything from Portugal and the flat needed to be cleaned and painted.
Besides this huge work and the fact we were experiencing the coldest winter we remembered (until then, of course! ;-), we received many and long letters that we couldn't understand...
I felt like an illiterate person...

Very embarassed, I knocked on my Dutch neighbours door (or should I say on the heaven's door ;-).
"In spite of my seven years at University, the 1500 books I have at home in four different languages and my travels in Europe...here am I, knocking at Esther's door, asking her to read and explain this letter to me." I thought.

Esther and Bas were amazing and during the following months they helped me a lot! They knew almost everything about my private life by reading the letters: taxes, insurances, etc... Their friendly and supportive attitude helped me to deal with this awkward situation: exposing my privacy to people I had just met.

I remember to say to my husband: "I used to read letters to illiterate old people in Portugal who never went to school because they had a poor childhood.". My mother always told me to be gentle with people in need.
"I never thought to be in the same situation:knocking at someone's door asking for this kind of help." Again, I remembered my mother who always told me that life can be very twisty and we must be helpful, humble and polite with people. "We never know where we will be tomorrow." So true...

Let me share with you what I've learned then...

Usually a brief [letter/carta] begins with a Geachte heer/mevrouw [ Dear Sir/Dear Lady or Caro Senhor/ Cara Senhora ] and indicates the onderwerp [subject/assunto], generally something belangrijk [important/importante] or nodig [necessary/necessário] like:

an informatie [information/informação];

a toelichting [clarification/esclarecimento];

an aanmaning [notification/notificação];

a verrekening [payment/ liquidação];

an inschatting [evaluation/ avaliação];

Generally they ask you to...

doorgeven [to transmit/transmitir];

wijzigen [to change/alterar];

invullen [to fill/preencher];

machtigen [to autorize/autorizar];

betalen [to pay/pagar];

onderteken [to sign/assinar]

...something.

Finally, they will say they are bereikbaar [available/disponíveis] for more information, they will thank your medewerking [colaboration/colaboração] with a Bedankt and end the letter with a Met vriendelijke groet [Best Regards/Saudações cordiais].

Sometimes you will terugvinden [to find/encontrar] an envelop [envelop/envelope] that doesn't need postzegels [stamps/selos] to sturen [to send/enviar] to their kantoor [office/escritório]. After that, it's possible to ontvangen [to receive/receber] another letter with a "Graag ontvangen wij... " [We have gladly received.../Recebemos com agrado...].

Now, the song that always was in my mind each time I was knocking Esther and Bas door...;-))

Learning Dutch (4) and How to get a renting contract

NB: to understand this entry, it would be advisable to read the previous one.

From Almere (III)

At the Bank

As I told in the previous post, we had found a nice flat to rent in Almere Centrum.
So, we went to the nearest bank to make an appointment [een afspraak maken/marcação] for the following day. We needed to open an account, so that we could transfer some money from Portugal. We needed the money to celebrate the renting contract and pay to the real estate agent.
After arriving there, we were told to wait in the living room for a while and then we were called to enter in a private room.
We said we were Portuguese and wanted to open a bank account [bankrekening openen/abrir uma conta bancária]. They asked for our passports. "We don't need passports. " I said a bit confused. "We are EU citizens. We have European ID cards." "In that case, could you wait a while, please? We need to check them". The gentleman left the room and came back after a while. The ID's were fine.
"Are you working here?" Papers on the table. So far, so good.
"What is your address? Do you live in Almere?"
"We want to. We found a very nice flat in the centrum of the city. We would like to open an account, so we could pay to the real estate agent and finally sign the renting contract. "
"Without an address in the Netherlands, it's not possible to open an account."
Can you imagine the stress?
...
After a couple of months living here, some people asked me "Do you speak already Dutch? " or  said to me "You must speak Dutch by now.", as if it was the only thing I would need to learn or have time for. Besides of the fact Dutch isn't an easy language.
I generally answered " I also need time to adjust myself to a new country and another mindset, new laws and new habits, without family or old friends around to help me. Time to find solutions for the issues that come up everyday. It's not only the language that I need to learn and to have time for."
In this case, for example, we needed an address to open a bank account, but we also needed an account to transfer the money and sign the renting contract. We were no students living at the University, we weren't living in a flat owned by a company, we weren't living here with relatives or friends. So, we hadn't another address to give to the bank.
...

We went to the City Hall in that same afternoon and we made an appointment for the following day.
...

At the City Hall

After we explained our dilemma, they asked for our international birth and marriage certificates, a copy of the renting contract and to fill some paperwork. We made another appointment to give them the documents. However, the renting contract was only signed by us.
We also filled a form with questions similar to these ones:

Wat is uw naam? [Qual é o seu nome?/What is your name?]

Wat is uw voornaam? [Qual é o seu nome próprio?/What is your first name?]

Wat is uw achternaam? [Qual é o seu sobrenome ?/ What is your surname?]

Wat is uw nationaliteit? [Qual é a sua nacionalidade?/ What is your nationality?]

Hoe oud bent u? [Que idade tem?/ How old are you?]

Wat is uw geboortedatum? [Qual a sua data de nascimento?/ When were you born?]

Waar bent u geboren? [Onde nasceu?/ Where were you born?]

Wat doet u? [Qual a sua profissão?/ What is your job?]

Wat is uw adres? [Qual é a sua morada?/ What is your address?]

Wat is uw postcode? [Qual é o seu código postal?/ What is your zip code?]

Getting the renting contract...

Afterwards we went to the bank and finally we could open an account, transfer the money [geld overdracht/ transferência de dinheiro] to the Netherlands and then to the landlord's account.
We made another appointment with the real estate agent to have the contract signed for both parties and finally the key!
Meanwhile, my husband got the City Hall's permission so that the removals team could park in the street and I was again in Lisbon doing exactly the same thing.
A couple of days later, we went to the City Hall to give them a copy of the renting contract signed by both parties, the landlord and us.

Learning Dutch (3)

Almere, Tussen de Vaarten, Grunewaldstraat

From Almere (III)

Let me share with you how we rented our first house, the Dutch words I learned and the big surprises we had along the way...

We found a flat to rent three days after arriving in Amsterdam.

In our meeting with the real estate agent, we saw that the huurovereenkomst [renting contract/contrato de arrendamento] was written in Dutch. This second clash with the language was huge. We are talking about several pages of legal terms.

We agreed that our real estate agent would translate the main points for us to avoid more costs with an interpreter.

He explained to us that we and the landlord were the ondergetekenden [signing parties/ as partes contratantes].

A lady from Groningen was the eigenaar [flat owner/proprietária].

She would be our verhuurder [landlord/senhorio] and we her huurders [tenants/inquilinos].

The huurovereenkomst [renting contract/ contrato de arrendamento] would define the huurprijs [rent/renda], the huurbetaling [rent payment/ pagamento da renda], the periode of geldigheid [validity/validade] and the date and the conditions for the sleuteloverdracht [ key delivery/entrega da chave].

He also explained that the woonruimte [habitação/dwelling] would be rented voor bepaalde tijd [por tempo determinado/ for a certain periode], in this case, one year, and if everything would come along for both parts, we could have three more years of verlenging [extension/prolongamento].

He also told us that if we wanted to leave the flat before the end of the contract, we should send a two months schriftelijke opzegging [written previous notice/ aviso-prévio por escrito] to the landlord.
If the landlord would want to do the same, she should notice us within three months.

Finally, we needed to pay a waarborgsom [guarantee/caução] which will be returned to us if we decided to leave the appartement and everything would be ok within.

Even today, there are so many words which I don't understand in the renting contract. However, I feel more comfortable reading it, as I could experience a couple of days ago when I was organizing my archive.

Besides the difficulty to understand the language, we were facing, by then, a different renting law. It was a huge surprise for me to find out we wouldn't get a monthly receipt and we couldn't put the rent in the IRS forms.
However, the biggest surprise of all was finding out we need to pay to the real estate agent.
Suddenly, we became aware that we needed to pay not two, but three rents at the same time to get the contract and the house.

After a very deep breath, we went to the bank.

Learning Dutch (2)

I had my first “shock” with the Dutch language when I started to look for a house at Interimmo's site [now it's in English too].
I couldn't understand the descriptions of the houses and their surroundings...

Almere, Tussen de Vaarten, Renoirstraat

From Almere (III)

I started to learn some words by clicking on the ads photos:
woonkamer [sala de estar/ living room], keuken [cozinha/ kitchen], slaapkamer [quarto de dormir/ bedroom] and badkamer [quarto de banho/bathroom].

Others I understood because of the Portuguese, English and French similarity:
deur [porta/door], lift [elevador/lift], garage [garagem/garage], balkon [varanda/ balcony], douchecabine [duche/shower], hal [hall], appartement [apartamento/flat], mozaiek [mosaico/mosaic], keramische [cerâmica/ceramic], luxe [luxo/luxury], vloer [chão/floor], kookplaat [placa vitrocerâmica/ cooking plate], radiator [radiador/radiator], locatie [localização/ location], prijs [preço/ price], station [estação/station], etage [andar/floor], plafond [tecto/ceiling], parkeerplaats [lugar de estacionamento/parking place].

Almere, Tussen de Vaarten, Klimtstraat

From Almere (III)

I learned the rest with the help of the dictionary and a lot of translation work... See the differences:

afzuigkap [exaustor/ extractor hood]
koelkast [frigorífico/fridge]
vaatwasser [máquina de lavar loiça/ dishwasher]
wastafelmeubel [móvel de casa de banho com lavatório]
ligbad [banheira/ bathtub]
ramen [janelas/windows]
wanden [paredes/ walls]
plavuizenvloer [laje/tile floor]
schouw [chaminé/chimney]
haard [lareira/fireplace]
berging [arrecadação/storage]
voorraadkast [despensa/ pantry]
kelder [cave/cellar]
dakterras [terraço/ roof terrace]
zolder [sotão/attic]
tuin [jardim/garden]
verdieping [andar/floor]
toegang [entrada/entry]
trapopgang [escadas/staircase]
ingang[entrada/entry]
uitgang [saída/exit]
bouwjaar [ano de construção/ construction year]
rustige [sossegado/quiet]
licht [luz/light]
groene [verde/green]

Almere, Tussen de Vaarten

From Almere (III)

uitzicht [vista/view]
kindvriendelijke [children's friendly]
leuk pleintje [uma pracinha gira/nice small square]
speelpleintjes [parques infantis/children's playground]
kinderopvang [creche/kindergarden]
scholen [escolas/schools]
gezondheiscentrum [centro de saúde/health center]
openbaar vervoer [transporte público/public transport]
bushalte [paragem de autocarro/bus stop]
winkels [lojas/stores]
winkelcentrum [centro comercial/shopping center]
snelweg [autoestrada/highway]

There are still words whose meaning I don't know, like afzuigschouw or schuifpui. Any help?

I hope this list can help somebody in the same situation as I was. No Dutch husband, relatives or friends to ask. No previous Dutch studies. Nothing. Only willpower and determination.

Beatles, Help

Learning Dutch (1)

From Coisas Minhas

A couple of days ago, I got this pretty postcard from my Dutch friend, Hanny: a long letter I was able to understand quite well. :-) I'm making progress with my Dutch ;-)
Yesterday, we met in a very cold, but beautiful Amersfoort. We spoke in Dutch most of the time: simple sentences, current affairs, of course, not the King's Speech ;-)

There are still words that I find very difficult to pronounce like "Onafhankelijkheid" [Independence or “Independência” in Portuguese].
Yesterday, I couldn't say it. Today, I tried again, and it came easily. Let's see tomorrow...

Before coming to the Netherlands, learning Dutch never crossed my mind. I remember once a colleague said she was learning Dutch and that was all my relation with this Germanic language. I've never studied German either. Only French and English.

The first time I heard a Dutch word was already in the KLM flight when the pilot said “Dames en Heren,...” which means “Ladies and Gentlemen,...” or “Senhoras e Senhores,...” in Portuguese.
The first written Dutch word I remember to see was “Aankomst” [“arrivals” or “chegadas” in Portuguese] in the corridor of the airport, when I was arriving.

On the bus to Haarlem, where we'd stay in a Hotel for three days, I noticed the word “reis” written on the ticket. “Reis” in Portuguese means “kings” and in Dutch, with a different pronunciation, means “travel”. I didn't know that by the time.

Quickly, I learned that “volgende halte” is “próxima paragem” (next stop), “trein” is “combóio” (train), and “tram” is “eléctrico” in Portuguese.

On our way back to Portugal, in the airport, I learned three more words: “vertrek” ("departures" or “partidas”), “luchthaven” (“airport” or “aeroporto”), “vliegtuig” ('flight” or “vôo”).

Until that moment, “reis” was my favourite word.

A couple of days later, knowing that we would be living here in November, I began to look for a house in Almere. Visiting Interimmo's site, I learned more four words:
“huur” (arrendar/to rent)
“koop” (comprar/to buy)
“huis” (casa/house)
“makelaar” (agência imobiliária/real estate agent)
I remember I wasn't able to understand the descriptions of the houses. Thank God for the photos!
Nowadays, the site is in English too. ;-)

A month later, in the evening of November, 4, we arrived in the Netherlands to take care of the paperwork and rent a house.
Next morning, at 9 o'clock, we had an appointment with the “Belastingdienst” or “Repartição de Finanças” (Tax Office).
I remember to see the word in the building when we were arriving by metro. “Belastingdienst...so different...” I thought...

(to be continued)