text:
Dutch/Introduction

Layout of the Course
This textbook is intended to be a comprehensive course in the Dutch language for English speakers, but of course people who speak English as a second language are most welcome as well.

Being an Afrikaans speaker is a huge help too, as it is a daughter language of Dutch, though Afrikaans has its differences and words can have different meanings from the same ones in Dutch, and about 95% of Afrikaans vocabulary comes from Dutch. If you are an Afrikaans speaker, this course shall be significantly easier. Just remember the different dialects etc. when speaking Dutch.

Early lessons emphasize conversational subjects and gradually introduce Dutch grammatical concepts and rules. In addition, sound files and illustrations accompany appropriate parts of each lesson.

Requirements for the course

 * Financial: This course does not cost you a dime.

 * Audio: Listening and speaking yourself are an important part of language acquisition. Therefore there are many sound files embedded in the course, so do make sure your computer or other device can play them. This includes using an appropriate browser. The author is using Firefox. Chrome might work too, but Internet Explorer does not always show the sound buttons.

 * Flashcards: We have added links to Quizlet data sets in parallel with each lesson through lesson10. Thus, all 24 lessons of the Beginner Level have Quizlet links. Registration for Quizlet is recommended (It is for free).

 * Keyboard: We also recommend that you install an international keyboard to deal more easily with the -rather few- diacritics that Dutch uses. For Microsoft operating systems this will tell you how to proceed.

Structure of the course
The course is divided in three levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Each level consists of two cycles of 4 lessons each. At the beginner and intermediate level each lesson is accompanied by two parallel lessons: a practice lesson and a cultural lesson. That means that the beginner level comprises 2*4*3= 24 lessons in total.

At the advanced level there are no parallel lessons. Starting from scratch, expect to arrive there in a year, depending on how intensively you study. By that time you should be able to start picking your own things to read, newspapers, Wikipedia articles, what have you.

Parallel lessons
The main lessons aim at introducing grammatical topics by means of conversations, interspersed with some exercises. Of course that is not sufficient to actually start speaking the language. Therefore, each lesson is accompanied by:
 * A parallel practice lesson 1⇒1A that elaborates the material further in conversations, reading material, fill in the blank exercises, small quizzes, pronunciation drills etc., to practice the material in the main lesson and build up vocabulary.
 * A parallel example lesson 1⇒Vb. 1 that uses pieces of literature, songs, nursery rhymes at times linked to YouTube videos to expose the reader to some Dutch cultural phenomena. In the earlier lessons the material is originally mostly intended for children who are acquiring the language in their playful way. In later lessons the material becomes a bit more adult and involves poetry and other forms of literature and some cultural and historical background information.

In addition there are pages intended to help build up vocabulary, some of which are interwoven in the practice lessons. Other ones are stand alone.

Possible strategies
Which way the reader wishes to use the book may vary. The recommended strategy for a beginner with no experience is:

Lesson 1 > Lesson 1A -> Vb. 1 -> Lesson 2 > Lesson 2A > Vb. 2 >Lesson 3 > Lesson 3A >, etc.

People who have experience with other languages, grammars etc. might want to follow the order

Lesson 1 > 2 > 3 > 4 > and on to the end of the basic text

Others may want to start tackling the language in context of a situation and worry about grammar later might want to start with Lesson 1A or Example 1 and check back for the grammar in Lesson 1 later. But readers are encouraged to revisit pages they have worked on again and again, so the order may be more complicated than this.

For people who have been learning Dutch in other ways and want to revisit a certain topic there is an Index of grammatical and syntactic topics covered.

Layout within main Lessons
The following topics can typically be found in one of the main lessons:

 * 1) One or more conversations (Gesprek) or stories (Verhaal) in a colored box, usually with a sound button
 * The translation of these textual pieces is given in a drop down box. Words can also be underlined, and the reader can hover the mouse over.
 * A vocabulary box on the right hand side that can be opened for easy access to pronunciation, translation and links to WikiWoordenboek
 * 1) One or more grammar (Grammatica) lessons covering elements of Dutch grammar, with examples often drawn from the conversation, story, or study materials.
 * 2) Sections (''Uw beurt - Your turn) with exercises pertaining to the material of various kinds:
 * Fill in the blank
 * Pronunciation drills
 * Translation assignments
 * Modifying sentences
 * 1) Illustrations of concepts related to the story usually with a sound button
 * 2) A list of words (Woordenschat) and phrases introduced in the lesson, usually in the conversation, story, or study presentations. including sound files
 * 3) A link to Quizlet with the vocabulary taught (under construction)
 * 4) A synopsis of what the reader should have gained, including a cumulative vocabulary count (under construction)

Layout in the practice lessons
There are often additional texts, many exercises of various sorts and short quizzes to practice what was taught in the main lesson or to repeat what was taught in the lessons before. To further expand vocabulary students may be asked to go to one of the vocabulary pages to study words related to a certain topic. Quizlet links provide another way to brush up on vocabulary

Layout in the example lessons
In these lessons we will have a look at rhymes, poems, songs etc. Often the student is referred to a YouTube video to watch in order to practice oral understanding and expand vocabulary in the context of Dutch culture. Quizlet links provide another way to brush up on vocabulary.

Quizzes
Short quizzes are integrated into the practice lessons, but there are also longer quizzes at the end of the two cycles of the Beginner Level.

Rate of acquisition of vocabulary
Each lesson -its two parallel lessons included- contains on average about 120 new terms. At the end of the Beginner Level the student should know a little over one thousand terms.

The Student and the Lesson
The text is designed to constitute a comprehensive course of study in the Dutch language. Each lesson should be read thoroughly and mastered before moving on. Substantial text in Dutch is included and the student should read all of it, not once, but multiple times. In most cases sound files are given as an arrow button; they should be listened to multiple times as well, both while reading the text simultaneously, and -once the content is understood- with eyes closed. Complete translations into English are included only in selected places or they are hidden in a drop down box. Most of the text should first be translated by the student using his or her acquired vocabulary and the vocabulary presented at the bottom of each lesson and/or in collapsed boxes in the right hand margin of the text. Hints about the meaning of new, underlined words can also be obtained by the.

As the Dutch is read (out loud is better), the student must succeed in gaining an understanding of the meaning of each sentence, and the role each word plays in establishing that meaning. To the beginner, there will seem to be many words in a Dutch sentence that are out of place or even redundant or unnecessary. These add subtleties to the language that will make sense eventually. But it is important to experience these subtleties from the very beginning.

There are exercises interspersed throughout the main lesson with additional ones in the practice lessons. They are of various nature. Translation exercises, pronunciation drills, fill-in-the-blanks, adapt a word form, swap to items etc.

The Dutch Language
Dutch (Nederlands) is a member of the western group of the Germanic languages. It is spoken primarily in the Netherlands, and in a major part of both Belgium and Surinam. It has about 23 million mother tongue speakers and another 5 million second language speakers. Continue reading about the Dutch language and its history at Wikipedia.

Dialects
As a standard language Dutch is a relatively young phenomenon. The standard is based on a variety of dialects that are much older and show considerable differences not only in pronunciation but even in grammar and syntax. This holds for many languages, including for English as spoken in the UK. By urbanization, suburbanization and the influence of the mass media the standard language has been gaining ground at the cost of the dialects for over a century, so that it is now the mother tongue of most speakers. Others are typically perfectly bilingual in their regional tongue and the standard language. But in the way that the standard is spoken there are many regional and social differences in pronunciation or even in syntax and grammar. In Bruges (Flanders), Rotterdam (Netherlands) or Paramaribo (Suriname) Dutch will sound as different as English does in Edinburgh, London or Indianapolis. This course aims at teaching Dutch that would be acceptable to most if not all speakers but will point out a number of important differences that non-native speakers are likely to encounter in their interaction with native speakers.

A major division in the dialects is formed by de grote rivieren the great rivers that run through the Netherlands from east to west on their way to the North Sea as shown in the map. The course is mostly based on Northern standard Dutch, because that is most readily accepted under all speakers, but it will point out some important differences at times and also give examples of other varieties.

A dynamic language
Dutch has undergone far more sweeping changes in grammar and syntax in the last century or two than either English or German. It has lost most of its case endings and much of one of the three original genders (feminine). This has led to some interesting shifts in its grammar and syntax. Some of these developments are still taking place today. This means that Dutch grammar is less set in stone than the reader may be familiar with from other grammars. Occasionally we will have to discuss the evolution rather than the creature to explain modern Dutch usage.

Dutch and English
If you are an English speaker unfamiliar with Dutch, you may be surprised to learn that English and Dutch are closely related languages and share many words that are very similar. This is particularly true for everyday words in English that are Anglo-Saxon (i.e. Germanic) in origin. After 1066 English has absorbed a lot of (Norman) French. Dutch also has been exposed to contact with first vulgar Latin and then French, but the French influence has been less pervasive.

Consider the following list of English words followed by their Dutch counterparts: Many words of French origin have entered both languages and are quite recognizable:

 * communication ~ communicatie
 * proclaim ~ proclameren

But in many cases Dutch retains a Germanic word, sometimes aside the Latin one:

 * proclaim ~ uitroepen

English spelling has conserved many now silent consonants, e.g. gh in light. This may have been an obstacle when learning to write English but when learning Dutch the investment pays off. Dutch has licht and the ch is very much still pronounced as a guttural fricative /x/ like in German Bach or Scottish Loch.

Some words are even completely the same. (true friends)

Of course, even words whose spelling is no different in English and Dutch may be pronounced quite differently or mean something different (false friends):

 * door ~ deur
 * through, by ~ door

 * worst ~ ergst, slechtst
 * sausage ~ worst

Nevertheless, when reading Dutch you will see the kinship between the languages, even in many short words, common or not. For example, compare:

 * This week, my father is on the wharf with my brother and his daughter.
 * Deze week is mijn vader op de werf met mijn broer en zijn dochter.

These sentences consist almost entirely of cognates: words that evolved from the same source. Dutch is indeed one of easiest languages to learn for an Anglophone. Notice however the position of the verb is in these two phrases. In Dutch it stands in front of the father. This is because Dutch has retained something that English has lost: the rather complicated word order (syntax) of the West-Germanic languages. Many English speakers who learn Dutch find that one of the most difficult aspects to learn to do correctly, but it hardly ever leads to miscommunication. In the course it is introduced bit by bit. The full picture is only described in one of the last lessons (21).

Dutch and German
Both Dutch and German are West-Germanic languages and this means that there are many resemblances. However, Dutch is easier to learn for a speaker of English for a number of reasons. First of all, (High-) German underwent a major shift of almost all its consonants in the early Middle Ages. In term of its consonants Dutch has been pretty conservative. Compare: This makes a major part of Dutch vocabulary easier to memorize. Secondly, German retained its system of case endings in contrast to Dutch and English. It is not easy to master that system if your mother-tongue does not have it. Compare:

Knowledge of German can certainly help in learning Dutch, but it can also be a source of confusion. A good example is the letter combination sch. In German it denotes the same consonant as sh in English (in IPA: [ʃ]), in Dutch this sound is relatively rare. It only occurs in loans from languages like Frisian, English, French etc.

In Dutch 'sch' usually denotes [sx]: an [s] followed by a velar spirant [x], like in schip. In the ending -isch the 'ch' is mute and it is pronounced as [-is] as in English 'fleece'.

A topic where knowledge of German is a great help is syntax (word order), but on the other hand there are differences in how the verb tenses are used. In German the imperfect past tense, like du gabst, sprachst, rettettest is on its way out. In Dutch forms like jij gaf, sprak, redde are alive and kicking and in every day use.

Dutch and Scandinavian languages
Although Danish, Swedish and Norwegian are North-Germanic languages, which means that the relationship is a bit more distant, speakers of these languages typically do not find Dutch very difficult, because many changes in the language such as the loss of the case endings and of feminine gender are quite similar. Some Scandinavians manage to speak Dutch so well without any discernible accent that people don't realize that they are not Dutch. Swedes may have to pay attention to their intonation, because that is rather different in Swedish.

Dutch and French / Italian and other romance languages
For speakers of the Romance languages Dutch is by no means an easy language to learn, although if you already speak English some of the problems may already have been overcome.

Dutch is a stress language like English and German. That is: every word has one syllable that is high in pitch, a bit louder, and usually a bit longer than all the other ones. In French those three qualities are not coupled and spread more evenly over the syllables of the word. In Dutch, stressed syllables have either a full vowel (one of twelve) or a diphthong; the unstressed syllables all tend to have a schwa. Intonation is therefore difficult for Romance speakers because the contrasts between the syllables is much smaller in those languages.

Another problem is formed by the separable verbs. There often is no direct equivalent in French for the fine nuances imparted by the separable prefix in Dutch. Often an entirely different verb needs to be substituted, or there is none available.

French speakers usually have little problem with the vowels, but they do tend to speak much more in the front of the mouth than Dutch speakers do. The placement of the sounds is different. For other Romance languages a vowel like u [y] or eu [ø] the ui [ʌy] diphthong might be problematic, as well as the guttural spirants g and ch.

Dutch and Russian / other Slavic languages
A main problem for Russian speakers lies in the vowel system of Dutch. The vowels a, e, i, o, u all occur in two different qualities. The differences are difficult to hear and reproduce for Russian speakers.

Another problem is the voiced consonants like b, v, d, z. In Dutch they all get devoiced at the end of the word, but that hold for Russian too. However, they often also get devoiced when they follow a voiceless consonant, even in assimilation from the previous word. E.g.
 * de vele autos - [v]
 * het vee  - [f]

A grammatical problem is that Dutch is a tense language and Russian an aspect language. Dutch has perfect tenses, Russian perfective aspects. They cover the same territory, but one lengthwise the other in the other direction.

Dutch and Mandarin
Of course the differences are very large and numerous, but one difficulty deserves mention, that of epenthesis. The syllables of Mandarin are either CV or CVn, i.e. they start with a single consonant and end in a vowel or a nasal. In Dutch they can end in other consonants and in fact multiple ones, like herfst is CVCCCC with no less than four consonants at the end. Mandarin speakers need to suppress the tendency to add epenthetic vowels, making it something like herefesete. Epenthetic (inserted) vowels are sometimes used by Dutch speakers too, e.g. werken may well be pronounced werreke, but this is considered dialectal and non-standard and is frowned upon by most speakers.

Vocabulary and Grammar
In learning to read or speak any new language, two important aspects to be mastered are vocabulary and grammar (others are pronunciation and syntax, but they usually do not stop you from being understood). Acquiring vocabulary is a "simple" matter of memorization.

Learning by ear
Children do it all the time, but they are at an advantage: they memorize far easier than grown-ups. Age is a definite disadvantage in language learning. The child's learning process can be "reactivated" to some extent by immersion in a second language: a method of learning a new language by moving to a place where that language is spoken and having to get around and live without use of one's native tongue.

If you do not have the opportunity of residing in a Dutch speaking area an alternative is to listen to recordings and we are in process of adding bits and pieces as .ogg files so that you can learn by ear. Use them as much as you can. More than once.

These files take different forms
 * 1) Single words. They are useful when you are trying to memorize vocabulary
 * 2) Spoken text of the chapter. They should be used to study the conversations
 * 3) Drills. Here you need to repeat words or utterances in the pauses.
 * 4) Translation drills. Here you are told to say something in Dutch yourself.

In the Example lessons there are also links to YouTube videos where the text of a poem is recited or a song is sung.

Of course there is also a drawback to the by-ear method: You do not get much immersion into reading Dutch. You as an internet user, will most likely want to be literate in Dutch.

As with all languages: the written Dutch language and the spoken Dutch language are by no means identical. At times we will explain the distinction if necessary.

Learning by eye
This is why this course also tries to train your eyes, but this will not work without effort from your side. This is why we often say: Your turn! (Uw beurt!)

So what do you need to do? There are a variety of things. We are tackling the problem with a multi-pronged approach.

Be sure to "learn"—commit to memory—all of the vocabulary words in each lesson as they are presented. Early lessons have simple sentences because it is assumed that the student's vocabulary is limited.

To help you accumulate vocabulary there are a number of additional pages see: Dutch/Vocabulary. They are mostly both visual and audio in nature and there are exercises to go with them (still being created).

Throughout the text, more complex discourses (e.g. as photo captions) are included to introduce the student to regular Dutch in use. It may be helpful to translate these using a Dutch-English dictionary (Wiktionary is usually on a click or two away). Other sources of Dutch, such as newspapers, magazines, web sites, etc. can also be useful in building vocabulary and developing a sense of how Dutch words are put together. The Dutch Wikipedia provides an ever-expanding source of Dutch language articles that can be used for this purpose. Further, a Dutch version of the English Wikibooks project—a library of textbooks in Dutch — is available at Dutch Language Textbooks and there is a growing Dutch version of wiktionary (WikiWoordenboek) to which a number of words in the text have been linked for direct reference. WikiWoordenboek usually has an example phrase to go with every dictionary entry to show the word in context. This too is a helpful tool for expanding your vocabulary, as context helps memorization.

Learning grammar and syntax
This is where as a grown up you are at an advantage, because you may already know how grammar works from your mother tongue or other languages you are proficient in to some extent.

Dutch grammar is sufficiently similar to English grammar that "reading" Dutch is possible with minimal vocabulary. The student should generally recognize the parts of a sentence. With a good dictionary, a sentence can usually be translated correctly. Of course there are some notable exceptions and false friends, e.g. in the way that the passive voice is formed:

 * hij wordt gezien - he is seen
 * hij is gezien - he has been seen.

To speak and write Dutch properly you do need to learn its grammar and syntax. Particularly the latter (word order) is rather different. We will gradually introduce it. Do not be daunted by it. Learning a language goes bit by bit, word for word, structure by structure. Just keep at it and look at what you have gained not at what you don't understand. Children don't always understand everything either, but they are not ashamed or humiliated by that.

Pronunciation
A guide to pronunciation of Dutch is provided as Appendix 1. You should become familiar with this page early on, and refer to it often. Nothing can replace learning a language from a native speaker, but the text is liberally sprinkled with audio files providing the student with valuable input from hearing spoken Dutch. Analyze the spoken words carefully. Descriptions of the pronunciation as in Appendix 1 can only closely, not exactly, convey how Dutch words should be pronounced. This is why there are quite a few buttons on that page that allow you hear what is meant. Do compare!

Of course there are variations in pronunciation. Dutch spoken in the country side of Brabant, in the cities of Amsterdam, Antwerpen or Paramaribo sound pretty different and the same thing can be said for the board room and the back alley. We do present pronunciations from different people and places in the sound files and even more so in the YouTube video links.

Contact
If you have questions or want contact try the dutchgrammar forum. I often hang out there and correct people's stuff or do some exercises

title: Dutch/Introduction


text:
Dutch/Lesson 1

Why grammar?
Children learn their mother tongue without knowing the parts of speech such as verbs, nouns and phrases. However these are helpful for anyone attempting to learn a second language from a book or a website. Of course the children have it right: the best way to learn a language is to listen to a mother tongue speaker and simply repeat. Then just use the word in a similar situation and see how people react. Children are masters at acquiring language this way and are generally smiled at when they use a word incorrectly. Being an adult, people are often not so forgiving to you and you feel foolish when people laugh and point out to you that you just said "toothbrush" while you meant "toothpick". Besides, native speakers may not always be available to you. Or if they are they are not eager to spend time playing 'child' with you. This book will try to compensate this by addition of audio files and visual information, -as the figure to the right- but that is still only a cumbersome substitute. We do recommend that you use them as much as you can. Firefox seems to give easier access to them than other browsers. So, please go ahead, push that arrow and learn to say 'toothbrush' properly. Your first Dutch word? Congrats.

Although clearly children are superior in language acquisition, grown ups do have an advantage: they can analyze language better in terms of its grammar. This course therefore uses both approaches: it will deal with grammar, but it will also ask you to be a child and listen and repeat or look at some pictures while playing a sound clip. Don't be afraid to be a bit childish! It serves a purpose.

One important observation about children should be mentioned: they always learn language in a certain context.

Is it all just grammar here then?
No! There is much more. Audio files are inserted into the main lessons as much as possible, even though they aim at gradually introducing grammar and syntax. The parallel series of practice lessons (1A, 2A etc.) provide additional practice, vocabulary building, sound material and quizzes. The example pages (Vb. 1 etc.) follow the contextual path of learning like children do and involve nursery rhymes, poems, stories, songs and the like. And there are audio-visual vocabulary pages to help you learn more words.

What is the best way?
So, what is the best way to learn a language? The best way is to do something everyday. What you do is often less important than simply doing it. Children are champions in language acquisition and they never worry about what they do. Oh, and what you do, may very well be doing that same exercise again. Children love doing things "again". Ever watched the Teletubbies? Repeating is an important key to language acquisition. Being "efficient" and saying: "oh, I have done that before, let me skip that!" is a bad adult habit that children would never stoop to, until they get really bored with something. (Which is when they already know it). So, push that button below the toothbrush again! And tomorrow come back here and do the same.

Other assets
Another thing to exploit is the other languages you already know. English speakers will find many strong parallels between their language and Dutch. German speakers even more so, but there are also differences. Where possible we will try to point out the similarities and the differences and exploit them.

However, as noted in the introduction, Dutch grammar is more complex than English grammar, and identifying the meaning of words in a Dutch sentence is difficult without understanding the clues to word function that come from the grammatical rules. The basic lessons of this textbook are set up to first introduce the parts of speech, and then bring in the rules that govern these. Pay particular attention to sentence word order as you progress through the lessons.

Hovering
Some words will be. Try to hover your mouse over such words.

Topics and vocabulary
There are pages to help you build vocabulary in a visual / auditive way.

Audio files
Whenever you see one of the following: Or:
 * [[file:nl-Nederlander.ogg]]

Please click and listen! (If you do not see any buttons now: try a different browser. Firefox and Chrome seem to work. Internet Explorer does not.) After listening, pronounce the word the best you can and then click again. Keep doing that till you are satisfied with your own result. It is useful to then leave it be for, say 20 minutes and do it again. Then perhaps once more the next day.

Vocabulary / Pronunciation boxes
For many texts there is a box on the right that you can open to look at the vocabulary being trained and listen to the pronunciations. Click it to open it and start listening and reading.

Wiktionary
Throughout the texts and in the vocabulary lists there are blue links that take you to the Dutch version of our sister project Wiktionary. It is called WikiWoordenboek. Of course the layout is in Dutch and you may not immediately understand everything, but that is not a disaster. If you want to learn a language you also should learn to be a bit of a detective: you often need to get the gist of something with a few pieces of the puzzle missing. Don't let that scare you off! Here are a few useful topics used on WikiWoordenbook:

 * 1) There usually is an English translation of a word under the heading Vertalingen, marked Engels
 * 2) There is also a geluidsopname (sound recording) or a phonetic description under Uitspraak.
 * 3) There are tables, usually to the right giving the various forms of the word, say, the plural or the past tense.
 * 4) There are usually example sentences putting the word in context
 * 5) There are usually antonyms, synonyms, derivatives or related terms

If you are really lost use the interwiki link to the English version (or any other language you know) as back up, but don't give in to it too easily! Use it to figure out what you did not quite get on the Dutch version.

We encourage you to use the links to expand your vocabulary. First guess what a word means, then click!

Just try it on the verb ; look at the box with three forms on the right. What is the past tense? (It is the middle one in the box)

Quizlet and Memrise
There are plenty other sites that allow you to expand your growing knowledge of Dutch. They all have their pros and cons. For example Memrise and Quizlet have an interesting way to boost vocabulary, but teach zero syntax or grammar and usually little other context. But if you want a vocabulary boost it's great and we are in the process of creating practice sets dedicated to the material of the lessons here. Some already have a quizlet link on the bottom of the page. It is therefore recommended to register for Quizlet. (It is for free).

YouTube
YouTube has a plethora of videos, that we will even send you to at times. Again: good for listening, vocabulary building, often less so on grammar and syntax, but plenty of other context.

But do come back: the context
There is a pertinent Dutch proverb: Verandering van spijs doet eten - Change of food makes you eat. Children also vary what they play with. Variety of learning is healthy. Besides children never learn a word outside context. When they learn a new word, it always goes together with the context of:
 * 1) the words around it (semantic context),
 * 2) the way they interrelate (the grammatical context),
 * 3) the order in which they are used (the syntactic context),
 * 4) whether convey anger, sweetness, seriousness (the emotional context),
 * 5) in what kind situations it is used: a school squabble, a church service (social context),
 * 6) in which time period they are/were used (temporal context),
 * 7) by what kind of people: punks, managers, construction workers, kings, pimps, doctors (register context).

One aim of this book is to provide as much of that context as possible. This is why conversations, stories, texts, poems and songs are important: they give context to the words you are learning.

So, enough talk! Let's get started. And we'll start in the context of a simple conversation

Gesprek 1-1 ~ Vrienden: Jan en Karel
We will put such text material in a colored box. What you are supposed to do with such material is the following.
 * 1) First click on the arrow button to listen to the story and try to read along.
 * 2) Then use the hover method to see an instant translation of a certain word and try to piece together the meaning of the story.
 * 3) Then use the Vocabulary box on the right to concentrate on single words and start memorizing.
 * 4) Once you have an idea of the gist of the story you can open up the drop down box and read the translation to see if you were right.
 * 5) Then click the arrow again and see if you understand what is being said, first while reading along, then with your eyes closed.

When learning a new language it is very important to be able to deduce meaning from limited information, because you will often not know all the words used. Picking up their meaning from context is an important skill. This is why the hovering is important.

You may notice that Dutch sometimes strings words together a bit differently than English. Dutch word order is quite different and a difficult aspect of the language, but we will revisit that many times. So don't worry about it for the moment, just observe.

Pronunciation
Dutch pronunciation varies with region and speaker, and you may have been shocked at some of the sounds of the language. You can visit Dutch/Alfabet if that is the case. Dutch spelling is not really phonetic, but pretty systematic (much more so than English) and once you learn the system you should be able to pronounce an unknown word on sight pretty well.

It is not easy to render the sounds in writing, but the following rendition in IPA gives a reasonable idea. Try running the sound file again while reading the IPA version.

 * Notice sounds like and ? And how t+j run together into ? And how about ? Or the vowel ?
 * Notice also that vowels often occur in two varieties: . They are often called 'long' and 'short', but those names are misleading: they are really different sounding vowels. The length difference is rather secondary, if there is any.

If you prefer other renditions than IPA try this page

Grammatica 1-2 ~ Forms
We will use the material in the colored boxes to point at grammatical phenomena and introduce the grammar that way, step by step.

Clitic forms
Did you notice the difference between "Hoe gaat het met je"? and "En met jou?" in the conversation? Both translate literally into with you, but there is a difference in emphasis. Jou carries emphasis, je does not. In Dutch, there are often two forms of the same pronoun: a strong one and a weak ('clitic' ) one. This is particularly true in spoken, colloquial Dutch. In the written language the clitic ones are not always shown as such.

 * The full forms have full vowels or diphthongs (like in jou) and can either carry stress or not.
 * The clitic forms cannot have emphasis and the vowel in a clitic is often reduced to a neutral 'schwa' [ə] (like in je') or omitted entirely.

In colloquial English the same thing can be heard at times: seeya! instead of see you!. In Dutch the use of clitics is very common; it already was in the Middle Dutch period before 1500.

For now remember: never stress a clitic

Polite forms
The above conversation was between two good friends. It utilizes the familiar form of the personal pronoun (je, jou) where English uses you. However, Dutch also has a polite or formal form of the personal pronoun for the second person (you), u. Many languages have this distinction. It is e.g. comparable with  in Gàidhlig, Sie in German,  vous in French, usted in Spanish, Вы in Russian, or anata in Japanese. When to use one or the other is not always easy to decide. Someone unknown, particularly if older, is generally u, an old friend typically je, jou. The latter roughly corresponds with the 'first name basis' in English. Notice the use of u in the conversation below that takes place between colleagues rather than close friends. They would never say: "hoi!" to each other.

Regional forms
In the South of the area where Dutch is spoken (Flanders mostly),, the familiar form when speaking in familiar fashion is gij (clitic: ge, object: u). Gij is mostly used when speaking dialect, although it gets used more and more in polite situations and on tv. In the north it has become obsolete since about 1800. It is used much like you in English for both singular and plural. In the North gij is now only encountered there in archaic phrases like: gij zult niet stelen - thou shalt not steal. Like thou the pronoun gij takes its own verb forms. This course is mostly based on northern usage as this is the most widely accepted, including in Suriname and the Antilles, but some important differences will be pointed out and we will see gij occasionally when we look at some older poetry.

Gesprek 1-2 ~ Collega's: De handelaars
Push the button and listen to the following text. It is recommended to first just listen.

Then read the following conversation. It is a bit more formal than the one before. If you are not sure of the meaning of a word, hover your mouse over it, if it is underlined. A translation will pop up. Or use the vocabulary box to the right. Make sure you know the gist of the story before opening the translation box. If you cheat, you cheat yourself... Finally, listen to the recording again with your eyes closed. Can you understand what is being said?

 * Have you figured out the gist yet? Then open the translation box to see if you were right:

Go back to the pronunciation, close your eyes and see how much you understand now. You may have to repeat the process a few times.

Quiz
How are you doing so far? Do this little quiz to find out!

{ What is this? -toothpick -friend +toothbrush -visit
 * type="[]" }

{ What is this? -me -sir +you (object) -you (subject)
 * type="[]" }

{ Select the correct translation ---+- already + street + merchant -+--- good --+-- how
 * type="[]" }
 * straat|goed|hoe|al|handelaar

Grammatica 1-3 ~ Introduction to pronouns
A pronoun is a short word that takes the place of a noun previously mentioned in the sentence, paragraph, or conversation.

Recall: Kent u meneer Standish? Bent u hem al tegengekomen?

Hem refers back to meneer Standish. It is a pronoun that stands for (pro- !) meneer Standish.

There is a variety of pronouns like personal, possessive, relative and indefinite ones. Let's look at the personal pronouns first.

Personal pronouns
Both English and Dutch have had a system of case endings in the past, as languages like German and Russian still do today. In English most of the system fell into disuse starting with the Viking invasions of the 9th and 10th Centuries, and especially after the Norman invasion in 1066. The collapse of the system in spoken Dutch dates mostly from the 16th century and in the written language it was scrapped as recently as 1947. That means that Dutch has more remnants of the case system left than English and we will even devote lesson 15 to those remnants. The personal pronouns actually still show some case differences in both languages.

Personal pronouns are quite familiar in English: They are words like I,you,he,she,we,you and they. At least this is the case for the subject (nominative case). As object (accusative) some of them are different: me,you,him,us,you,them. Compare:

 * I see you.
 * You see me.

Notice how I turns into me when used as an object. You remains the same.

Much like in English, ik (subject) turns into mij as object in Dutch, whereas je remains the same in both roles:

 * Ik zie je.
 * Je ziet mij.

The system in Dutch resembles the English one quite a bit, after all the languages are close relatives:

 * As in English there are three persons in Dutch grammar: first (I), second (you) and third (he)
 * As in English there is a distinction in number between singular (I) and plural (we).
 * As in English there are gender distinctions in the third person singular (he, she, it)
 * As in English there are case distinctions between subject and object (he, him)

Nevertheless the Dutch system is a little more involved, as we have seen there are:

 * familiar and polite forms: je versus u.
 * weak (clitics) and strong forms: je versus jou.

In addition there are
 * 1) Regional differences:  (jij/jullie  - u) (North) versus (gij/gullie - u) (South)
 * 2) A growing rift between how inanimate and animate nouns are treated
 * In English he and she are reserved for animate nouns -usually persons- and this is increasingly the case in Dutch as well, certainly in Northern usage. We will revisit this point later.
 * 1) Pronominal replacement: the combination preposition + pronoun (e.g. with it) is usually replaced by an adverb
 * We will revisit that in lesson 8

Let's leave most of these complications aside for the moment and concentrate on the forms of the pronouns. There are a few more than in English.

Remarks

 * 1) As you see not all pronouns have clitics and some of them (shown in parentheses) are not often used in the written language.
 * 2) *In prescriptive grammar hun is dative and hen is accusative. But in speaking, Dutch speakers generally do not make this distinction. This is because the hen form was artificially created by the grammarians of the past and in the whole rest of the language there are no other words that make a distinction between dative and accusative. In the spoken language hen and hun are often used interchangeably (as synonyms) or people avoid the issue by opting for the clitic ze.

Quizlet
This is the point where it is your turn to put in some effort yourself, because obviously you have some memorization to do.

There is a Quizlet practice set (27 terms) to help you with memorizing the pronouns. But it is recommended to first use the above tables. Unfortunately, the pronunciation of some of the clitics with apostrophes is wrong at Quizlet. So click the arrow buttons here to listen to the pronunciation and speak it out loud yourself until you feel confident that you know them, then go to Quizlet. Do make sure you can hear sound at Quizlet. First scan through the cue cards, then do some of the other methods available. It should take you an hour or so and you will know some of the most frequently used words in the language.

Woordenlijst 1
You have already encountered quite a few words above. Now make sure you own them! Listen to their pronunciation, sort the table by English and read back to Dutch, check the pronunciation again. Click on the blue link to go to the Dutch wiktionary and try to figure out what you may. If you do not understand, follow the interwiki link to go to the English wiktionary.

In short: there are many ways to use this table and you can try one thing one day and come back another to try something different.

Quizlet
The vocabulary of this lesson can be trained at Quizlet. (33 terms)

Your turn! Building vocabulary 1
When learning a language you need to start building up your vocabulary. There are various ways of doing that. One is to study the above conversations well. Often words are easier to remember when put in context. We will add vocabulary building exercises to each lesson to make it easier for you to memorize it all.

Progress made
If you have studied the above well, you should
 * 1) Know more about the process of language acquisition. This should allow you to tailor your own learning better to your specific needs and preferences
 * 2) Started tuning your ears and your mouth to the pronunciation
 * 3) Gained vocabulary: 27 pronouns, 33 terms introduced in the lesson, 56 of the most often used words in the language, 116 terms in total.
 * 4) Learned about the use of personal pronouns, including their clitic, polite and regional forms.

Further practice
This lesson is accompanied by two pages that are intended to practice and reinforce what you have learned above. They do that with a bit different approach

 * Les 1A will give you more conversations and practice.
 * Voorbeeld 1 uses the simplest pieces of literature: nursery rhymes to teach language in a playful and amusing way.

It is recommended that you first work on the material in these two modules before you move on to lesson two, but of course this depends on your level of understanding and one of the nice things about the wiki-system is that one can use it whichever way you see fit. (Which is what children would do, but they are used to running into new things that they do not fully comprehend.)

Appendix
<< Lesson Layout Guide Pronunciation Guide >>

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Dutch/Lesson 1


text:
Talk:Dutch/Cover

/Archive/

title: Talk:Dutch/Cover


text:
Talk:German/Introduction

Untitled
Isn't Dutch easier for English speakers? It's definitely closer. The problem with Dutch is however that its speakers tend to speak English quite well - and they like to do it. It can be hard to reach a sufficiently high level to be responded in Dutch, and thus to really learn the language by talking and listening to people. Guaka 23:27, 4 Jan 2004 (UTC) -

Vocabulary
Our vocabulary is very spread out, based on whatever anyone felt like sticking in the example texts. This is a problem, because if someone wanted to look up a word, they would have to search through every lesson. Of course, we are not a German-English dictionary, but I believe we should definitely group our vocabulary lessons by topic, such as food, sports, furniture, school supplies, school subjects, weather, tasks, or math, either in an appendix or in the lessons and advanced lessons themselves.

We also should make an attempt to teach more than just grammar in the opening lessons. Outside viewers will not want to see only hardcore grammar as they learn German. They also need practical applications for the grammar we give. We could, for example, teach months and days of the week along with the ordinal and cardinal numbers in Lesson 3. Then, we could include more stuff such as the translations for yesterday, tomorrow, or how to say, "My birthday is...", "When is...?" and give them numerous examples. This kind of change would do three things for us:
 * 1) Provide some practical applications in conjunction with the example sentences.
 * 2) Allow us to put more useful vocabulary in the right spots and organize it.
 * 3) Beef up our lessons to a satisfactory size. - SamE 16:11, 29 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * I have attempted to have themes for each lessons, but it has sometimes gone astray as a result of moving stuff around so much; but it is a good idea and can certainly be contributed to much more. I would not change too much more in the first five Basic lessons as they seem pretty full in most cases already (except your idea of adding a few more "practical" example sentences seems like a valuable one). This idea is especially one that can enhance the Advanced lessons (for an example see Grammatik 3-6 where more details of telling time are intended). Perhaps if, in lessons yet to be developed, a topic vocabulary were develped first—see Lektion 7, where someone added both higher numbers/math and colors as "vocabulary themes" and I have been editing within those topics). If the vocabulary were worked out first, the rest of the lesson ideas could be adapted arouind the theme.
 * The idea of having (in the conversations and stories) a businessman (Herr Standish), younger student (Karl and Heinrich), and college students (Markus, Helena, and Katrin) was for continuity and to allow themes to develop as you suggest. For example, the businessman is English and travelling around German-speaking Europe. Thus allowing for developing "travel" or "tourist" themes.
 * As for looking up words; the vocabulary is not intended for that purpose and an appendix would be best suited for that. I've toyed with the idea of having a dictionary of just the words we use in the lessons within a German-English English-German dictionary as an appendix, but that would be a lot of work?
 * My idea in the first lessons is to get the very basics of grammar laid out. When I took German many times many years ago, it was painfully obvious to me that my lack of understanding of English grammar was hurting my ability to learn German. Later I was placed in a language emersion situation for another language: Gilbertese (I-Kiribati). Again, until I got a good grammar book on that language, I could not learn it despite being daily surrounded by native speakers. While I agree with your sugestions, the heavy grammar stuff in the beginning is really important for English speakers to understand before they can begin to learn German. - Marsh 17:43, 29 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Finally, we should make learning vocabulary more than just a list at the end of the page. We should include more than is just in the example sentences, or, better yet, put the vocabulary in the middle of the lesson. This would give our readers a break from grammar and at the same time make them actually learn it, not just look to it as a reference. People will skip it and think it an afterthought if it's left to the end of a lesson. - SamE 16:11, 29 Feb 2004 (UTC)
 * We can certainly try to move the vocabulary from the last thing on a page. I disagree students will think it an afterthought, since most lessons start with a story or conversation that requires the student to constantly refer to the Vokabeln to read. But there is no reason we cannot have more than one Vokabeln per page.  Say one that follows the story or conversation with just those newly introduced words, then another at the end or at least further in to pick up any new words encountered as the student moves through the lesson.
 * Nice to see you are taking some ownership here. We have lots of lessons to go, so there is plenty of opportunity to steer things in the directions you are suggesting. The first 5 Basic lessons, while not "done", are getting near to completion—the Advanced lessons for each still need lots of work. Also, when you have time, add something on the German: Contributors page about yourself. - Marsh 17:43, 29 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I split the Vokabeln in Lektion 1 as you suggested, and I do like it better that way. The vocabulary is smaller and more accessible to the task that way, rather than having the whole thing at the end - Marsh 18:38, 29 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Some lessons, such as Lesson 4-1 are, in my opinion, horrible for the opening topic on any page this early. If this is a textbook for beginners, why is the whole introduction and conversation in German? I'm sure students would get frustrated with having to check the vocabulary, but they also need a more basic conversation and a slow, formalized introduction to words, word order, and certain topics.
 * Lesson 4 is still a little rough. For example, the conversation section is yet to be developed. However, I disagree it is "horrible". It has grammar lessons that are very much related concepts: it introduces adjectives, then covers the possessive adjectives, combining the previous lessons' on case by linking adjectives, possessives (especially possessive pronouns), and the genitive case—therefore completing the four lessons on case as applied to pronouns and nouns. It includes indefinite articles because these have yet to be introduced (definite articles are introduced in Lesson 3); This grammar lesson then lays the groundwork for ein-word endings (must follow intro. to adjectives). The last lesson on personal pronoun gender could be moved up anywhere (even up to Lesson 1). This is about the right place to introduce adjectives, but the other concepts could be delayed for a few lessons. Anyway, until a "theme" is developed, each of the grammar lessons here can stay or be moved where they appear to fit in logically. The theme here was to be (but need not be) that Markus is selling some personal stuff at a flea market. But feel free to change that theme. Below you list themes, which are a good idea.  However, I am trying to weave the characters together, so it would be nice to stick with that "theme" as well - Marsh 22:28, 1 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * I did not mean that the whole lesson 4 was bad. I meant that the idea of a flea market, selling items, describing that, etc. introduces too many open ends in our work. We would probably have to introduce a whole bunch of new vocabulary. - SamE 18:52, 2 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * By all means scrap the whole Flea Market idea! It is far to little developed to be worth keeping if you have something better in mind. I was trying to come up with something that would have lots of adjectives (and possessive adjectives) to push that part of the lesson. I'm sure you can do better. Maybe expand on Katrin's refrigerator; was empty, now contains.... - Marsh 19:51, 2 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * A family intro (or in-depth lesson) could go well there. It would have a lot of possessives (meinem Vater, seine Kusine, etc.) and we could even have the student describe their family members (either physically or their characteristics (freudlich, faul). This would make for an interesting lesson. But I'm not so sure how to introduce it all in a story. - SamE 14:15, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * I can get it started if you want, then you can move the story along. Give me a day or so. I had to go to Maui today on business, and my car had problems when I got back and left the airport - Marsh 05:57, 4 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * The introductory conversations and stories are in German to force the student to face the real world of language learning. If everything were simultaneously translated for him/her no learning would take place.  Each lesson should contain lots of sentence/word examples with English alongside to satisfy what you are suggesting.  But being forced to read German and "look up" each word that is not understood progresses the student towards reading German on his/her own. I think the lessons do have "a slow, formalized introduction to words, word order, and certain topics." Not every lesson is perfect or complete in this regard, but what you describe is what is in there. Indeed, if you look carefully, the lessons introduce grammar concepts one at a time and develop these only up to a point.  More detail is provided in the Advanced lesson, and each grammar lesson will likely reappear later for more complex treatment - Marsh 22:40, 1 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * My vision of vocabulary is that it would help the student form their own sentences. It is not to force the student to simply look something up, instead for them to make their own observations about the surround. To fully understand something is to apply it correctly in new places. - SamE 18:52, 2 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * That is a good point, and I can see how having a theme could enhance that approach. What about this idea: Within a lesson such as the clothing one (would work anywhere really), have a numbered list of English sentences. Instruct the student to put these into German. Have another "answer" page, where the student can go to compare his sentences with correct ones. I agree, it is important to have the student do more than translate German to English. Learning to speak (as opposed to read) German is going to require another approach on top of what I presently have; another structural subsection - Marsh 19:51, 2 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Below is somewhat of a sign-up like the one above for the vocabulary and application topics. - SamE 22:28, 29 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Topics to be discussed

 * 1. Clothing
 * 2. School supplies
 * 3. School subjects
 * 4. Tasks/Jobs
 * 5. Gifts
 * 6. Food (several lessons could cover this)
 * 7. Invitations: Accepting/declining
 * 8. Team Sports
 * 9. Field Events (track)
 * 10. Appropriate "Wie geht's" responses
 * 11. Weather
 * 12. Movies
 * 13. Places to go
 * 14. Making plans
 * 15. Family members
 * 16. Directions, how to get places
 * 17. Furniture
 * 18.
 * 19.
 * 20.

 * While I agree that having pages or lessons on themes are nice (the following are already themed: Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 3, Lesson 5, and Lesson 7) the idea that a student will somehow greatly benefit from having all the words about a particular subject (like shopping) is over-rated. Themes help build interest, but language learners do not necessarily group new words according to any of our ideas about themes. I think numbers, colors, foods, sports might be naturals, but movies, making plans, gifts are just among interesting things that could be discussed and around which grammar lessons could be developed.  Indeed, for these latter, any lessons could be applied and examples drawn from the story or conversation used to set the theme.

 * Your examples below are subjects to be covered, and really not in any special to the themes you list above, with a few exceptions (for example, numbers - see Lessons 3 and 7) - Marsh 22:28, 1 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Grammar topic that would go well with

 * 1. Accusative Case
 * 2. Math topics
 * 3. Zuerst, zuletzt, nun, other adverbs
 * 4. Müssen, Helfen verbs
 * 5. Dative case
 * 6. Essen (obviously), bekommen, other verbs
 * 7. einladen, seperable verbs
 * 8. spielen, could be used near beginning as an intro
 * 9.
 * 10. Phrases as in German: Appendix 2
 * 11. Enough to be its own Lesson
 * 12. mögen, paired with next one
 * 13. gehen, einkaufen, wollen, möchten verbs
 * 14. could be paired with #13, #4, or #7
 * 15. Possessives
 * 16. Commandative form
 * 17. Describing things
 * 18.
 * 19.
 * 20.

 * I'm totally unclear on how you would handle some of these lessons. Above you suggest things are too complicated (for which I suggest, we could spread the introductory grammar lessons out over more lessons), then you suggest a whole lesson of just certain verb types. Not that what you suggest are at all bad ideas, but No. 4 for example would need to follow after introduction to verbs as a part of speech (now in Lesson 2), and basic verb conjugation (now in Lesson 5). Math topics (your No. 2; and now in Lesson 7) would have to follow simple counting (now in Lesson 3). Am I missing the point you are making? - Marsh 22:48, 1 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * OK, first, the lessons I present here are not in order (just making sure). I think the stages of learning grammar need to be spread out, and very spread out. We should not be teaching the genitive case this early. Even the dative case could wait awhile; we could get the students familiar with phrases such as "mit dem Auto" without actually introducing them to the dative case. I actually think that we should introduce the accusative case in Lesson 3 or 4, which is where I would put the clothing lesson. Lessons on sports, "Wie geht's", and an easy intro to food could fill the gap. For how I would do this, see the layout and my first topical lesson. - SamE 13:51, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * I agree with you. I have been spreading things out more each time I go back in and tweak the lessons. I was already contemplating splitting the dative off to at least one lesson later than the accusative (which has now moved back to lesson 4) and was thinking of moving the genitive well back into the text (certainly after 5). I do think it is important from the grammar approach to at least mention that these cases exist and must (eventually) be dealt with. But I have no problem with continuing to "spread the difficulty".  I think I have more to say on this idea somewhere else where you ask about the target audience - Marsh 05:57, 4 Mar 2004 (UTC)

What topic in which lesson

 * Lesson 1:
 * Lesson 2:
 * Lesson 3:
 * Lesson 4:
 * Lesson 5:
 * Lesson 6:
 * Lesson 7:
 * Lesson 8:
 * Lesson 9:
 * Lesson 10:
 * Topical Lesson 1: 1

I just started to create topical lessons, lessons geared at teaching a certain concept in depth and connecting with grammatical concepts. Eventually, these lessons should be incorporated in the original plan. For an example, see my clothing topical page (Topical Lesson 1) - SamE 03:37, 1 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * My comments are on the discussion page for the "topical" lesson, which I have moved over as Lektion 9 - Marsh 22:28, 1 Mar 2004 (UTC)

- What is our target age group? Are we aiming to teach adults the language or junior high and high school students? If we are aiming for adults, they wouldn't mind the heavy grammar stuff as much, partly because they would already have a firm grasp on English grammar. We could probably go along with what we have. If we are aiming at grade school kids, we should probably go more of the topical route. I suggest even splitting the whole site up between these two. Could we do that? - SamE 14:06, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * I think the target for the basic lesson level is highschool and adults wanting to self teach themselves German. I think the Advanced level target is college first year. Your idea of developing another track is a real good one.  I was looking at the Spanish book yersterday and noted that they have two approaches: one more grammar one more conversational; and they ask the user to simply choose the lesson style preferred.  I think that approach can only enhance the usefulness of the book.  Is that what you have in mind as a more "topical" approach? - Marsh 06:06, 4 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * Yes, precisely. However, I don't completely agree with the idea of the advanced lessons targeted at a different age group. In the Vorwort, you have one path that goes 1, 1A, 2, 2A, etc. and don't state that this is for a different age level. But you are getting my point. I think we could and should definitely split it up. But how would we word it? - SamE 14:06, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * Age is not exactly the difference, but more is expected out of a college beginners course than a highschool beginners course. Now you are suggesting a third track—one that is perhaps closer to highschool or younger beginning German; although again it isd more a matter of ease/difficulty comprehending rather than age. I assume your idea is to start and develop a more "conversational" approach - Marsh 17:03, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * I'm not suggesting a third track. We would have two tracks: one younger (high school or younger), "conversational" and longer, slower approach, and a second grammatical, more college and adult-based approach. - SamE 18:52, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * That is a third track since the grammatical approach has two levels that I would like to preserve. The younger version really cannot interconnnect in the same way as the Basic and Advanced levels now present are intended to interconnect. For one thing, it would be very difficult to make those interconnections because of the "slower" development of the conversational lessons (the latter could utilize the same appendices, but perhaps that is about all). Why not develop your very first lesson and we can see how it goes. It can be "officially" named and moved into sequence once I get the contents page links figured out. We may want a separate TOC to minimize student confusion. I'm interested in seeing how you plan to layout the complete lesson first. - Marsh 19:11, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * I did not call the "advanced lessons" a seperate track because they cannot stand on their own. You cannot learn through them alone. I do not intend to split that, but rather to create a second 'stand-alone' track. I'm working on my lesson one at German:Beginner's Lesson 1. - SamE 04:31, 6 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * You are right about that, but the "two" tracks existing are (Basic) 1-2-3-4-etc. and (Advanced) 1-1A-2-2A-3-3A-etc. - Marsh 08:29, 6 Mar 2004 (UTC)

If we were to split it up, this is the order that I would put the topical lessons in:

 * 1) Phrases such as "Wie geht's" and hellos/goodbyes along with the nominitive pronouns.
 * 2) A sports and activities lesson, introducing the verb haben and gern.
 * 3) The first food lesson. Introduces the verbs essen, trinken and bekommen.
 * 4) A clothing lesson as in the topical lessson.
 * 5) Another food lesson, this time with für and using the accusative case in the previous chapter.
 * 6) A short family member lesson with possessives.
 * 7) Shopping for school supplies. Introduces kein-words. - SamE 18:52, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Should we give this new approach another book title (subtitle)? I can probably work up some verbage for the Vorvort that will allow the user to understand that there are differrent levels available (with somewhat different approaches). Should we borrow parts of lessons back and forth between the "books"? - Marsh 06:06, 4 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * Yes, this is exactly what I mean. We would have a adult path, somewhat what we have, and an easier, slower (and therefore longer) junior high and high school student path. We could name it with "Beginner's German" or "Easy German", but I'm sure you could come up with something better. I don't have any particular ideas on the name. - SamE 14:06, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Can each level have its own Intro? I believe many things are different. Besides, we need to update the Layout section, which is different in all three lessons. - SamE 22:15, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * I agree, the intro needs work to make sense for all three levels. For now, I would prefer one such article for all three levels and I do intend to fix the existing one so it makes sense. But having said that, you still could write a "Forward" that is unique for Level I, and we can figure out a way to integrate the Forward and the Introduction in a useful manner. - Marsh 17:10, 2 Apr 2004 (UTC)

 * I'll start that at German:Level I Preface. "Forward" sounds like an outsider is commenting on the book; "preface" is typically written by the author(s).

 * Looks good to me. Is distinct for Level I, and gives a good introduction to some unique (for English speakers) things about German.

I reverted because this is an introduction to the book, not a lesson. - marsh 04:41, 31 May 2005 (UTC) - You wrote: >>> Hast du Käse? - No one ever says "Have you cheese?" in casual talk <<<

..... By the way, I knew a man who had a redensart=he kept saying often, "Das ist doch Käse!", meaning that's nonsense. But I suppose not many people say that. [LAUGHS]

QUITTNER, 31 May 2005

"Das ist doch Käse!" means ''That's not good! It isn't worked our very well!'' m:User:Louisana

Ogg-files
I don't know if my english pronunciation is that good (can't judge myself) It would be possible to let a native speaker record the englisch words and put them together w/ my german. m:User:Louisana
 * My Windows Professional and Windows Media Player do not recognize those files as anything. I will need to track down a "player" program before I can listen to them. I recently reinstalled Windows and lost many such programs I had on the computer. If your second part is a question, I do not know the answer. Certainly with the right software, what you suggest is possible. - marsh 19:02, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

I know that .ogg files are not the best format and don't run everywhere, but wikimedia likes more ogg files, because they are free - like GNU-FDL. My second sentence wasn't a question, it was a suggestion, they we could do it, if you think that my english pronunciation is too bad. m:User:Louisana
 * Well, when I have a little more tme I can look into doing what you suggest (like add my "English"). Right now I can not even hear the files you created (although a few months ago I had that capability on my computer). So I need to track down the software to play (and then to actually create and mix) ogg files. But I do like the suggestion. - marsh 19:08, 19 August 2005 (UTC)

I'm able to play with winamp version 2.91 --m:User:Louisana

Reading List
It would be very helpful to include a list of books, or magazines that people could read at each level. Childrens books and first, and building with the language to other more complex novels. For example, a recommendation about when someone would be well served to attempt to read harry potter, compared to Wirtschaftswoche. Are there any good German childrens stories already in the public domain, like Grimm etc.?

Linking to a help manual for playing ogg files
I'm not sure is against typical WikiBooks practice or not, but I feel that it would be appropriate to link to or mention how to play ogg files somewhere in the introduction. I don't feel that it would be out of place because the intro also covers the layout of this WikiBook. This is such a great resource and I wouldn't want users to get discouraged because they don't have the appropriate codec installed. While Help:Contents has a link to an external site, people may not even think to look there. I'd even be happy to even see "Visit Help:Contents if you are having trouble playing the sound files" or something to that effect. Thanks and keep up the good work! --PS2pcGAMER 10:17, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Number of Levels?
After explaining the difference between Level I through Level V, the text goes on to state that the section German Grammar is
 * ... useful to the student working through any of the three levels

Which three levels out of five is that supposed to be ... only the upper three (i.e., not Levels I or II) or is it just an artifact of a time when there were only three levels instead of the present five? -- Eliyahu (talk) 09:36, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Audios
Audio doesn't work :/

3 suggestions
I followed the “report an error” link in your downloadable text, so I hope I am submitting this to the correct location.

I love this study guide. Thank you. 1) at the end of lesson one, the flash card exchange link takes you to “page not found” error. 2) the link for the test (in the sentence after flash card exchange.com) does not take me to a test, just to the beginning of the workbook. 3) will this book be updated to reflect the wiki books updated? For example, some definitions are omitted in the printable version.

Thank you again. Such great work! 69.220.152.31 (discuss) 20:41, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

title: Talk:German/Introduction


text:
Cookbook:Pesto I

| Sauces

Pesto is a sauce that originates in the city of Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy (pesto alla genovese). It can be used as a sauce for pasta or meat, or can be used as an ingredient in a variety of dishes. One classic use is to spread the pesto onto slices of bread before toasting. The word "pesto" derives from the Italian for pestle, pestello.

This recipe substitutes Romano cheese for the usual Parmesan.

Ingredients

 * 4 oz (100 g) fresh basil
 * About 8 oz (200 g) extra virgin olive oil
 * ⅓ cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese or a 1:1 mixture.
 * ¼ cup pine nuts or nut of choice (optional)
 * 4 cloves garlic
 * Freshly ground salt and pepper (to taste)

Procedure

 * 1) Preheat the oven to 425 °F (220 °C).
 * 2) If using, toast the pine nuts in an ovenproof pan for 10–15 minutes, checking every 5 minutes to prevent excessive browning or burning.
 * 3) In a small frying pan (skillet), heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil on medium heat.
 * 4) Crush the garlic and sauté in the oil until soft, about 2–3 minutes.
 * 5) Combine the basil, garlic, cheese, pine nuts and oil in a mortar and pestle until it forms a smooth paste, or use a food processor or blender and chop finely, slowly adding the oil to reach the paste-like consistency.

Notes, tips and variations

 * The sauce can be used immediately, when covered with a thin layer of olive oil and refrigerated in an airtight container for one week, or when frozen for several months. The cheese can be omitted to allow longer storage, as it is the most likely ingredient to spoil. Grated cheese can then be added before use.
 * It's possible to store pesto in jars for longer periods, but it's advisable to add a little extra olive oil on top of the filled jar, otherwise the top of your pesto will turn brown as it oxidizes in the air.
 * Traditionally, a mortar and pestle is used to make the sauce. The crushing action of the mortar and pestle produces a more intense flavor than the chopping action of a food processor. When using a food processor, you can simulate the additional flavor given by the mortar and pestle method by placing the basil leaves in a plastic bag and crushing them with a rubber mallet or rolling pin prior to use.
 * Good quality Parmesan cheese may replace the Pecorino for a milder taste. Crumbled feta cheese also works well for a different taste.
 * A common change to the recipe is to replace some or all of the pine nuts with sunflower seeds, walnuts, pistachios, or almonds. This significantly reduces the cost of the sauce.  Besides being cheaper, it is also necessary for people with nut allergies.
 * For a creamy sauce, take 2 tablespoons of the pesto in a pan and heat on medium-low. Add 1 cup light cream and bring to a simmer. Use for pasta.
 * The pine nuts can be replaced with an equal quantity of sun-dried tomatoes.
 * You may change the taste by changing the base of the pesto from basil to other easily obtained herbs/vegetables. Some variations include using cilantro (coriander, for a more aromatic taste) or spinach (more "bang for your buck", as spinach is much cheaper than basil, yet still has its own distinct flavor).
 * Try to mix up the standard basil/garlic combo by introducing shallots (sweet onions) into the mix, as they add a slight sweet taste to the paste.
 * Mix fresh chives, marjoram, and thyme with the basil to produce something akin to Valdostano-style pesto.
 * Another variant replaces the basil with equal parts of leaf parsley and spring onions. Arugula may also be substituted for basil with surprising, spicy results.
 * For another variation of a creamy sauce, add cream cheese to the recipe.
 * A vegan variant can be made by mixing walnuts, fresh basil, olive oil and small amounts (such as a table spoon per cup) of white miso paste.

Livre de cuisine/Pesto

title: Cookbook:Pesto I


text:
Cookbook talk:Pesto I

Article history from en.wikipedia.org
Legend: (cur) = difference with current version, (last) = difference with preceding version, M = minor edit

* (cur) (last). . 16:14, 4 Jan 2004. . Gentgeen (Transwiking recipe to wikibooks) * (cur) (last). . M 17:00, 16 Nov 2003. . Cabito * (cur) (last). . M 03:46, 9 Nov 2003. . Gentgeen (typo) * (cur) (last). . 03:46, 9 Nov 2003. . Gentgeen (added warning text, alternatives, some small history stuff) * (cur) (last). . 04:16, 6 Nov 2003. . Gentgeen (added recipe) * (cur) (last). . 23:10, 21 Oct 2003. . Dgrant (changed basil link) * (cur) (last). . M 11:01, 18 Sep 2003. . Ortonmc (Fix link to pine nut) * (cur) (last). . 16:37, 3 Aug 2003. . SimonP

The traditional method should come first
I suggest to invert the sequency of methods, to the more logic one: a) traditional method using a mortar...... etc b) the modern method (I would call it mechanic, and not modern) comes only after,

Further to this I suggest to better highlight that the traditional (normal) method is preferable to the modern one for many reasons (some of them are already included into the recepy) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Luigi.tessiore (talk • contribs).

 * Agreed. Also, pignoli are not optional. Toasted pine nuts are ESSENTIAL to pesto. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.60.18.106 (talk • contribs).

 * Not all pestos contain pignoli, or toasted pine nuts. For instance, my mother's family is Italian, and they don't use toasted pine nuts in their pesto at all.  It's just basil, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil.  For creamy pesto, they would add cream cheese. Marcus2 (talk) 14:58, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Twice as much oil as basil?
Wow! You're sure that it's not the other way around? -- Jerome Charles Potts (discuss • contribs) 16:51, 14 July 2012 (UTC)

title: Cookbook talk:Pesto I


text:
User:Mtcv

Dutch wikipedian: Mtcv

title: User:Mtcv


text:
Dutch/Example 1

Nursery rhymes
Children learn a lot of language skills by playing, singing, dancing. They know how to make learning fun. This is why children's songs and rhymes are a wonderful way to acquire a foreign language. Here are three examples. Enjoy being a child again!

Poesje en Hondje
The following text was taken from a Mother Goose rhyme and translated into Dutch. In order to get a literal translation, the Dutch text was not made to rhyme.

Note that in Dutch the word poesje does not have the same connotation as in English. It merely means pussycat.

 * 1) Read the text and use the to figure out what the text means.
 * 2) Use the "Vocabulary" box on the right to listen to the pronunciation of the individual words and memorize them.
 * 3) Once done open the translation box to check the translation

Poesje Mauw
The following is a Dutch volksliedje (folk song).
 * 1) Use the hover method to figure out the meaning
 * 2) Use the vocabulary box on the right to listen to the words and memorize them
 * 3) Once you think you have figured out what it means, open the translation box to check

The meter in the Dutch version is nearly perfect and should provide hints for pronouncing the words. Lekkere is pronounced as 'le-kre' in this case, to fit the meter (but this poetic license, not non-standard pronunciation).

Now that you understand the poem, go see a video of it, see here (Notice that in some dialects ij and ei are pronounced more like [ɑɪ̯] than as [ɛɪ̯].)

There is a pretty astounding 'performance' of this song by (the late) Corrina Konijnenburg that was recorded in 1967 in a children's show by Dorus (real name Tom Manders). Note that the performer took a few liberties. Notice that she pronounces poesje as poessie as is usual in Hollandic dialects.

Woordenlijst

 * de brij: mash, porridge
 * to thoroughly enjoy food

Ba, ba, black sheep
This nursery rhyme is well known in English, but here is the Dutch version.
 * 1) Hover to figure out the meaning
 * 2) Use the vocabulary box to listen to the pronunciation and memorize the new words
 * 3) Open up the translation box to see if you figured it out right
 * 4) Go see the youtube video

Quizlet
The vocabulary of this lesson can be practiced at Quizlet (21 terms)

Progress made
If you have studied the above well you should have
 * 1) caught a glimpse of what children who grow up speaking Dutch learn as a toddler
 * 2) strengthened your listening and speaking
 * 3) gained another 21 terms for your vocabulary

Cumulative count: Les 1: 116 terms, Les 1A: 89 terms. Example 1: 21 terms Total 226 terms.

Further learning
Please proceed to Dutch/Lesson 2

title: Dutch/Example 1


text:
Cookbook:Rice and Beef Soup

| Soup

Ingredients

 * 2 rice cooker cups (12 fl oz / 1½ cups / 360 mL) long grain rice.
 * 10 cups (1.9 L) water
 * 1 tbsp (15 ml) fresh chopped parsley
 * 1 tbsp fresh chopped chives
 * 1 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary
 * Salt to taste
 * Pepper to taste
 * ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) ground cinnamon
 * 2 pounds (about 1 kg) beef, cubed

Procedure

 * 1) Add the rice, water, parsley, chives, rosemary, and pepper to a 10-cup or larger rice cooker.
 * 2) For a simple rice cooker, turn it on. For a programmable rice cooker, set the rice cooker to the quick cook setting and start.
 * 3) Cover and allow to come to a simmer.
 * 4) Add the beef and cinnamon, cover again, and allow to cook for 60 minutes.

title: Cookbook:Rice and Beef Soup


text:
Cookbook talk:Rice and Beef Soup

Discussion from Rice and meat soup

Where do you get these fuzzy logic cookers, havent seen them in Scotland yet. TonyClarke 00:53, 6 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * Not sure what to say. They've been in the US for about 5 years, and available in Japan for five years before that.  You might try an Asian supermarket, if you have any near you in Scotland, as the one near me (in California) has models you otherwise can't buy in the US.  Here's a site in the US that will ship them internationally, as I havn't been able to locate a UK merchant.  Gentgeen 15:29, 6 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Of course, it doesn't matter anymore, as I went back and checked The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook, and was wrong, soups can be done in any type of cooker, on the normal setting. Now I've got to change the article. Gentgeen

Thanks for the information Gentgeen. Maybe I haven't looked out for them, I try to follow a raw food diet so cooking is  an infrequent event for me! Thanks again

TonyClarke

Page history from Wikipedia

* (cur) (last). . 22:03, 4 Jan 2004. . Gentgeen (vfd (transwiki to wikibooks)) * (cur) (last). . 07:35, 6 Dec 2003. . Gentgeen (oops, don't need a fuzzy logic cooker) * (cur) (last). . 16:51, 5 Dec 2003. . TonyClarke (Typo. Good page) * (cur) (last). . M 16:47, 5 Dec 2003. . TonyClarke (Corrected fuzzy spelling.) * (cur) (last). . M 07:16, 18 Nov 2003. . Gentgeen (typo) * (cur) (last). . 07:10, 18 Nov 2003. . Gentgeen (translated for use in a rice cooker) * (cur) (last). . 01:34, 28 Mar 2002. . Szopen (see wikipedia cookbook) * (cur) (last). . M 21:49, 27 Mar 2002. . 62.98.249.56

Reduced the amound of rice and increased the water because when I tried it, the rice sucked up all the water. Gentgeen 01:28, 7 Jan 2004 (UTC)

title: Cookbook talk:Rice and Beef Soup


text:
Cookbook:Ginger

Ginger is used extensively as a cooking ingredient or spice in Asian cuisine and others. In Ghana and most part of Africa, it is used as traditional medicine. It is part of mainstream western food in ginger beer and desserts such as gingerbread and ginger snaps (a type of cookie). Though generally called "root", it is actually the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinalis.

Young ginger roots are juicy and fleshy with a very mild taste. They are often pickled in vinegar as a snack or just cooked as an ingredient in many dishes. Mature ginger roots are fibrous and nearly dry. The juice from old ginger roots is extremely hot and is often used as a spice in Chinese cooking to cover up other strong odors and flavors such as in seafood and mutton.

Ginger is also made into candy, is used as a flavoring for cookies and cake, and is the main flavor in "ginger ale", a sweet, carbonated, non-alcoholic beverage.

Dried and powdered ginger is used to add spiciness to gingerbread and other recipes. It tastes quite different from fresh ginger, and they cannot be substituted for each other.

Ginger is grown throughout the tropical areas of the world. The most expensive, and highest quality varieties, generally come from India and Jamaica while most mass market ginger is grown in China.

A related plant known as galangal is often used for similar purposes in various South-East Asian cuisines.

Kookboek/Gember

title: Cookbook:Ginger


text:
Cookbook talk:Ginger

Page history from Ginger root

Legend: (cur) = difference with current version, (last) = difference with preceding version, M = minor edit

* (cur) (last). . M 02:48, 3 Dec 2003. . Kowey (ms:) * (cur) (last). . 08:17, 27 Nov 2003. . 131.165.63.132 (lnk) * (cur) (last). . M 17:26, 20 Nov 2003. . Cyan (Reverted to last edit by Snoyes) * (cur) (last). . 17:25, 20 Nov 2003. . 203.108.4.66   * (cur) (last). . 17:24, 20 Nov 2003. . 203.108.4.66   * (cur) (last). . 17:24, 20 Nov 2003. . 203.108.4.66   * (cur) (last). . 11:51, 9 Nov 2003. . Snoyes (insert pic) * (cur) (last). . 03:37, 4 Nov 2003. . 219.97.225.150 (+ ja:) * (cur) (last). . 09:59, 21 Oct 2003. . THSlone (Added carcinogenicity information for wild ginger.) * (cur) (last). . M 01:16, 2 Oct 2003. . Zenogantner (de:) * (cur) (last). . M 09:36, 25 Aug 2003. . Taw (pl:) * (cur) (last). . 04:33, 13 Aug 2003. . GRAHAMUK (grammar: different than -> different from - things differ FROM other things) * (cur) (last). . 03:49, 13 Aug 2003. . 193.173.33.134 (Correction: spelling of generally in "varieties, generally come from") * (cur) (last). . 03:48, 13 Aug 2003. . 193.173.33.134 (Correction of typo: decapitalization of 'I' in "G*i*nger is grown...") * (cur) (last). . M 14:35, 29 Jun 2003. . SimonP * (cur) (last). . 14:29, 29 Jun 2003. . SimonP * (cur) (last). . M 22:56, 15 Jun 2003. . Olivier (fr:) * (cur) (last). . M 19:59, 9 Feb 2003. . Jaknouse (several minor changes) * (cur) (last). . 15:17, 6 Feb 2003. . 134.173.138.11   * (cur) (last). . M 08:22, 3 Jan 2003. . 62.234.73.44 (nl:) * (cur) (last). . M 04:56, 19 Dec 2002. . Liftarn * (cur) (last). . 14:19, 20 Sep 2002. . Lee Daniel Crocker * (cur) (last). . 21:17, 20 Aug 2002. . Jaknouse (add wild ginger & botanical reference) * (cur) (last). . 20:45, 20 Aug 2002. . Karen Johnson * (cur) (last). . M 04:19, 30 Jul 2002. . Heron (wikified "spice") * (cur) (last). . M 19:50, 21 Jul 2002. . Brion VIBBER (lang links: +eo) * (cur) (last). . 08:29, 6 Jul 2002. . 0 (+candy, cake, ginger ale) * (cur) (last). . M 17:45, 3 Jun 2002. . Kowloonese

This module was the featured ingredient on the main Cookbook page from July 10, 2004 - July 27, 2004.

title: Cookbook talk:Ginger


text:
User:Egil

w:User:egil

title: User:Egil


text:
Cookbook:Milk

| Dairy

Milk is a nutritious liquid produced by mammals. The milk of some mammals, particularly cows, goats, sheep, and buffalo, is collected for human consumption. It may be consumed either directly, usually after pasteurization, or processed into dairy products such as cream, butter, yogurt, ice cream, or cheese. In English, the term 'milk' used alone almost always refers to cow's milk.

Storage
When raw animal milk is left standing for a while, it turns sour. This is the result of fermentation: lactic acid bacteria naturally present in raw animal milk turn the animal milk sugar into lactic acid. This fermentation process is exploited in the production of various dairy products.

Pasteurized animal milk does not have these bacteria, so instead of souring it will putrefy if kept unrefrigerated, and should be stored between 1 and 4 C. The putrefaction of animal milk can be forestalled by using ultra-high temperature (UHT, also known as ultra-pasteurization) treatment; animal milk so treated can be stored unrefrigerated for several months until opened.

Fat content
Milk from different mammals has different fat contents. Fresh milk may be processed to modify the fat content in various ways prior to consumption. In many countries, commercially available cow's milk is classified by fat content.

USA

 * Skim/no fat milk: 0-0.5% milk fat
 * Low fat milk: 1% milk fat
 * Reduced fat milk: 2% milk fat
 * Whole milk: 4% milk fat

Processing
Milk is commercially available in many forms. These include powdered dried milk, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and shelf-stable milk.

Milk can be processed into cream, butter, yogurt, ice cream, or cheese.

Dietary tolerance
Lactose in animal milk is digested with the help of the enzyme lactase produced by the bodies of infants. In humans, production of lactase falls off in adulthood, in many cases to the point where lactose becomes indigestible, leading to lactose intolerance, a gastrointestinal condition that afflicts many.

Casein is the main protein in animal milk, and is particularly concentrated in cheese made with animal milk. Whey is the other major protein in animal milk, and is separated from casein in the manufacturing process of cheese made with animal milk. Both proteins can provoke undesirable symptoms in some people, although casein intolerance is more widely recognised and is often connected with gluten intolerance and coeliac disease.

Terminology
The term 'milk' is also used to refer to white or off-white creamy liquids made from plants. These include soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, oat milk, hemp milk, coconut milk, and banana milk. These can either be made at home or bought commercially; they rarely include any animal milk by-products, and so can be eaten by those who can't digest lactose or casein. Plant milks can sometimes be substituted for animal milk in recipes, although they may impact the flavour or texture of the resulting dish. Plant milks should be refrigerated, especially after opening, and used within a few days.

Uses
Milk possesses the ability to reduce the perceived spiciness level of some spicy foods thanks to the casein which binds with capsaicin oil and then carries it away.

title: Cookbook:Milk


text:
Cookbook talk:Milk

Page history of milk at the time the text was copied.

Legend: (cur) = difference with current version, (last) = difference with preceding version, M = minor edit

* (cur) (last). . 08:58, 23 Dec 2003. . Bogdangiusca (See also: Soy milk) * (cur) (last). . 08:47, 23 Dec 2003. . 80.179.38.107   * (cur) (last). . 07:26, 23 Dec 2003. . Bogdangiusca (+Parmalat) * (cur) (last). . 13:54, 8 Dec 2003. . 216.68.47.97 (Milk) * (cur) (last). . 13:42, 5 Dec 2003. . Montrealais * (cur) (last). . 13:42, 5 Dec 2003. . Montrealais * (cur) (last). . M 17:56, 4 Dec 2003. . Andres (et:) * (cur) (last). . M 11:16, 15 Oct 2003. . AntonioMartin * (cur) (last). . M 11:14, 15 Oct 2003. . AntonioMartin * (cur) (last). . M 13:22, 14 Oct 2003. . AntonioMartin * (cur) (last). . M 14:30, 9 Sep 2003. . Kpjas * (cur) (last). . M 14:30, 9 Sep 2003. . Kpjas * (cur) (last). . M 14:09, 9 Sep 2003. . AstroNomer (lang links) * (cur) (last). . 02:45, 27 Aug 2003. . 220.211.220.127 (+ja) * (cur) (last). . M 11:58, 9 Aug 2003. . Andre Engels * (cur) (last). . M 11:10, 1 Jul 2003. . Adam Bishop (Reverted to remove....whatever that was) * (cur) (last). . 11:04, 1 Jul 2003. . 195.229.241.231   * (cur) (last). . 11:01, 1 Jul 2003. . 217.165.122.105   * (cur) (last). . 14:42, 22 May 2003. . AxelBoldt * (cur) (last). . M 13:28, 15 May 2003. . Lovely Chris * (cur) (last). . 03:07, 22 Mar 2003. . Taw (pl:) * (cur) (last). . M 12:18, 2 Feb 2003. . Heron (typo) * (cur) (last). . M 08:30, 16 Dec 2002. . Tarquin * (cur) (last). . M 16:26, 19 Nov 2002. . AstroNomer * (cur) (last). . M 03:57, 18 Sep 2002. . Andre Engels * (cur) (last). . M 00:05, 3 Sep 2002. . Ben-Zin (de:) * (cur) (last). . M 16:30, 15 Aug 2002. . Magnus Manske (de-orph Kephir) * (cur) (last). . M 07:43, 25 Feb 2002. . Conversion script (Automated conversion) * (cur) (last). . 13:08, 14 Aug 2001. . Lee Daniel Crocker * (cur) (last). . M 11:32, 14 Aug 2001. . Mike Dill

title: Cookbook talk:Milk


text:
Cookbook:Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the dried inner bark of various related trees native to Asia.

Varieties
Several varieties of cinnamon are used as food, including Ceylon or "true" cinnamon, cassia or Chinese cinnamon, and Indonesian cinnamon. Ceylon and cassia cinnamons are the most common. In some countries, both cassia and Ceylon cinnamons can be marketed simply as cinnamon, while other countries only allow Ceylon cinnamon to be marketed as such. Once ground, the two varieties are very difficult to distinguish.

Characteristics
Cinnamon is brown and woody, and the whole "sticks" are curled up on themselves. Notably, Ceylon cinnamon forms a single, thin, spiral composed of many layers, while cassia cinnamon forms two thick curls that meet in the middle. Cassia is also typically redder and darker than Ceylon cinnamon.

All varieties of cinnamon contain the characteristic cinnamon flavor compound of cinnamaldehyde, which gives it a so-called "warming" or spicy quality. However, there are other, more subtle flavor nuances between different varieties. Ceylon cinnamon is generally milder than cassia, with floral and clove-like notes. Cassia, on the other hand, is stronger, peppery, and more bitter.

Selection and storage
Cinnamon can be purchased in either the whole "stick" form or ground to a fine powder. Both keep very well when stored in an airtight container away from moisture, though the ground form loses flavor more quickly. Still, purchasing ground cinnamon is typically worth it since whole cinnamon is challenging to grind.

Use
Cinnamon is widely popular and employed in cookery as a flavouring material, being used in both sweet and savory dishes. Because cinnamon tends to enhance the sweet flavor of dishes, it is especially associated with various desserts and pastries, as well as fruity beverages. It also complements meats well and is used in many such dishes in Asian and North African cuisines. Because the aromatic components of cinnamon are not particularly water-soluble, cinnamon needs to be either cooked in oil or heated for a long time in an aqueous mixture.

Substitution
Generally speaking, the different varieties of cinnamon can be substituted for each other, with some adjustment to compensate for the slight difference in flavor and potency.

title: Cookbook:Cinnamon


text:
Cookbook talk:Cinnamon

Page history from cinnamon

Legend: (cur) = difference with current version, (last) = difference with preceding version, M = minor edit

* (cur) (last). . M 11:18, 3 Jan 2004. . Chris Roy (benifit -> benefit; benifits -> benefits) * (cur) (last). . 17:34, 19 Dec 2003. . Webhat (Again an addition with a source: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994413) * (cur) (last). . 09:58, 20 Nov 2003. . Marshman (Copyedit) * (cur) (last). . 14:27, 9 Nov 2003. . Michael Shields (add links, edit closer to news style) * (cur) (last). . 12:09, 9 Nov 2003. . Snoyes (insert pic) * (cur) (last). . 12:39, 31 Aug 2003. . 80.12.8.31 (fr:) * (cur) (last). . M 04:45, 22 Apr 2003. . Kpjas (+pl:) * (cur) (last). . M 13:29, 2 Feb 2003. . Christian (da:) * (cur) (last). . M 15:56, 26 Dec 2002. . 62.234.67.207 (nl:) * (cur) (last). . M 05:39, 20 Nov 2002. . 195.93.73.20   * (cur) (last). . M 03:30, 12 Sep 2002. . PierreAbbat (natural order -> family) * (cur) (last). . M 12:20, 9 Sep 2002. . Damian Yerrick (1911 EB link) * (cur) (last). . 20:13, 21 Jul 2002. . Perique des Palottes * (cur) (last). . M 19:09, 21 Jul 2002. . Brion VIBBER (lang link: +eo) * (cur) (last). . 16:23, 13 Jun 2002. . 0 (fix Java link) * (cur) (last). . M 13:48, 25 May 2002. . Bryan Derksen

title: Cookbook talk:Cinnamon


text:
Internet Technologies/Routing

A route is the path that data takes when travelling through a network from one host to another. Routing is the process by which the path, or some subset of it, is determined. One of the characteristic features of the Internet, as compared to other network architectures, is that each node that receives a packet will typically determine for itself what the next step in the path should be.

IP routing decisions are generally made based on the destination of network traffic. When an IP packet is sent from a node on the network, it will consult its routing table to determine the next hop device that the traffic should be sent to, in order for it to reach its final destination. The routing table on a typical home machine may look something like this (except formatted properly :):

Kernel IP routing table Destination    Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface x.y.z          *               255.255.255.255 UH    0      0        0 ppp0 192.168.0.0    *               255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 eth0 127.0.0.0      *               255.0.0.0       U     0      0        0 lo default         x.y.z           0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 ppp0

So, for example, when it receives a packet on interface eth0 which has a destination of 216.239.59.104, it will consult the table and see that it should send it through the default interface, the host x.y.z, which is on interface ppp0.

The routing table is constructed from a combination of statically defined routes and those learned from dynamic routing protocols.

Statically defined routes may be declared at system boot time, or via a command line interface. They will generally include the following parameters:
 * Destination - this may be either a single host, or a network (in which case a network mask is also required).
 * Gateway - the device to which traffic with the defined destination should be sent.

Static routes may also include the following parameters:
 * Interface - the interface through which the traffic to a destination must be sent. (Most OSs can determine this automatically)
 * Metric - the number of 'hops' away that the gateway is from this host. For a gateway that resides on a directly connected network, the metric is '1'.

The default route is a special case of a statically defined route. It is the route of last resort. All traffic that does not match another destination in the routing table is forwarded to the default gateway.

Dynamic routing protocols allow network attached devices to learn about the structure of the network dynamically from peer devices. This reduces the administrative effort required to implement and change routing throughout a network. Some examples of dynamic routing protocols are:

 * RIP (Routing Information Protocol)
 * OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
 * ISIS (Intermediate system to intermediate system)
 * BGP (Border Gateway Protocol)
 * IGRP (Interior Gateway Routing Protocol)

ISIS and OSPF are link-state protocols, meaning each node part of the same zone, will know the state of all the link in the mesh. Due to the exponential number of link in a mesh, thoses protocols are for small mesh such as an ISP national backbone.

RIP is usually used to easily announce customer's routes in a backbone.

BGP is used as an external routing protocol to exchange routes with other entities. ISP use BGP extensively to "trade" their routes. It can also be used to carry customers routes across a network, in a MPLS backbone for example.

title: Internet Technologies/Routing


text:
Cookbook:Nutmeg

Nutmeg and mace are two spices derived from the same plant, the nutmeg tree (Myristica fragrans). The nutmeg tree is indigenous to the Banda Islands of Indonesia but is also grown in the Caribbean (e.g., Grenada). Several commercial products are produced from the nutmeg tree, nutmeg and mace being the best known. Nutmeg is the actual seed of the tree, roughly egg-shaped and about an inch long, while mace is the dried "lacy", reddish covering of the seed.

Other products include their essential oils. Other nutmeg tree species include the M. argentea which produces 'Papuan' nutmegs from Papua (Indonesia) and Papua New Guinea, and M. malabarica which produces 'Bombay' nutmegs from India; both are used as adulterants of M. fragrans products.

The spices in their ground form are mainly used in the food processing industry, principally in the seasoning of meat products; they are also used in soups, sauces, baked goods and spice mixes such as curry powder in Japan. Both spices have similar taste qualities; mace is more popular in light coloured foods because of its light orange colour. Mace tends to be sweeter and more delicate.

The essential oil is obtained by the steam distillation of ground nutmeg. The oil is colourless or light yellow and smells and tastes of nutmeg. Essential nutmeg oil as such is used as natural food flavouring in baked goods, syrups, beverages (e.g., cola), sweets, etc. It replaces ground nutmeg as it leaves no particles in the food.

Nutmeg is extremely toxic when injected intravenously. Excessive consumption of the spice is also dangerous and can lead to death. Nutmeg can also cause hallucinations when taken in excess, along with nausea, dehydration, and generalised body pain.

Kookboek/Nootmuskaat

title: Cookbook:Nutmeg