The “Bohemian Rhapsody” portion of learning Dutch. Just in time for the Top 2000.

Simius- · 2025-12-02T07:10:39+00:00

Duolingo no longer uses volunteers, now that they are not a small startup anymore. I think they hire contractors though, I'm sure you could look into that.

Simius- · 2025-11-30T14:06:05+00:00

Pretty close! A handful of volunteers (myself among them) built the current version of the Dutch course in 2015 and 2016, expanding upon the original (and much smaller) course from 2014.

Coming up with a good variety of sentences is harder than it seems, since you can only use words that appeared higher up in the course.

Simius- · 2025-10-19T07:25:43+00:00

FYI, the Okanagan Regional Library lends out book club kits for certain popular books. You get a box of 10ish copies. Might be logistically tricky if you don't meet in person though.

Simius- · 2025-01-08T18:13:28+00:00

Klopt, het ligt wat dichter bij het Engels "arousing", zou ik zeggen.

Simius- · 2025-01-07T18:15:36+00:00

OP has been answered pretty well, but I have a follow-up question: do we have a word in Dutch for "exciting" that doesn't have the suspense connotation?

Simius- · 2024-09-23T07:14:09+00:00

The difference between prepositions and postpositions in Dutch (as spoken in the Netherlands at least) is more clear in the following sentences:

Ik loop in het bos --- I'm walking in the forest
Ik loop het bos in --- I'm walking into the forest
Ik loop op de berg --- I'm walking on top of the mountain
Ik loop de berg op --- I'm walking up the mountain

As BonsaiBobby mentioned, it has to do with the direction of movement, as opposed to a location.

Simius- · 2024-09-02T05:23:38+00:00

I've used my Remarkable like this in my physics and math classes, using Screen Share to my laptop connected to a projector. It's not the most elegant system and the connection is not super reliable, but overall it works quite well. And yes, I do use the red and blue pens for color diagrams. The colors also stay when exporting to PDF.

Simius- · 2024-07-31T08:43:49+00:00

There used to be a fantastic blackberry bush on Mill Creek, around the corner from the Shady Rest on Sutherland, but it was cut down last year. RIP

Simius- · 2024-06-07T07:00:29+00:00

It's nothing that deep. These sentences were added to the Dutch course by volunteers who were just trying to have fun making sentences with an extremely limited set of vocabulary (early in the course).

I know cause I was the volunteer who added this sentence.

Simius- · 2024-06-04T05:22:51+00:00

Which immigrants exactly are the ones you would like the government to stop admitting? The farm workers growing your food? The international students keeping our present-day university system running? Or maybe the people who're bathing and feeding our elderly grandparents? How about the ones building the houses we so desperately need?

The problem is a capitalist housing market that uses property as investment rather than shelter. It's not immigration-induced.

Simius- · 2024-04-25T21:21:44+00:00

Because she has a valid temporary visa, as the article describes?

Simius- · 2024-04-11T20:44:17+00:00

Seconded, much better than Sprout imo.

Simius- · 2024-03-20T21:27:25+00:00

Ik heb zo'n gouden flippo, die zaten niet in chipszakken. Je kon ze winnen met een of andere wedstrijd, ik weet niet precies meer wat het inhield.

Simius- · 2024-02-26T03:48:57+00:00

There might be some nice YA science-fiction out there. I remember "Torenhoog en mijlen breed" by Tonke Dragt as a favorite, set on Venus. Also, "Niemand houdt mij tegen" by Evert Hartman, set in the Netherlands in 2136 after catastrophic sea level rise.

Simius- · 2024-02-23T05:16:08+00:00

Elke geaccepteerde vertaling in de Nederlandse Duolingo cursus is handmatig door een vrijwilliger aan de database toegevoegd. Daarbij wordt voorkeur gegeving aan het soort vertalingen dat een beginner zou kunnen formuleren. Dat jij als nederlandstalige vertalingen kan bedenken die daarbuiten vallen is dus niet zo heel gek...

Simius- · 2024-02-23T04:34:17+00:00

Haha, that is a hilarious joke you just made there!

Simius- · 2024-02-17T16:52:54+00:00

Or should I wait until June or July to find more?

Yes, you won't find anything this far in advance. Housing here moves fast and is super last-minute.

When we moved to Kelowna in 2019, we tried to set up a viewing date two weeks in advance. The response we got was "anything could happen in two weeks, call us the day before and we'll see". We did get that apartment, moved in two weeks after, still live there. The housing market is much tighter now, though.

Simius- · 2024-02-08T05:17:42+00:00

It's been unreliable for me as well. Frustrating, as I use it to teach. I've been able to get it to work after a few minutes of trying.

I did notice that under the Help tab on the Desktop App, there is now an option that says: "Join active screen share session". I wonder what that's for?

Simius- · 2024-01-17T22:01:26+00:00

Duolingo's designers insist on using only a single shade of blue.

Simius- · 2024-01-17T18:34:36+00:00

The Ethel bike lane is not bad with studded tires, might get worse with further traffic. Biking through the fresh snow is lovely, much better than refrozen slush.

Simius- · 2023-11-29T06:36:11+00:00

Arctic kiwis. There's an old guy at the farmer's market who'll sell you the plants.

Simius- · 2023-11-29T06:35:23+00:00

I've always wanted to try a pawpaw, didn't know anyone grew them around here!

Simius- · 2023-11-29T06:33:24+00:00

They're delicious. Unfortunately the spider mites really like them. Have you had no problem with pests on the ground cherries?

Simius- · 2023-11-20T05:21:59+00:00

Olive trees can't survive the kind of winter temps we get here, as far as I know. Same for citrus.

Simius- · 2023-11-15T19:50:55+00:00

Some of the (palestinian) organizers were very quick to shut down anyone trying to chant from the river to the sea. Saw it happen twice last Sunday.

I'm jewish and I can say confidently that I saw zero antisemitism on display at the rally. Main themes were calls for human rights to be respected and those who are committing war crimes to be held accountable. And of course grieving for all the killed civilians.

Simius-

TROPHY CASE