Chapter 6

When you do something in a new language, you always hit limits. As I neared the end of De eeuw van mijn vader (My Father's Century) I overcame many limits and ran into one when Big Mak started quoting Lucebert. Poetry can be hard in your own language.

This time, I ran into Dutch legalese for the first time. While I was able to read past the redundancy endemic to the field, I was unable to understand all of it as well as I would have liked. It was some consolation that the main character, who had experience typing contracts, also didn't understand it until his wife pointed out paragraph 9.

Even so, I wanted to understand all of it. As you learn a language, it's like listening to a faraway radio station start to come in, or looking through a lens that finally starts to focus. When you hit your limits, the faraway station fades to static.

Chapter 6 is an extension of the book's dynamic, alternating between the protagonist's great luck when he's out and his skeptical wife at home. This time, he comes home with a great salary and a contract. He has missed dinner, and his wife is unhappy. He points out in the letter that makes up the book that he's experienced in high register Dutch, while his wife is not. Then, she finds a flaw in the contract having to do with how at the end of employment, he will not be able to make any claims against the cheese company. During this ego deflation, his son chimes in.

Every so often, we see the letter reader, and I wonder who he is. I remember learning that half of acting is reacting. The reader's reactions fit, but I wonder what he's doing there. Does he have a role later, or is he a stand-in for us?

Another Commercial

Logo: The Dutch Language Film Festival

Announcer: His voice booms. IT'S ALMOST TIME FOR THE DUTCH LANGUAGE FILM FESTIVAL!

The camera is looking out at a sea of empty seats in a movie theater. It looks like the opening for a movie review TV show. In the center, there are two people sitting next to each other. The camera zooms in. We see Geert "Big" Mak wearing a big housecoat over his usual jeans and sweater. He holds a cigar butt that is obviously a prop. He is without his glasses. Next to him is Nelly Frijda. She wears jeans, a sweater and Mak's glasses. Both speak in Dutch with subtitles, unless otherwise noted.

NF: (It's almost time for The Dutch Language Film Festival.)

GM: (Do you think the Americans will like it?)

NF: (Sure, they'll like it better if they speak Dutch.)

GM: (Oh, is this a gag where the subtitles are different from what is said?)

NF: Badly dubbed by a woman with a completely different voice. (Oh no. In fact, even when the voices are dubbed everything will be accurately translated into English.)

GM: (Well, why will speaking Dutch make it better?)

NF: (It's the cultural context. You can translate, but still lose so much. For example, this commercial is hilarious, but only a Dutch speaker would know why.)

Five seconds of silence go by while they stare blankly at the camera. Then, they laugh uncontrollably for a few seconds, then stop.

NF: (See?)

GM: (Yes, but I think they'll enjoy the festival anyway. Do we have time for another joke?)

Logo: The Dutch Language Film Festival

NF: (No, the trailer's ending.)

Copyright notice: Feel free to link to this commercial or quote from it. If you produce it, that's €50 and a copy on DVD for my mother.