Learn how to describe actors and actresses
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to DutchPod101.com. This is Lower Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 16 - Who's Your Favorite Dutch Actor? Eric here. |
| Jacob: Hallo. I'm Jacob. |
| Eric: In this lesson you'll learn how to describe your favorite actors and actresses. The conversation takes place in a bar close to the cinema. |
| Jacob: It's between Tina and Bill. |
| Eric: The speakers are good friends, so they'll use informal Dutch. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Tina: Die hoofdrolspeelster was wel adembenemend mooi! |
| Bill: Ja, ze was zeker heel mooi, maar ik heb liever iemand met meer karakter. |
| Tina: Ideaal is natuurlijk zowel schoonheid als karakter, vind je niet? |
| Bill: Ja, dat ben ik met je eens. En wat vind jij voor mannen leuk? |
| Tina: Vooral karakter, maar ook een sterke blik en een mooie stem. |
| Bill: Nou dan heb je alles wel bij elkaar. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Tina: That leading actress was really breathtakingly beautiful, wasn't she? |
| Bill: Yes she certainly was very beautiful, but I'd rather see somebody with a lot of character. |
| Tina: Yes, the ideal person is beautiful and has character as well. |
| Bill: Yes I agree with you. And what do you find important for men? |
| Tina: Mainly a strong character, but a strong look and nice voice are also important. |
| Bill: Well, you seem to want the total package. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Jacob, speaking of actors and actresses, who are the most popular in the Netherlands? |
| Jacob: There are many, but I would like to mention Famke Janssen. She was born in the Netherlands and has made a career not only in the Dutch movie industry but also in Hollywood. |
| Eric: Oh, you mean the actress from X-Men, right? |
| Jacob: That’s right. That was in 2000. And she also starred in the movie “The Love and Sex.” That movie premiered at the Sundance film festival in 2000. |
| Eric: Great. Are there any popular actors? |
| Jacob: I can say.. Rutger Hauer. He was born in 1944 in the Netherlands. He started appearing in American movies in 1981 with the movie “Nighthawks.” |
| Eric: You mean the movie that starred Sylvester Stallone, right? |
| Jacob: That’s right. He also directed a short film, “The Room,” and was the main character in his own movie. |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Jacob: hoofdrolspeelster [natural native speed] |
| Eric: leading actress |
| Jacob: hoofd-rol-speel-ster [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: hoofdrolspeelster [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: adembenemend [natural native speed] |
| Eric: breathtakingly |
| Jacob: a-dem-be-ne-mend [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: adembenemend [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: mooi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: beautiful |
| Jacob: mooi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: mooi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: karakter [natural native speed] |
| Eric: character |
| Jacob: ka-rak-ter [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: karakter [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: liever [natural native speed] |
| Eric: rather |
| Jacob: lie-ver [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: liever [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: iemand [natural native speed] |
| Eric: someone |
| Jacob: ie-mand [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: iemand [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: zowel ... als [natural native speed] |
| Eric: as well as |
| Jacob: zo-wel ... als [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: zowel ... als [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: als [natural native speed] |
| Eric: as |
| Jacob: als [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: als [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Jacob: mee eens zijn [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to be in agreement |
| Jacob: mee eens zijn [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: mee eens zijn [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Jacob: Adembenemend mooi! |
| Eric: meaning "Breathtakingly beautiful!" Can you break this down, Jacob? |
| Jacb: Sure. First we have Adem which means “breath” as a noun. It looks similar to the verb ademen which means "to breathe." When something or someone is adembenemend in Dutch, it means that it takes your breath away. |
| Eric: So it’s something like “breathtaking,” or as an adverb “breathtakingly.” |
| Jacob: Exactly. Next we have the adjective mooi. It usually means "beautiful," but in some cases it can also mean "good." |
| Eric: So, for example, we can use it to say “that’s nice” in Dutch, right? |
| Jacob: That’s right. When someone says "I passed all my exams," you can use this adjective and say..Dat is mooi to say "that's nice" or that's wonderful." |
| Eric: Note that this expression can be used in both informal and formal situations. Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Jacob: Sure. For example, you can say.. Na de adembenemende mooie voorstelling zijn we nog wat gaan drinken. |
| Eric: ..which means "After the breathtakingly beautiful show, we went for a drink." Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Jacob: Iemand met karakter |
| Eric: meaning "somebody with character." |
| Jacob: First we have Iemand meaning "someone" or "somebody." Like in English, it is used to refer to an unknown or unspecified person. For example.. Heeft iemand mijn tas gezien? |
| Eric: "Has anybody seen my bag?” |
| Jacob: Next we have the word karakter |
| Eric: It can basically be compared to the English word "character.” For example.. |
| Jacob: goed karakter, |
| Eric: "a good character." |
| Jacob: That’s a literal translation, but a better translation would be "a gentle nature" or “someone gentle.” |
| Eric: I see. What other examples can we make using this word meaning “character?” |
| Jacob: For example, iemand met karakter, |
| Eric: "somebody with personality" or"a person with strength of character." Can you give us a sentence using this phrase? |
| Jacob: Sure. Voor deze plek in het bedrijf hebben we iemand nodig met karakter. |
| Eric: .. which means "In this position within the company we need somebody with character." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn how to describe actors and actresses. |
| Jacob: Let’s review the dialogue and see what expressions they use. |
| Eric: First we have a very good compliment. |
| Jacob: That’s right. Ja, ze was zeker heel mooi, maar ik heb liever iemand met meer karakter.’ |
| Eric: “Yes, she certainly was very beautiful, but I'd rather see somebody with a lot of character.” |
| Jacob: Here, we have the word zeker used for “certainly.” It also can mean “among others,” “safe,” and “secure,” but here it’s used to mean “certainly.” Ze was zeker heel mooi. |
| Eric: “She certainly was very beautiful.” |
| Jacob: And when you talk with your friend about your respective types, you may want to add an extra phrase like this one- maar ik heb liever |
| Eric: “but I would rather have…” or “I’d rather see…” So I could use it when I want to start talking about my favorite type of person or character, right? |
| Jacob: Exactly. And next we have.. Ideaal is natuurlijk zowel schoonheid als karakter, vind je niet? |
| Eric: “Yes the ideal person is beautiful and has character as well.” |
| Jacob : Let’s take a look at the first part. In the dialogue, Tina says ideaal is natuurlijk... |
| Eric: Literally this means “the ideal of course is…” So the Dutch sentence didn’t use the word “person” or “actress” right? |
| Jacob: That’s right, because in context it's obvious they’re talking about actors. In Dutch you don’t have to say “ideal person” specifically, but just ideaal or just an adjective when the other people know what you’re talking about. |
| Eric: I see. Next we have “beautiful and has character as well.” |
| Jacob: In Dutch, that's zowel schoonheid als karakter. Around the word schoonheid, meaning “beautiful,” and karakter, meaning “character,” we have.. zowel and als. |
| Eric: It means ".. as well as ..." |
| Jacob: Note that the word Zowel is one of those words that can never be used alone. |
| Eric: So it’s like “as well as..” or “both X and Y” in English, a phrase in which all elements should be used as a set. |
| Jacob: That’s right. For example.. Zowel John als Mary feliciteerden mij. |
| Eric: It means "Both John and Mary congratulated me." |
| Jacob: Here, I said zowel, the first object, als, and the second object to mean “both John and Mary.” Zowel John als Mary. Make sure that you use both als and the word zowel together. You can't leave one out. |
| Eric: Okay. And let’s look at the last line from the dialogue. |
| Jacob: Vooral karakter, maar ook een sterke blik en een mooie stem. |
| Eric: “Mainly a strong character, but a strong look and nice voice are also important.” I can tell Tina shortens things again here because the meaning is obvious. |
| Jacob: That’s right. The literal translation is “Mainly a strong character, but also a strong look and a beautiful voice.” Tina didn’t actually say “...are also important”. |
| Eric: That's because this is in reply to what Bill just asked her, which was “What do you find important for men?” |
| Jacob: Right, if both people know what they're talking about you don't have to make a full sentence, as Tina did. |
| Eric: By the way, we have several useful words here. For example.. |
| Jacob: Oh, you mean.. karakter |
| Eric: "Character," or "a strong character." |
| Jacob: sterke blik |
| Eric: "strong look," |
| Jacob: mooie stem |
| Eric: "nice voice." And again, listeners, make sure to check the lesson notes for more examples. |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Jacob: Tot Ziens! |
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