today I took parts 1 and 2 of a 4 part Dutch exam which, if I pass, allows me to show the Dutch government that I am either willing to or at least capable of adapting to the Dutch culture. if I can speak the language, I can adapt, right?
the first part consisted of 8 short answer questions. that is, I had to write a full sentence or finish the one already started in a way that made sense. that took me all of 15 min. then I had 45 min to answer two questions with a full page of Dutch. followed by 1 hour to write 1.5 pages about whether I think violence on tv increase, decreases, or does not effect violence in children's behavior . the answer doesn't matter as long as it makes sense, is written in a structural manner and of course contains grammatically correct Dutch. one theory given to use in the answer was that violence on tv acts as an outlet for children with built up aggression therefore reducing aggressive behavior; I answered that if porn doesn't work that way, why would violence on tv...I kinda wish I could see what the bored government worker who has to grade the exams thinks of that.
maybe somehow my natural ability to bullshit my way through exams in English helped me work my way through this one without difficulty or I am really just that much better than everyone else in the room who ran out of time and complained about how hard it was. I felt pretty good about myself when I left the room for the hour long lunch break in the middle of Rotterdam with the nearest cafe a bitter 15 min walk through the freezing cold...
part 2 was a listening exam. for some reason I always thought of myself as a good listener. apparently, I'm not. I caught myself drifting off and thinking about what to make for dinner when I was supposed to listening to Jaap's answer to the question Jitske asked about playing piano in a band.
and my recognition of my inability to read maps was reinforced when question 27 required me to figure out from the conversation which map they were talking about. now, exactly which bit was supposed to be path and which bit was supposed to be road was completely unclear to me but apparently essential to the answer. bugger. I might have actually failed that part of the exam, despite my obvious superiority to everyone else in the room. pff.
at least, once I pass the exam, I can ask the Dutch government for a €650 refund for the €250 euro course. so if I have to take the exam twice, I'll still be able to reward myself with a nice pair of warm winter boots and a thicker scarf.
8 years ago
3 comments:
Crap! That sounds hard! And why do you need to do this again?
again, who is this "shhhhh" person?
in answer to the question: the dutch government requires immigrants to show that they are doing something to integrate into the dutch culture. normally this would be a test on dutch culture and history stuff, but if you're good enough at dutch you can take a dutch language test instead. the assumption is that if you can speak the language, adapting to the culture will naturally follow. also, looks good on a resume. :)
well, good luck. hope you passed. :)
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