UCL Dutch

This is an intensive language course for beginners. Five hours per week are devoted to developing practical language skills alongside basic grammatical competence, to enable students to participate in a wide variety of language exchanges and transactions. By the end of the first year students should be able to communicate fluently in basic written and spoken Dutch, expressing ideas and feelings about non-specialist topics. Attention is paid to developing a critical language awareness. Two hours per week are set aside for self-study, over and above homework tasks and course assessments, in order to consolidate and complement classroom work. Students should obtain a copy of Routledge Intensive Dutch Course (London/New York: Routledge 2006), and of Teach Yourself Beginner's Dutch Grammar (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2000) which will be used as a basic reference tool.

This term 2 course introduces students to Dutch and Flemish literature through a series of short texts in Dutch. The texts – poetry and prose – are accessible to students who started the language in term 1. The course aims to develop techniques of literary analysis, practise reading skills, expand vocabulary and give students a grounding in contemporary and twentieth-century literature written in Dutch. Assessment is by essay based on independent reading and a short exam.

The course provides a general survey of economic, social, political and cultural developments in Dutch and Belgian history from the late Middle Ages to the First World War. It consists of four periods: (i) From the Late Middle Ages to the Revolt of the Netherlands; (ii) From the 17th century to the Age of Revolutions; (iii) The Netherlands in the 19th century; (iv) 19th-century Belgium. The emphasis is on developing knowledge of major themes in the history of the Low Countries and on information-gathering and analytical skills.

Four hours a week are devoted to extending knowledge and proficiency of language across a variety of genres and discourses. Topics cover current affairs, debates and cultural issues in the Low Countries. Language tasks in this course require a more sustained presentation of information and argumentation, in both speaking and writing. One hour per week is devoted specifically to listening and speaking tasks. There are additional conversation sessions with a student language assistant.  Students are expected to take increasing responsibility for identifying their own strengths and weaknesses and for taking remedial action as appropriate.

The main part of the course consists of the study of a range of literary texts, of an appropriate level of linguistic and conceptual difficulty, focusing on a central theme: the Second World War. This course is assessed through written work and an oral presentation.

This course explores themes related to economic change, social organisation, political structures and cultural transformations in the Netherlands and Belgium since 1930. Among the themes covered are: remembering and commemorating the Second World War; the making of a Flemish nation; Dutch nationhood; Belgian political culture. The course focusses on (i) basic concepts and approaches in the study of contemporary Dutch and Belgian history; (ii) reading skills in Dutch by introducing historical literature in Dutch into the course; and (iii) presentation and writing skills.

Dutch Year Abroad project for students of Single Honours Dutch.

Dutch Year Abroad for Combined Honours.

The course aims to extend the oral language proficiency acquired during the year abroad to a cognitive academic language proficiency in both spoken and written form. Students are prepared for further academic work and vocational situations by extending skills such as presenting a coherent oral and written argument, writing formal letters, reports, debating and negotiating. Translation from Dutch into English is part of the course, as are exercises analysing how cultural values, assumptions and ideologies are embedded in texts. Topics cover current issues and debates in Low Countries culture and society. Attention is also paid to issues affecting the world of work and business.

Advanced translation from Dutch into English, with an introduction to vocational translation skills.

The course consists of three parts and is organised around a number of seventeenth-century key texts. Part one considers the emergence and development of new literary forms and conventions in poetry and drama. We look at sonnets, emblem books and tragedies. Part two focusses on the ideological and political context of the drama of Hooft and Vondel. Part three is concerned with prose accounts of overseas travel and the images of others and the self they convey.

This course provides an advanced counterpart to the second year course on ‘Twentieth Century Dutch Literature II: Authors’. It provides students with the opportunity to study the work of authors whose place in the modern literary canon is undisputed. There is an introduction to the work of each author followed by in-depth study of key texts and secondary literature. In addition the course focusses on issues of canon formation and places the authors studied in a European literary context.

A project written in Dutch on an approved topic in an area of Dutch literature, linguistics, modern history and institutions.

The course focuses on selected themes form Dutch and Belgian history since 1945 with emphasis on events that shaped identities in both countries.  Four different topics are covered, dealing with such matters as cultural geography of the Low Countries, the aftermath of colonisation, economic development and policy, Dutch corporations, European integration, the women's movement and forms of public remembrance. Students from outside the Dutch Dept. are welcome. Some knowledge of Dutch is desirable but no prerequisite.