In Dutch, there are umpteen words that I skim over again and again, each time adding another aspect to the meaning. Here are some words I have added to my woordenschat - vocabulary ("word treasure") in this way.

The first is the headline of a music article: Een echo die blijft galmen - An echo that continues to.... What do echoes do but echo? A dictionary check confirms that, yes, galmen means to echo, or to peal. And this one of the rescue of the miners in Chile: Licht na 69 dagen duisternis - Light after 69 days of.... Are you still in the dark?

See if you can work out what these words mean from their context. Let's assume you know that ongeval is an accident, so in the headline Busongeval eist 2 levens - Bus accident...2 lives. I hope you agree that eist must mean claims.

Try these three. Vergeten Michelangelo duikt op achter sofa - Forgotten Michelangelo... behind sofa; Spoorstaking veroorzaakt grote hinder - Train strike...great disruption; Fans herdenken Lennons verjaardag - Fans...Lennon's birthday.

You probably have discovered that duikt op means turns up or surfaces (it means literally "dive up"), veroorzaakt is causes, and herdenken means to commemorate.

With this knowledge you can now build further. So you will be able to give me the date of de herdenkingsdag in November. And if you are told that je eist te veel van jezelf, you might be able to work out that you should take life easier because you ask too much of yourself.

If een probleem is opgedoken then you know that the problem is new, it has cropped up. (Okay, you have to be able to make the connection between the parts of the irregular verb.) And if you hear that Johan heeft het probleem veroorzaakt, then you know who the perpetrator is.

Dare I go on? Als u veroorzaakt een schade - If you cause damage, then you shouldn't be surprised if someone eist een schadevergoeding.

But often Dutch slips so easily into English. No prizes for guessing what these headlines mean: Ahmadinejad krijgt warm welkom in Libanon or Pfizer investeert in België or Londen en Moskou missen kans. With the headlines under your belt, move on to the articles as you are bound to have some inkling of what they contain. Or look up the words in een woordenboek.