15 Dec '14

Offside: Nowhere better than home

Summary

A local politician recently suggested Dutch learners start watching Thuis, one of the longest-running soaps on Flemish television

3,000 episodes and counting

Those wanting to improve their Dutch ought to watch the soap Thuis, according to political party Groen. “The media can play a cohesive role in society,” said An Moerenhout, a member of the Flemish Parliament. “It’s also a good way to learn Dutch, with the help of subtitles. Hearing half an hour of Dutch spoken every day while reading it is a good exercise.”
 

We at Flanders Today agree wholeheartedly, having experienced the impact of TV – and Thuis in particularly – on our own skills. Should you go the Thuis route, here’s what you’re getting into.

Thuis (which means both “at home” and “our house”) premiered on Eén on 23 December, 1995, and has been shown every weekday since. Seven of the original cast are still on the show; the 3,000th episode was broadcast in 2011.

The format is a familiar one: a limited number of sets, most of them interiors; a fairly extensive repertory of characters, most organised into families, with changing storylines that tend towards melodrama. One of the beautiful things about learning Dutch in such a way is that you master what the Flemish call tussentaal (literally “between language”), a mixture of dialect and “proper” Dutch.

A word of warning for anyone following this suggestion: You may in the course of your new Dutch-speaking life come across someone who appears not to understand a word you’re saying. This is likely to be someone who is learning Dutch by watching Familie, the VTM soap that is Thuis’ archrival.

Photo courtesy VRT

A local politician recently suggested Dutch learners start watching Thuis, one of the longest-running soaps on Flemish television.

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VRT

The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT) is Flanders’ public broadcaster. The VRT has a very wide reach in Flanders and draws the bulk of its financing from the Flemish government. Its main and long-time rival is the commercial broadcaster VMMa.
Channels - VRT operates three television channels (Eén, Canvas, Ketnet), one exclusively digital TV channel (OP12) and five radio channels (Radio 1, Radio 2, Klara, MNM and Studio Brussel).
Woestijnvis - For more than a decade, production house Woestijnvis created TV shows exclusively for the VRT, producing legendary programming in the 1990s such as the panel sketch show Alles kan beter; In de gloria, a send-up of reality TV; and the comedic challenge series De XII werken van Vanoudenhoven. A major change to the media landscape in 2011 found Woestijnvis the owner of its own TV stations, which it now favours in terms of production.
Management - Every four years, a new management contract outlines the rights and responsibilities of both the VRT and the government of Flanders in the VRT’s execution of its public service mission.
1 998

the BRT transforms into VRT

46

annual government subsidy per Fleming in euros

13 365

combined hours of TV programming in 2012

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