English US » Dutch | 55 [fifty-five] | Working

55 [vijfenvijftig] Werken

What do you do for a living?	Wat voor werk doet u?
My husband is a doctor.	Mijn man werkt als arts.
I work as a nurse part-time.	Ik werk parttime als verpleegster.
We will soon receive our pension.	Wij zullen gauw ons pensioen ontvangen.
But taxes are high.	Maar de belastingen zijn hoog.
And health insurance is expensive.	En de ziektekostenverzekering is duur.
What would you like to become some day?	Wat wil je worden?
I would like to become an engineer.	Ik wil graag ingenieur worden.
I want to go to college.	Ik wil naar de universiteit gaan.
I am an intern.	Ik ben stagiaire.
I do not earn much.	Ik verdien niet veel.
I am doing an internship abroad.	Ik loop stage in het buitenland.
That is my boss.	Dit is mijn baas.
I have nice colleagues.	Ik heb leuke collega’s.
We always go to the cafeteria at noon.	We gaan iedere middag naar de kantine.
I am looking for a job.	Ik ben op zoek naar een baan.
I have already been unemployed for a year.	Ik ben al een jaar werkloos.
There are too many unemployed people in this country.	Er zijn te vele werklozen in dit land.

Long words, short words

The length of a word is dependent upon its informative content. This has been shown by an American study. Researchers evaluated words from ten European languages. This was achieved with the help of a computer. The computer analyzed various words with a program. In the process, it used a formula to calculate the informative content. The results were clear. The shorter a word is, the less information it conveys. Interestingly, we use short words more often than long words. The reason for this could lie in the efficiency of speech. When we speak, we concentrate on the most important thing. Therefore, words without much information mustn't be too long. This guarantees we don't spend too much time on unimportant things. The correlation between length and content has another advantage. It ensures that the informative content always remains the same. That is to say, we always say the same amount in a certain period of time. For example, we can use a few long words. But we can also use many short words. It doesn't matter what we decide: The informative content remains the same. As a result, our speech has a consistent rhythm. This makes it easier for listeners to follow us. If the amount of information were always varied, it would be difficult. Our listeners couldn't adapt well to our speech. Comprehension would thus be made difficult. He who wants the best chance of being understood should use short words. Since short words are better comprehended than long ones. Therefore, the principle goes: Keep It Short and Simple! In short: KISS!