Early august I was spending a week with friends in the Belgian Ardennes. While I was sitting on the balcony, my head being somewhere else on account of something quite awesome happening quite unexpectedly, my brother sent me a text message, telling me to keep the 22nd of October free for an evening with music and something about a book. I told him that I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, but that I’d get back to him. The rest of the week, I spent floating on cloud nine.
So, what was the deal? Buffi Duberman, English coach to the Dutch stars, was crowd-funding the release of her new book, 30 Ways to Save Your Ass in English, and my brother contributed. As such, he earned the privilege to attend the book’s launch party. As he had some spare tickets, and since he knew I liked at least two of the artists that would be performing that night, he invited me along. I could even bring my girlfriend.
Fast forward two months. My awesome girlfriend and I spend a lovely day in Amsterdam, visiting the renovated Rijksmuseum, and met up with my brother for diner. Afterwards, we took the tram to Knijn Bowling, where in a tiny, crowded and blisteringly hot room the book was launched. It was a fun night with good music (Mister & Mississippi being the revelation). My brother even got me a copy of the book.
The premise of 30 Ways to Save Your Ass in English is that it will tackle the 30 most common mistakes Dutch people make when it comes to English grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. And apparently, my ass didn’t need a whole lot of saving.
- Book read
- Buffi Duberman — 30 Ways to Save Your Ass in English: De 30 gênantste Engelse taalblunders en hoe je ze kunt voorkomen
- First line
- Hello, darling you.
- Seen live
- “30 Ways to Save Your Ass in English” book launch: Sunday Sun + Adriaan Persons + Sharon Doorson + Mister & Mississippi + Hadewych Minis + a balladeer + Charlie Dee at Knijn Bowling, Amsterdam on October 22nd, 2013