Last but not least: Bern learns Dutch

 
A little football party called Euro 08 will soon be taking place here in Switzerland. The inhabitants of our country are preparing for it in various ways: Some are spending hundreds of francs on Panini pictures, others are attaching little flags to their cars, buying the special edition of Kicker football with the pinboard or trying to rent out their guest room to foreign fans. However, no one else is preparing for the big sporting event as conscientiously as the people of Bern, who will soon be welcoming the Dutch national team and their fans: Simon Moser's morning show on Radio BE1 will be practising Dutch with listeners every day. Since May 26, the station has been broadcasting the crash course "Dutch for beginners" at 07:50 every morning. Dutch teacher Ghislaine Goetschalck translates useful phrases such as "How do I find the Eichholz campsite" into Dutch - so that the guests can understand. The aim of the broadcast is to give the city of Bern the image of the friendliest host city in a humorous way and to convey to Dutch guests that they are welcomed with open arms in the capital, BE1 program director Dominique Hofer announced in a press release on Wednesday. The mediation was successful: It was at the beginning of this week when Moser and his weather fairy Monika Buser suddenly received an unannounced visit to their studio on Optingenstrasse in Bern. A Dutch journalist was at the door and wanted detailed information about the story that had apparently been making waves in the Netherlands for several days. The Sunday newspaper Telegraaf, as well as the radio stations Radio Den Haag and Radio 3 FM and even some Belgian stations have already reported extensively on the campaign. Perhaps the Bernese will even manage to get some Dutch fans interested in staying longer and visiting attractions such as the "ui markt" and the "beeren trog", i.e. the "Zibelemärit" and the bear pit.