What do “vijlen” and “polijsten” mean in Dutch?
Zelf ringen maken van gesmolten zilver
A2 Dutch listening practice · Dutch from the Netherlands · Curated for beginners
Dutch primary-school crafting (knutselen) leans heavily on two finishing verbs: vijlen (“to file”) and polijsten (“to polish”). They show up in every workshop instruction, from clay class to woodwork to the silver-ring-making in this clip. Vijlen uses a vijl, the same word for “rasp” and “nail file”; polijsten uses a polijstdoek or buffing wheel.
The verbs matter because Dutch craft vocabulary is extremely concrete. There is no broad “to finish a piece.” You file, you polish, you sand, you sand again. The clip closes with “de ring alleen nog even afwerken door te vijlen en te polijsten,” which is the standard Dutch sequence.
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Quick glosses for vocabulary that goes beyond this video’s A2 level.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-NL 2014 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.
- ▸In Dutch knutselen lessons at Stichting Leerplanontwikkeling SLO and on Schooltv
- ▸In Het Klokhuis style craft segments produced by NTR for NPO Zapp
- ▸In Dutch silversmithing courses listed by VAKtotaal and the Vakschool Schoonhoven goldsmith program
- ▸In Dutch DIY YouTube channels like Karwei and Praxis instructional clips