Writer Lydia Rood participates in Groot Dictee: “I still have to practice”

The Great Dictation of the Dutch Language can be heard on the radio for the sixth time this year, with presenter Frits Spits. Previously, the live program was broadcast on television. There did Lydia Red then also participated. She was already seen in 1995 during the national dictation.

Lydia is a writer of books for children, young people and adults. In 2019 and 2020 she wrote the Groot Edams Dictee twice.

Nothing seems to stand in the way of Lydia’s language and spelling anymore, due to all the experience and knowledge she has gained as a (dictation) writer. Yet she is not yet sure whether her previous participation works in her favor. “There was a different spelling in 1995. Now, of course, there have been different rules for a long time, but the old rules sometimes still get in my way as an old woman.”

Monkey cabbage

The old and new spellings can potentially cause confusion during dictation. “For example, the word ‘monkey’, is that with or without an ‘n’?” When it comes to metaphorical words, it can also be spelled the old way. That is sometimes confusing.”

Lydia says that writing a book is really different from writing a live dictation. “Of course I want to write error-free, but that never really works. Fortunately, you have editors for that. There is no such safety net of an editor with a dictation.” For Lydia, being exposed is not an option. “Writing is my job. It would be a shame if I made a lot of mistakes.”

Yet Lydia is not nervous about the dictation, she mainly enjoys it. “I will most likely lose to those local language tigers. I also saw that in Edam when I wrote it myself. They are so fanatical, they take part in several dictations.”

Tactics

A good tactic? “I shouldn’t just start writing and especially not always rely on my intuition.” The old spelling is still in her head. “I will first have to think without my pen in hand. I will have to think carefully about the rules.”

Green Booklet

Lydia’s other pitfall is that she likes to stick to the rules of the White Book when it comes to spelling. “I didn’t even buy the Green Book,” she says. The Green Book contains the official rules of the Dutch language. But Lydia can be stubborn sometimes. “I pay a lot of attention to the use of punctuation marks. If an editor wanted to change that, I used to make a lot of fuss about it. I now let that go sometimes. But I still discuss it, so I want to do it on my own way,” she laughs.

In order to perform as well as possible tomorrow, Lydia will also do some preliminary work today. “I will have to practice some more. However, I think that, just like with an exam, it is best not to repeat the rules for too long. Going outside and sleeping well also help with good preparation.”

Transition

Until six years ago, Lydia wrote the program every year from the couch with her daughter. “I always enjoyed participating with my daughter. I was disappointed that it was moved to radio.” Yet Lydia herself will be a participant in the radio program tomorrow. Hopefully the love for the program will come back again.