A2 · Getting started
Longer stories about daily life, past and future.
- Het dier dat blokjes maakt Wombats make cube shaped poop, and now we know why. Audio
- Deze vogel slaapt tijdens het vliegen Frigatebirds fly for many days and sleep only a little. Audio
- De lunch die een heel land eet In the Dominican Republic, everyone eats the same lunch at the same time. Audio
- Diner gekookt door een vulkaan In the Azores, people cook food inside a hot volcano. Audio
- De laatste trein Tomas misses the last train in Tokyo and sleeps in a tiny room. Audio
- Het lege kopje On his first day, Pedro drinks from a cup that is not his. Audio
- Nummer zevenenveertig Carla waits a long time at the clinic for a small cut. Audio
- Verdwaald in Lissabon Sofía gets lost in Lisbon and a woman helps her with a map. Audio
- De kamer met een balkon Marcos gets a hotel room with a nice balcony. Audio
- Een tafel voor één Mia eats alone in a small restaurant, and the waiter helps her choose. Audio
- De specerij die ooit evenveel kostte als goud Saffron comes from tiny flower threads picked by hand, and for most of history a pound of it cost about the... Audio
- Het meer dat elke zomer verdwijnt In Slovenia, a huge lake fills a valley in winter and then vanishes underground every summer, leaving... Audio
- Het park naast mijn huis A squirrel describes the small park next to its tree: the pigeons by the benches, Mr. Badger and his bread,... Audio
- De stad die goud op ijs doet Kanazawa in Japan makes almost all of the country's gold leaf, and wraps whole sheets of it around soft ice... Audio
- De vlucht die negentig seconden duurt A tiny plane hops between two Orkney islands in Scotland on the shortest scheduled flight in the world. Audio
- Roep, of je mist je halte A shared minibus with no bell and no screen, where the only way off is to say so out loud, early and twice. Audio
- Slurp hard, dat hoort zo In Japan, slurping your noodles loudly is not rude, it is a sign that you are enjoying the meal. Audio
- De waterval die omhoog valt On very windy days, strong gusts can blow a Norwegian waterfall's spray back up into the sky. Audio
- De cirkel en de ochtendboot The Ring of Brodgar at dusk, then the small practical business of leaving an island, done in four sentences... Audio
- Het graan van negentig dagen In a bar in Kirkwall, a flat dark bannock turns out to be the reason the islands were farmable at all. Audio
- De verzameling op de klippen Grey seals are hauling out on the low rocks before the pupping season, and the questions Polly has been... Audio
- Gebouwd van wat ze hadden On Lamb Holm, two army huts hold a chapel that prisoners of war made out of scrap, and the only honest... Audio
- Het dorp onder de storm At the Bay of Skaill, a guide with a carrying voice explains a village that a storm returned to the light... Audio
- De stoel bij het vuur A guesthouse above the harbour, an argument about what counts as a quiet room, and a chair whose whole... Audio
- De boot komt binnen Polly lands at Stromness off the morning boat and works out, one question at a time, how a place with no... Audio
- Roze bestaat niet Pink has no wavelength of its own; it is a color the brain invents when the eyes see red and blue light... Audio
- Je gloeit op dit moment The human body constantly emits an extremely faint light, invisible to the eye but detectable with a... Audio
- De mist sluit zich achter haar On her last afternoon, Polly flies high over the island before fog rolls in and hides it behind her. Audio
- Een dorp aangesloten op een vulkaan Polly learns that the same volcano heat that cooked lunch also warms a big public pool and heats homes in... Audio
- Avondeten, bij zonsopgang begraven Polly watches a cook bury pots of food in the ground, where the volcano's heat cooks dinner with no fire. Audio
- Eén krater, twee kleuren Polly finds a huge old crater with two lakes, one blue and one green, joined together under a strip of land. Audio
- De vogel die twee keer verdwenen leek Polly looks for the priolo, a tiny grey and pink bird that lives only in one forest and was once thought to... Audio
- De laatste twee tuinen van Europa Polly finds one of the only two tea farms left in Europe, started after the island's orange trees died. Audio
- Negen eilanden, drie platen Polly arrives over São Miguel, the biggest of the nine Azores islands, made of black rock, green fields,... Audio
- Spider Rock Polly finds a tall tower of red rock at the end of the canyon. She looks at it, but she does not land on it. Audio
- De enige weg naar beneden A guide brings visitors into the canyon on horses. Polly learns that people live here. Audio
- Regen op de rand A big storm makes waterfalls on the canyon walls, and the dry sand fills with water. Audio
- De paarden van de bedding Polly hears thunder, but the sky is blue. It is horses running on the sand. Audio
- De huizen in de wand Polly finds old stone rooms high in the cliff. A squirrel says people lived here for thousands of years. Audio
- Waar de wanden overeind komen The canyon walls get very tall. Polly sees dark lines made by water and rides the warm air. Audio
- De lage muur Polly lands at a canyon in Arizona. The walls are small, but a raven says the canyon grows. Audio
- Dag, roze stadje Polly says goodbye and follows the river away. Audio
- De schapen bij de poort Polly walks with the sheep to the mountain. Audio
- Een dag bij de rivier Polly rests by the river and sees a fox. Audio
- De geschilderde dieren Polly sees very old animal paintings on red rocks. Audio
- De oude muur Polly flies to the old watchtower on the mountain. Audio
- Het scheve huis A stone marten shows Polly a famous crooked house. Audio
- Het roze stadje Polly finds a small pink town inside a river loop. Audio
- Waar koffie vandaan komt Coffee begins as a red fruit on a green plant and travels far before it fills a cup. Audio
- Slapen in een nachttrein Night trains in Europe carry travelers between cities while they sleep in cozy beds. Audio
- Hoe bijen honing maken Honeybees turn sweet flower nectar into golden honey through hard teamwork in the hive. Audio
- De lange weg van zijde The Silk Road was a famous trade route that linked China with Europe for many centuries. Audio
- De Amazone, de grootste rivier The Amazon is the river that carries the most water in the world. Audio
- De octopus en zijn drie harten The octopus is a clever sea animal with three hearts and blue blood. Audio
- De kabels onder de zee Long cables under the ocean carry almost all of the information that travels between countries. Audio
- De lange wedstrijd die marathon heet The marathon is a very long running race with a curious and surprising history. Audio
- Het vogeltje in de klok In Germany's Black Forest, carved wooden cuckoo clocks call out every hour while children wait and laugh. Audio
- Het stadje waar sterven verboden was When a small Italian town ran out of space in its cemetery, the mayor signed an order telling people not to... Audio
- De vis die watervallen beklimt In Hawaii, a fish smaller than your finger climbs up waterfalls taller than buildings, using its mouth as a... Audio
- Een klein koud lab in de ruimte NASA improved a small science lab on the space station that makes some of the coldest matter in the universe. Audio
- Canada wint zijn eerste WK-wedstrijd Canada celebrates its first ever men's World Cup victory with a big win at home in Vancouver. Audio
- De lunch die nooit eindigt In Spain, the best part of lunch starts when the food is finished. It even has its own name. Audio
- Bestel nooit een latte in Italië In Italy, the word latte does not mean coffee. One small word can bring you a big surprise. Audio
- Het eerste licht in het dorp While the whole village sleeps, one window glows: the baker lights the oven so fresh bread will be ready by... Audio
- De kat die de bus neemt Every morning a cat climbs onto the same city bus, watches the streets go by, and gets off at his own stop. Audio
- Stoom en kleine bordjes A first night at a Taipei night market, where pointing, smiling, and one brave question buy a very good... Audio
- Polly neemt de bus Polly's first bus ride: does this bus go downtown, one ticket, how much, where do I get off, next stop,... Audio
- Polly vraagt de weg Polly is lost on the way to the library and asks an owl for directions: excuse me, where is it, is it far,... Audio
- Polly bestelt een koffie Polly's first cafe order: good afternoon, a coffee with milk, do you have churros, the check please, how... Audio
- Polly op de markt Berta takes Polly to the market. Polly buys fruit for the first time: what is this, two apples, how much, a... Audio
- Polly ontmoet iemand Polly moves to a new street and meets Berta the bear. First greetings: hello, your name, nice to meet you,... Audio
- Klimmen in de Droogste Plek Polly arrives at a big observatory in the Atacama, the driest desert in the world. Audio
- Vladivostok Polly arrives in Vladivostok and flies off over the Pacific Ocean. Audio
- De Amoer Polly reaches the Amur River and meets a rare crane on the sixth day of the Trans-Siberian. Audio
- Het Baikalmeer Polly spends a day on the train along Lake Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake on Earth. Audio
- Tijdzones Polly explores the dining car and learns that the train uses one time zone across all of Russia. Audio
- De Oeral Oversteken Polly crosses the Ural Mountains, the line between Europe and Asia, on the Trans-Siberian train. Audio
- De Berkenbossen Polly watches Russian birch forests from the Trans-Siberian train and learns that forty percent of Russia... Audio
- Station Jaroslavski Polly boards the Trans-Siberian train at Moscow and begins her seven-day journey to Vladivostok. Audio
- Afscheid van Pasta Polly says goodbye to Pasta the octopus and flies out of Naples. Audio
- De Redacteur van Zichzelf Polly learns that octopuses can change their own nervous systems by editing RNA in real time. Audio
- Pizza en de Lange Lunch Polly has lunch with Chiara at a Neapolitan pizzeria and learns about traditional Neapolitan pizza. Audio
- De Huid Die Ziet Polly learns that octopus skin can sense colours even though octopus eyes cannot. Audio
- Het Lichaam dat Denkt Polly watches an octopus solve a maze with two arms working independently. Audio
- De Pot Polly watches an octopus open a jar to catch a crab and learns how short an octopus's life is. Audio
- De Baai van Napels Polly arrives in Naples and meets a giant Pacific octopus at the world's oldest marine biology institute. Audio
- Het Dal Verlaten Polly says goodbye to Ranger Tomas and flies west out of Yosemite. Audio
- De Melkweg Boven Glacier Point Polly watches the Milky Way at Glacier Point and looks through a telescope at the centre of our galaxy. Audio
- Half Dome Polly flies up Half Dome on warm air with a flock of swifts, sees the summit, then glides back down. Audio
- De Duikende Valk Polly tries to copy a peregrine falcon's dive, learning what makes the falcon the fastest animal in the world. Audio
- De Sequoia Polly visits a giant sequoia nearly 3,000 years old and learns about its fireproof bark. Audio
- Met Ranger Tomas Op Pad Polly spends the morning in Ranger Tomas's truck, learning about bear feeding and peregrine falcon nests. Audio
- Boven de Vallei Polly flies into Yosemite Valley, watches climbers on El Capitan, and rides the shuttle bus at dusk. Audio
- De geur van kaneel A new neighbor leaves a small surprise outside her door. Audio
- Twee kilo geduld A first trip to the local market with a vendor who refuses to let her leave with the wrong tomatoes. Audio
- Een Vreemde Kaart Polly, a curious parrot, arrives in Venice and notices a young woman named Isabella, who holds a mysterious... Audio
B1 · Finding your flow
Polly's weekly adventures and real-world stories.
- De race waar de kaas altijd wint Once a year in England, people chase a wheel of cheese down a dangerously steep hill, and the cheese almost... Audio
- Twee gloednieuwe diersoorten, elk zo groot als een vingernagel Scientists in Montenegro just described two snail species new to science, found on limestone cliffs in a... Audio
- De dag dat een echt beestje een computer stukmaakte In nineteen forty-seven, engineers found an actual moth stuck inside a giant computer, taped it into their... Audio
- De garnaal met een zon in zijn schaar A small ocean shrimp snaps its claw so fast that it creates a flash of heat nearly as hot as the surface of... Audio
- Het huis verdeeld tussen twee landen In a small town on the Belgian-Dutch border, some houses sit in two countries at once, and the front door... Audio
- Het leger dat verloor van vogels In nineteen thirty-two the Australian military was sent against emus eating the wheat crop in Western... Audio
- Chimpansees hebben accenten A new study of more than eleven thousand recorded calls found that young chimpanzees in different parts of... Audio
- Het internet ligt onder water Almost all international internet traffic travels along cables lying on the sea floor, which break... Audio
- Het dier dat kubussen maakt Wombats are the only known animal to produce cube shaped droppings, and the corners are formed by uneven... Audio
- De stad die in één gebouw woont Almost every resident of Whittier, Alaska lives inside a single fourteen storey building reached through a... Audio
- Deze vogel slaapt terwijl hij vliegt Frigatebirds stay in the air for days over open ocean, and researchers put recorders on their heads to find... Audio
- Je kaart zou tegen de lunch al fout zijn Satellite clocks tick faster than clocks on the ground, and if nobody corrected for it your phone would... Audio
- Je gloeit. Niemand kan het zien. Human skin gives off a faint light all day long, and a Japanese team photographed it in a sealed dark room. Audio
- Dit blauw bestaat op één plek A stony beach in the Dominican southwest, one pebble that is blue all the way through, and the single... Audio
- Een arm die kan proeven Octopus suckers contain special receptors that let an arm taste whatever it touches, even in total darkness. Audio
- De grootste cheque ooit in de atletiek A brand new athletics championship this month paid its winners more than the sport has ever offered before. Audio
- Een computer leren walvis te spreken Researchers are using artificial intelligence to search for real structure inside the clicking patterns of... Audio
- De trage hartslag van bomen Laser scans at night revealed that trees pulse gently every few hours, possibly pumping water through their... Audio
- Bloemen om drie uur 's nachts At three in the morning, Bangkok's biggest flower market is more awake than midday, and it never really... Audio
- Tienduizend atleten, één openingsavond The 2026 Asian Games, hosted jointly by Aichi and Nagoya, Japan, bring together roughly ten thousand... Audio
- De bank die alleen kaas aanneemt An Italian bank keeps a vault holding more than half a million wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano, accepted as... Audio
- Je batterijpercentage is een gok A phone's battery percentage is not a direct measurement, but an estimate calculated from voltage and... Audio
- Dit strand bestaat uit afval A sparkling beach in Northern California is made entirely of old dumped glass, smoothed into colorful... Audio
- Nergens een vierde verdieping In much of East Asia, elevators skip the number four entirely, because it sounds exactly like the word for... Audio
- De vogel die tweemaal verloren werd gewaand Polly searches an old laurel forest for the priolo, a tiny grey and pink bird found only here, once thought... Audio
- Vertrek bij het eerste licht Polly watches one last sunrise with Berta and follows the river out of town. Audio
- De herder bij de poort Polly follows a flock of sheep, a shepherd and his big mastiff dog to the high meadows. Audio
- De rivier die om de stad heen stroomt Polly has a slow day at the river and meets a fox at dusk. Audio
- De geschilderde dieren van de rode rotsen Polly visits the red rocks in the forest and finds animal paintings that are thousands of years old. Audio
- De muur die de berg beklimt Polly flies up the old wall to the watchtower and learns its thousand year story. Audio
- Berta en de scheve huizen Berta, an old stone marten, shows Polly the crooked streets and a famous leaning house. Audio
- De stad in de arm van de rivier Polly follows a looping river and finds Albarracín, a small pink town in the hills of Spain. Audio
- Eén café, twee landen In one small town, the border between Belgium and the Netherlands runs straight through streets, houses and... Audio
- Je berichten reizen onder water Almost everything you send across an ocean travels through cables lying on the sea floor, not through... Audio
- Het strand dat in de nacht blauw gloeit On some warm coasts, the sea lights up electric blue when you touch it. The light comes from billions of... Audio
- De gastlanden marcheren door For the first time, three countries share a World Cup, and so far all three hosts are off to a flying start. Audio
- Het kleinste eiland op het grootste podium Curacao, a Caribbean island smaller than many cities, became the tiniest nation ever to reach a World Cup. Audio
- Avondeten gekookt door een vulkaan On a green island in the Azores, cooks lower a pot into a hot hole in the ground and let the earth slowly... Audio
- Het kasteel waar de koning nauwelijks woonde A Bavarian king built a fairy-tale castle on an alpine crag, slept there only a handful of nights, and left... Audio
- Wandelen over de bodem van de zee Twice a day the North Sea pulls back for kilometres, and people walk barefoot across the bare seabed before... Audio
- Waarom je telefoon doodgaat in de kou Your phone shows forty percent battery, then dies in the snow. The battery is not empty. It is cold, and... Audio
- De stad die een rivier opgroef For fifty years, Seoul hid a river under an elevated highway. Then the city tore the highway down, and the... Audio
- Tien kilometer hoog Passenger planes cruise about ten kilometres above the ground. That number is not random: it is where the... Audio
- Oermensen gedijden in het regenwoud Scientists once thought ancient humans avoided rainforests. New evidence from West Africa says they thrived... Audio
- De dag dat de zon uitging This week, northern Spain watched the first total solar eclipse over mainland Europe in twenty seven years. Audio
- De Verenigde Staten bereiken de volgende ronde in eigen land As a host nation, the United States won its opening matches and advanced early to the knockout stage of the... Audio
- Het kleinste land ooit op een WK Curacao made history as the smallest nation ever to play at a World Cup, even after a heavy loss to Germany. Audio
- Waarom honing van drieduizend jaar oud nog eetbaar is Honey jars from Egyptian tombs three thousand years old are still edible. The chemistry behind a food that... Audio
- De tenniswedstrijd die drie dagen duurde The longest tennis match ever played: Isner vs. Mahut, Wimbledon 2010, eleven hours, three days, a final... Audio
- De octopus die het slot kraakte An octopus called Inky escaped his aquarium tank at night through a drain pipe, and what it reveals about... Audio
- Het hotel dat rijdt terwijl je slaapt On a European night train, you fall asleep in one country and wake up in another, with the Alps outside... Audio
- Openingsavond in het Azteca The World Cup came home to Mexico City, and the oldest stadium in the tournament shook for the very first... Audio
- De Vallei Verlaten Polly says goodbye to Ranger Tomas and flies west out of Yosemite, watching a peregrine hunt swifts on her... Audio
- Rijden Met Ranger Tomas Polly spends a morning in Ranger Tomas's truck, learning how he tracks bear feeding in wildflower meadows... Audio
- De lege mok First day at a new office, a small lesson about asking before assuming. Audio
- De trein naar Granada An overheard phone call on the train turns a long trip into a kind of company. Audio
- De verkeerde boekwinkel A simple coffee order leads to a strange conversation about a bookshop that doesn't exist anymore. Audio
- Kamer 304 heeft uitzicht A late check-in turns into a small gift when the hotel runs out of rooms on the lower floors. Audio
- De Verrassingswedstrijd Polly, Diego, and Isabel face an unexpected challenge when a rival group claims to host the true tango... Audio
B2 · Building confidence
Real places, real news, richer language.
C1 · Stretch yourself
Rich, natural texts about places, history and ideas.
- Twee ongenoemde soorten gevonden op een rotswand Scientists in Montenegro have described two snail species new to science, found on limestone cliffs in a... Audio
- De oorlog die Australië verloor van emoes In nineteen thirty-two the Australian military was deployed against emus devastating the wheat crop in... Audio
- Chimpansees blijken accenten te hebben A new study of more than eleven thousand recorded calls finds that young chimpanzees in different parts of... Audio
- De bank die leent tegen onderpand van kaas An Italian bank stores and ages more than half a million wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano, accepted as... Audio
- Waarom je kaart tegen de middag verkeerd zou zijn Satellites tick at a different rate than clocks on the ground, and without a deliberate correction your... Audio
- De gloed die je huid nooit ophoudt uit te stralen Human skin gives off a faint light around the clock, invisible to the eye, as a Japanese team confirmed by... Audio
- Wat je woorden echt over een oceaan draagt Almost everything sent between continents travels not through satellites but through cables lying on the... Audio
- Het hotel dat grenzen oversteekt terwijl je slaapt On a European night train, a traveller falls asleep in one country and wakes in another, with the Alps... Audio
- De rivier die Seoel een halve eeuw geheimhield Seoul spent decades entombing a river beneath a highway, then reversed course and dug it back into the... Audio
- Wat de zondag nog altijd eist An adult granddaughter returns home for Sunday paella and discovers that her octogenarian grandfather's... Audio
- Het kasteel dat zijn koning amper heeft meegemaakt Bavaria's King Ludwig the Second poured a fortune into a fairy tale castle he would inhabit for barely a... Audio
- Je telefoon is niet dood. Hij heeft het gewoon koud. A phone that shows forty percent battery and then dies the moment you step into the cold has not run out of... Audio
- Honing die keizerrijken heeft overleefd Honey sealed inside Egyptian tombs thousands of years ago remains perfectly edible today, and the reason... Audio
- De octopus die aan zijn slot ontsnapte An octopus named Inky vanished from a New Zealand aquarium overnight, and the ingenious route he took to... Audio
- De walvis die vijftienduizend kilometer reisde Polly learns about two humpback whales who swam 14,000+ km from Australia to Brazil, breaking the world... Audio
- Beklimming van de Droogste Plek Polly arrives at ESO's Paranal Observatory in the Atacama, the driest place on Earth, where four enormous... Audio