CEAL

26/04/2026

19/04/2026

Every Friday afternoon, we meet with our Korean study group 🇰🇷✨

We gather in the library in Leidsche Rijn — a small but lively mix of advanced learners and native speakers — and spend an hour exploring the language together. Not in a formal, rigid way, but through shared curiosity, conversation, and a whiteboard full of ideas (as you can see here 😄).

What makes this group unique is precisely that mix: some participants bring deep knowledge, others bring fresh questions, and somewhere in between, something genuinely collaborative begins to take shape.

You are very welcome to join us! Whether you already speak some Korean, or are just at the very beginning and feel curious to listen, try, and learn.

Fridays, 16:00–17:00
Library Leidsche Rijn

If you have questions, feel free to leave a comment below or simply come by and see what it feels like 🤍

함께 공부해요 🌿

19/04/2026

Last Friday, our A2 Japanese conversation group took on a new challenge 🇯🇵✨

We worked with freshly prepared materials from our wonderful teachers, exploring new grammar patterns and really trying to *feel* how they function in context — from simple purpose constructions (“〜に行く”) to more abstract nominalisation (“〜こと”). It’s that beautiful moment in language learning where things start to connect… and also get just a little bit tricky 😄

Some of these exercises may look deceptively simple, but they ask for quite a subtle understanding. When do you choose one form over another? What *feels* natural? That’s exactly the kind of question we love to explore together.

Have you worked with this grammar before?
Did you find it intuitive, or does it still feel a bit elusive?

If you’d like to try, pick one of the exercises from the sheets and post your answer below 👇 And if you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask… chances are, someone else is wondering the exact same thing!

🤍 We’d genuinely love to hear how you'd approach these! 🤍

And if you’re curious about joining a small, thoughtful, and slightly nerdy (in the best way) learning group… you know where to find us.

がんばりましょう 🌸

31/03/2026

🌊✨ CEAL Film Afternoon: RIBA (River) ✨🌊

This Friday, join us for a cosy and slightly mind-bending film afternoon at CEAL! We will be watching Riba (リバー) — a Japanese film where time loops and moments repeat, a bit like Groundhog Day… but with a unique Japanese twist.

🗓 Friday, April the 3rd
🕜 13:30 – 15:30
📍 Library Leidsche Rijn (first floor)

The film is in Japanese with English subtitles, so everyone is welcome — whether you're just starting your Japanese journey or already more advanced 🇯🇵

Expect:
☕ Tea - please do bring your own cup!
🍰 Vegan Cake
💬 Good company
🎬 A fascinating film

Bring your curiosity, your love for language, or just yourself — it’s all welcome at CEAL 💛
We hope to see many of you there, from all our study groups!

29/03/2026

Today at CEAL we had both our beginner Korean 🇰🇷 and beginner Bahasa Indonesia 🇮🇩 study groups — and as always, the atmosphere was full of cosy vibes, coffee, and lots of new words (including plenty of animals 🦊🦋) ☕✨

From vocabulary (yes, we all love animals 🐯🦋) to little conversations, everyone is learning at their own pace, together. Some are even picking up a bit more Dutch along the way! 🇳🇱

Swipe to the last photo to see what happens when you attend both study groups back-to-back… 😄📚

We love seeing this kind of cross-language chaos — it means people are truly diving in.

Would you like to join us sometime? 💛

20/03/2026

Behind the scenes, we are developing a new project: a Retro Game Museum dedicated to the cultural, aesthetic, and material histories of early video gaming.

As part of this, we are particularly interested in a contemporary phenomenon: the rise of “remade” or “retro-style” handheld consoles. These devices—often preloaded with large libraries of classic games—are widely available in everyday retail spaces, despite the fact that similar games can easily be accessed via smartphones or emulation.

This raises a number of questions that we would love to explore further:

– What draws people to these devices?
– How important is the tactile, physical experience of gaming?
– Do these consoles evoke nostalgia (perhaps even for those who did not grow up with the originals)?
– How do you perceive the authenticity of such “remade” systems?

We warmly invite you to share your thoughts, experiences, and reflections. Whether you are a long-time player, a collector, or simply curious about retro gaming culture, your perspective would be highly valuable to our research.

Please feel free to comment below or send us a message!

07/02/2026

Today we received yet another wonderfully generous donation for the Retro Game Museum we’re currently building in Utrecht — and it genuinely means the world to us. We’re incredibly grateful that so many people want to help turn this shared dream into something real.

If you’d like us to organise a pop-up Retro Game Museum for you — for a party, a corporate outing, or another special occasion — feel free to get in touch. Donations are always welcome, and if you’d like to help build, curate or tinker with the collection, we can never have too many enthusiastic retro gamers on board.

Curious to know more about our retro games, our plans, and the world we’re creating together? You’ll find all the details via: https://ceal-utrecht.nl/workshops-activities/retro-game-pop-up-playable-museum-of-japanese-classics/ . 🕹️💜

06/02/2026

Yay! A new edition of Nihongo Matsuri (日本語祭り) - the festival of the Japanese language - is coming up! This time we’re heading to Leiden, on 15 February.

Want to practise your Japanese with fellow Japan Fans, play language games, learn more about Japanese culture, and even win some lovely prizes? Then make sure you don’t miss this one and sign up via the link below.

We’d love to see you there 🌸🇯🇵

#日本語祭り

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdVtoOwVQRvGhJNK9lKuGUrmPyuAStHDfARzADPgoZaMbeRPw/viewform?pli=1