I've finally got round to joining a Dutch learners' Yahoo group today, in order to give myself a little more motivation to actually study this language. So far, the things I can say* about myself in Dutch, (and which are actually repeatable in public), are limited to:
– Ik leer Nederlands. (I'm learning Dutch. No kidding!)
– Ik woon in Engeland. (I live in England. So that's where the extra vowel comes from in the footie song.)
– Ik spreek Engels en Welsh. (I speak English and Welsh. Stating the obvious, I know, but that's always been my strongest skill.)
– Ik heb vrienden die in Spijkenisse, Broekhuizen en Eindhoven wonen. (I have friends who live in… Ok, I admit I had help with that one.)
– Ik weet het niet. (I don't know. I suspect this'll be the most-used phrase in my limited vocabulary.)
I think it's good for me to be a rank beginner again, learning a language from scratch. I don't really have much more reason to learn Dutch now than I did to learn Welsh five years ago, but I figure that not having a reason is no reason not to carry on. After all, I found a good use for my Welsh, and I'm sure I'll find an equally good use for my Dutch in due course.
In the meantime, let's just put it down to being klap van de molen (hit by a windmill).
*I say 'say', but actually I can't yet pronounce a single word properly – the last time I tried to get my Dutch friends to help me with my pronunciation, they just laughed and told me I was crap. Ah, that innate Dutch diplomacy.
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