Trellum

That's good to know   But tell me one thing... is it true dutch people are really direct?  direct to the point of being rude? My boyfriend mentioned something like that yesterday, his family came from Amsterdam.  I lately been thinking that his sister comments might have been what is known as ''dutch directness''.  I'm direct as well, but I'm em... very diplomatic   I mean, I believe you can be direct and all, but there are way to say things so they don't sound so blunt.

My current boyfriend is Dutch, we plan to start a new life together in the Netherlands. We both speak english, his mother language is obviously dutch and my mother language is spanish.  Just today we were saying that it would be wonderful if our kids could speak not only dutch, but also spanish and english!  Trilingual kids!  I don't even know if that's possible, but we lose nothing by trying it

Since I'm still learning dutch and my boyfriend only speaks dutch and english, I think our kids will be listening the english and dutch language on a daily basis, but as I learn more dutch they will hear less and less english! So hopely by the time I'm fluent enough in Dutch, the kids will already know some enlgish.  Hopely we will teach them some spanish too.  I'm not hopeful tho

I earnt english by paying a lot attention to the tihngs people on the Yahoo main chat wrote... I also listenedv to the people on the mic, but I remember I started to learn the language by paying a lot attention to the words and phrases the people in that chat used.  I guess I started learning the language by memorizing full phrases.... to be honest the whole process is still a mystery to me! 

I made a lot mistake on the way tho, but I learnt from those.  Everything turned out well considering I learnt the language on my own.  I've always considered the way I learnt english to be really odd and unorthodox, lol.

Uhm that study could be biased... I'd love to see where you got that statement from, but in my experience... I['d say both sexes have a good chance at learning a good language, no matter what sex they are, and yes, I'm a female.  I learnt english on my own when I was younger, almost by accident!  I'm learning Dutch right now and I'm starting to see some progress

It all depends on how motivated you really feel!  If you feel motivated enough to learn a language, you will surely achieve it!!! Doesn't matter if you are a man or a woman, all you need is the motivation to go for it and do it, just like I am trying to

Am I the only one who finds some languages more 'beautiful' than others? For example I find English much 'prettier' than my mother language, Croatian.

Not sure the cause of if, but it might be because English has so many words that have different meanings. If you called your partner 'medu' (honey) he would probably die laughing.

And it sounds much better when speaking, in my opinion.

What about you?

I also find english to be a really beautiful and meaningful language, specially when is spelled and pronounced right.  I like it even more than my own mother language, I just love the way it sounds and the way it looks.  I love the fact the english language is so clean when spelled right and the right punctuation is used.

I also love the fact no written accents are used on the english words, that's not the case in my mother language... you have to put a lot accents on almost every word.  And the saddest part is the fact most people don't know what words should have them, lol.  My language is beautiful, but we are ruining it each day that passes by!

I'd mostly write or use sign language, but using sign language would require me to actually learn it... it would also require the others around me to learn it and that might cause a lot potential communication issues!  So I guess the best bet would be writing...  I can write in two languages, so it'd not be so bad!  I'd hate not being able to speak tho, trying to communicate my own ideas succesfully is hard enough in the spoken form... in the written form is even harder! 

I really hope I never lose my capacity to speak... ever! That would be terrible!  I love being able to talk, laugh, whisper and shout

I don't think listening to movie dialogues can be a good or efficient way to learn a language properly, but it can prove to be a good aid. A side one tho.  I'd not put my eggs in that basket tho, I think learning a language requires more than just listening to dialogues... it also requires an active practice.  It also requires lots of time and patience!

''Who are you gonna call?!  The ghostbusters!''  LOL, I loved that movie... is actually one of my comfort films, I love it when is on TV and I can actually watch it, the first film specially.  Ever since I watched that film, that line has been stuck in my head.  I just loved that film with a great passion!  There are other good examples of TV shows and movies that left a mark in the ''popular culture references'' field, one of them is Buffy

Anime and manga are my main motivators for learning Japanese, and I am usually not ashamed to admit that.  Ultimately I'd like to be able to read untranslated manga and listen to anime without relying on the subtitles.

That's awesome!  Actually my best friend's love for thye japanese language and culture started thank to anime   He is so in love with Japan that his dream is to actually move there one day and get married to a japanese girl.  I can only hope his dream comes true. He really deserves it.  I'm also a big fan of anime and japanese culture in general (anime has enriched my life greatly, really), but I'm not motivated to learn the language (too busy trying to find the time to learn dutch!).  Is great managa and anime are motivators for you to learn this amazing language   Kudos to you!

I'm not trying to learn japanese either, but I totally love the anime they make (I could spend hours watching anime online if I only had the time to do so!) and is thanks to that I've learnt so many japanese words and phrases. But I'd not say I've an interest in learning it... being able to understand some phrases or words with no subtitles is nice tho

However, I do know someone who is trying to learn Japanese really bad, mostly because he's a big fan of anime, he loves the japanese culture in general and is actually planning to move to Japan!  I don't think you can find a better reason than that one for learning japanese!

I'm not even trying to learn japanese right now to be quite honest (I've to much in my hands by trying to learn Dutch already), but I do feel a great fascination for anime and japanese culture in general. Thanks to anime I've actually learnt a lot japanese words and expressions, so if I wanted to learn the language... I'd surely do it out of love for their amazing anime that has enriched my life in so many wonderful ways. 

I just love japanese culture in general, I'm a weird girl... and some aspects of the japanese culture are a bit weird as well; I love that.  I love things that aren't conventional at all!  Too bad I have no real purpose to learn japanese, if I was moving there I'd definitely try to learn it, but I'm moving to the Netherlands... so only dutch for this girl only.

I'm a huge fan of anime and japanese culture in general, but it has never crossed my mind to actually go for it and learn the language, I just don't know why.  I guess that's mostly because I already have too little time to do it (I still have to learn Dutch).  But everytime I heard someone I know is trying to learn japanese I can't help but to feel so curious.

There are so many reasons to learn this language, but I'd love to hear yours guys   I think there aren't that many people out there trying to learn it anyway.  So I'd really like to know why Japanese?  Out of so many languages that you could learn... how do you come you picked this one?

Hahahaham before reading that I knew sometimes native speakers are sometimes the worse in their own language..., lol.  I know a lot native spanish speakers that can hardly communicate in a coherent way. In the spoken word they're disaster, but in the written form... oh my! 

Don't just get me started, seriously!!!!  I'm actually upset about that, about the bad use we give to our own lanugage, and how sometimes the young people spells words wrong on purpose, and by doing that this becomes and habit and soon we'll all be speaking and typing like that.  Just see and wait folks!

Lately I speak in neglish a lot, because I work online and I really need it!  I'm also starting to suspect most of my thought are in english, since I do most of my writing in english... and while I do it I can hear my thought in english, lol.  I only speak my mother language with my relatives or when I leave the home, I might start forgetting my mother language once I move to the Netherlands tho I'll barely speak spanish at all... I guess I'll be speaking dutch and english mostly.

I was somewhat fluent in Norwegian some years ago, but once I moved out from that country I totally lost my fluency.  I didn't even try to even practice it, because I knew I'd never go back there, so I decided to focus on other things that could be more useful in my current situation.  I practically forgot about norwegian, since this language is only spoken there so once you're outside that country is completely useless to know it.

It's sad tho, I really loved that language.  I guess the only way to regain the language easily would be by going back to norway and staying there forever   Maybe starting a new family LOL, but seriously, the only thing that could help me gain some fluency would be immersion.

I learn some Esperanto back in the day... I must say this is so far one of the most useless languages I've learn so far, because it seems no one even speaks it even more.  Some years ago there was like a frenzy, and a lot web sites and organizations were trying to make of esperanto an international languaqge, but that never worked and here we are!  Stuck with an invented language that is dying...

It's sad when things don't turn out the way they should, isn't it?

I don't get offended if someone pronounce a word in my native language in a wrong way, as long as he doesn't do that in a mocking way or trying ot make fun of me or others.  I think trying to speak a language other than yours is hard enough, and having someone getting mad at you because your accent isn't perfect is just too much pressure.

I'd personally feel really stressed if my boyfriend's family took my bad accent as an insult.  I guess I'd be completely and absolutely screwed id that was the case, lol.  I hope my boyfriend's family don't take it wrong if I say something in a wrong way.

There are so many reasons to learn a new language, mine right now is moving with my fiance.  Yes, I'm in a rush trying to learn Dutch, but sadly I seem to have zero time to do it.  I feel I have my destiny in my hands, but I work full time every single day... and I don't seem to have time to study Dutch! 

My reason to learn is purely for love, so I can be with the man I love, but gosh... is life hard!  I just work and work every single day!!!! And when I finally find some time off for myself I just want to sit, relax and watch some TV.  My idea of fun isn't sitting and listeing to my Dutch audio course, after a long day of work I just want to lie down and watch TV. After that I just fall asleep! 

Uhm this kind of thing has never happened to me often, it happened to me once when I was in Norway tho.  I dream of a girl standing at the entrance of our apartment (me and my ex's), she told me: ''Don't believe everything they tell you''.  I woke up feeling so scared right after she said that!  She was a blonde girl, maybe 6 or 8 years old.  I had to go to pee after that, and I was sooo scared, because I knew I'd need to walk right into the entrance of the apartment, since the bathroom is right next to the entrance.

Funny thing is... many year later I found out my ex had been lying to me all the time.  All his friends knew it too.  This could be a really incredible coincidence.  I guess.  I've probably dreamt in another language maybe 3 times in my life, counting this one time.  But I don't know if this one counts or not, because I didn't utter a single word in this dream.  My dreams often contain no dialogue.  Hence I rarely dream in my own language, let alone hear or speak other language!

Uhm my mom used to talk in a weird way with my dad when I was a kid, and she didn't want me to understand what they were saying.  It was something like: ayerefe bifi a martafa estafa con felipeje. LOL, once I grew up I cracked the code, and they realized it was useless to use this ''code'' with me present, since I could understand EVERYTHING.  I even told them, lol.  Because it was annoying they walked about things I didn't really want to hear and I could understand everything.

I'd really like it if my boyfriend could learn spanish, so when we don't want our kids to understand what we're talking about... we can just start speaking in spanish

Sometimes (like in my case) you don't decide to learn a language, but are the circumstances the ones that lead you or even force you to do so.  In my case I must learn Dutch soon, so I can move to the Netherlands with my boyfriend.  So we can start a family and live happily ever after...   Well, I was told it was actually a requisite for me to learn Dutch, since I'm not an EU passport holder.  So I guess love lead me to this

In past tho, I've learnt languages (like for example english) to either have fun or to expand my horizons.  I actually learnt english on my own almost by mistake.  It was more like a game for me back then, but this game really paid off for me I can I assure you I'd never be where I am if it wasn't because I can speak english quite fluently.

I guess the best advice I've ever recieved is not to rush and take things calmly.  At least that's what my boyfriend told me when I told him I was going to start learning dutch once again.  He told me I should take it very easy   Actually he was right, because the more pressure you put on yours, the more affected are your learning skills. The very same thing happens when you feel really stressed, he knows I'm already stressed so he doesn't want to add more to that.

So yeah, this has been one of the best advices (on language learning) I've recieved.  You can tell I haven't recieved that many

My mother language is spanish, and yes I've my weaknesses and strenghts in that language as well.  I think most people find that's the case for them as well, because no one is perfect   I was thinking about my weaknesses in enlgish the other day, and I thought is really important to indentify them so maybe I can start working on fixing them later.

First I'd like to start with my weaknesses:

1) I need to learn more phrasal verbs!  Because sometimes I feel I fall short when it comes to describing or talking about things.

2) I need to learn more new words!!!!  My vocabulary is no longer enough, I need to expand it!

3) I have some trouble with some prepositions, specially with  in and on.  Sometimes I'm not sure when is the right time to use them. Sometimes I do... but mostly because I learnt which one is ok to use in certain phrases by memory.  I need to work on this hard!

4) I have serious issues with cooking verbs!  So if I was to translate a cooking recipe from my language to english... it might take me a bit longer than usual! I really need to learn more cooking related verbs and words!

5) Watch out for... the typos!

My strenghts are as follows:

1) I don't require a lot time to memorize new words.

2) I enjoy learning new languages.

3) My punctuation in english isn't bad.

4) I like to write full sentences; I really don't like to use shortcuts at all!

5) I can spell most words right.

Please feel free to add your own So maybe by knowing what our weaknesses in this language are, we can actually find a way to work on them  and improve our english language skill

Here's some more Dutch words that should not be confused with English:

door means 'through' or 'by'

list means 'cunning plan'

look is the generic name for 'allium'

leek means 'layman'

teen means 'toe'

toe is often used in a construction to mean 'to' (example, 'to home' is 'naar huis toe'). It's also used to mean something like 'getting something extra' or it can mean 'dessert'

been means 'leg'

Gee, just when I thought the ''false friends'' words we had to learn about when I was learning english were tricky, I come across this  :cry:  Oh well, it looks like I'll have to pay a lot more attention than I thought!  It really sucks those words look exactly like the english words we commonly use... that can be so confusing   Thanks for sharing this list   Later today I'll study the lesson two of my dutch audio course... I'm getting there!!!

Wow!  Thank a lot!  Tghe kissing part sounds like a whole process, I could have never guessed dutch people actually liked to greet each other that way.  I thought it was more like a middle eastern and french thing.  In my country we kiss only once, left or right cheek is ok   Hehehe!  Woah!  I have so much to learn! I'm just 9 weeks away from my trip... *shivers*.

Where are you from exactly?  I hope you don't mind I ask   Are you from the north or the south of Holland?