Daedalus

When somebody reads or hears something in an unknown language, it's common to say it's Greek to them. But did you ever wonder what the Greek say when they hear an unknown language? Or do you say something else instead? For example, in Dutch, we say an unknown language is Chinese to us and an Italian speaker might say it's Arabic. Today I found this useful diagram which shows exactly who thinks what language an unknown language is, see it [here].

I used to watch mainly American tv and films when I was young, also subtitled. That's where I learnt a lot of English from. In later years I felt I also learnt more from using the internet. So I certainly agree with you that entertainment is a very good way to learn the basics of a language.

There's this thread about onomatopoeia: http://linguaholic.com/english-vocabulary/onomatopoeia/

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'

That reminds me of the word 'cupboardy'. It comes from the British comedy show "Little Britain", which has a hypnotist character, Kenny Craig. In any situation, he 'hypnotises' people to make them believe what he wants them to (except it's revealed people generally just play along with him). In one scene, Kenny is playing Scrabble with his mother and he puts down the word 'cupboardy'. His mother says it's not a real word, but he insists it is, meaning something small, or cupboard-like. He then of course hypnotises her to make her think he's right.

In this thread, I will gather links to online resources for learning Dutch. If you know of any good pages, send me the link in a PM, please. General Resources (lessons, phrases, etc) 12 essential Dutch phrases http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/quickfix/dutch.shtml Learn Dutch for free http://www.taalthuis.com/ Pronunciation, grammar, words http://www.learndutch.nu/ Dictionaries Dutch-English / English-Dutch http://en.bab.la/dictionary/dutch-english/ Dutch-English / Dutch-German / German-Dutch / English-Dutch http://ennl.dict.cc/ / http://denl.dict.cc/ Dutch to English, German, French, Spanish, Swedish (and back) http://www.interglot.com/

"I came across..." and "I have come across..." are both correct. Which one to use depends on the context. The first is known as the 'simple past' tense, and the latter is the 'perfect past'.

There are a lot of different accents in Britain, and a lot of different American accents, you can't just call them all British or American. For non-native speakers, it can be difficult to hear differences, but they are there. Some accents of course are obviously different, I, and even native speakers have problems understanding some of them. That said, I prefer British English over American. Even though I grew up watching mainly American films and tv, I started liking British more. Maybe because I enjoy British humour, and that seemed more down to earth and closer than American. Of course now I'm living in England, so I'm exposed to it all the time, but I still occasionally use an American pronunciation or word instead of British (for example, fries instead of chips )

Here's a few more: of means 'or', a confusing one, especially with van meaning 'of' :confused: as means 'axis', 'axle' and 'ashes' drop means 'liquorice'

That's the other way round. I see 'tyre' here in the UK on a daily basis; 'tire' is the American version.

I wouldn't know why. It depends on the subject. If you're writing about literature history, I don't see why - or how - you would do that in the present tense.

There's already a thread about Esperanto [here]. You can read my opinion on the topic in there.

Yes, most people speak English well enough. If you try and speak Dutch, they sometimes talk back in English too, so you wouldn't be learning anything from that. Of course, if you really want to go live there, it would be recommended to learn Dutch anyway, so you can keep up with Dutch tv broadcasts, and for the few people that don't speak English.

You don't end the sentence with two periods then. Just forget the last period of the abbreviation.

There's a fairly extensive article on Wikipedia about [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_grammar]Dutch grammar, maybe that helps a bit. I can't really say much about it myself, it just comes naturally, I don't have to think about all the rules.

Ever wanted to know what English sounds like if you didn't speak it yourself? I found this video today that may give an answer to that question: http://www.trueactivist.com/gab_gallery/how-english-sounds-to-non-english-speakers/

Yes, alstublieft means 'please', but also 'here you go', for example, a waiter in a restaurant will say it when he brings your food. The word actually consists of a few words, which are all together because it's used so often. If we take it apart, it reads als 't u belieft. Note that that last word isn't used anymore outside this expression. This literally means 'if it pleases you'. As such, because 'u' is formal, there's also the informal alsjeblieft, substituting u for je. Regarding de/het, that has to do with the gender. De is used for both masculine and feminine words, while het is neutral. There's not really a way to determine when to use de and when to use het, other than memorising. Though at least for all diminutive words, the gender is always neutral, so you'll always use het. For example, 'the man' is de man; 'the little man' is het mannetje.

Glad actually means slippery; rubber is simply rubber in Dutch as well. Here's some more: van means 'of' or 'from' met means 'with' loop means 'walk' (as in 'I walk') wit means 'white'

I usually do a bit of research first, so I have a global idea of what I want to say and what I need to include. Then I write it in one go, doing editing per sentence or sometimes paragraph. That's the first draft, I read it to see if there's any obvious errors, correct those and then I'm done. Only very few times I need to redo some larger sections. I've always done this with everything, writing, drawing, programming. Most people say you need to make an outline first and worry about details later, but I just can't do that, I have to make the whole thing with all details on the first try and then do minor editing and corrections while I'm at it.

Saw this news today: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/oct/07/european-language-degree-courses-abandoned-universities What do you think? Should they be allowed to stop offering these classes? Should children be more encouraged to learn a language other than English? Do you think disinterest in foreign languages even contributes to a deteriorating knowledge, understanding and love for one's native language?

No, but I did get invited for an interview. Unfortunately most jobs here that require a second language are sales based call centre jobs. If there's one thing I'm not good at, it's selling things, and if there's one thing I hate, it's telephones.

Not necessarily though. This sentence for example: "I have an excellent appetite, and I've had it for as long as I can remember." It doesn't mean you no longer have it. I think the confusion comes from the fact that had comes from the verb to have, and so it seems the meaning is the same. But it's just the way the past perfect tense is made. Instead of have had, we can look at another example: "I have seen many stars at night." You can change that to "I saw many stars at night," which nearly means the same thing, but is slightly different. Neither sentence is wrong. To me, the first seems to imply more experience, while the latter feels closer, almost only meaning 'last night', not 'night' in general.

Where is the train station? - Waar is het treinstation? How much is that? (asking in a shop for price) - Wat kost dat? Do you speak English - Spreekt u Engels? Can you help me? - Kunt u me helpen? Here's some more basic phrases: Good morning - Goedemorgen Good afternoon - Goedemiddag Good evening - Goedenavond Bye! - Dag! See you later - Tot ziens (may also be used more formally) Thanks - Bedankt Thank you - Dank u wel

I've already posted that link here: http://linguaholic.com/general-discussion/the-great-language-game/

There's a whole documentary series about it, I posted it a while ago in [this thread].