Daedalus

I used to live in North Holland, yes, not too far away from Hoorn actually. About a year ago I moved away though, I now live in the UK.

"Alot" is wrong in every way, it does not exist. It's often used by people who are not really sure about it and think it exists, probably because they've seen it somewhere else, which may just have been a typo anyway. Relevant link

I found this website just yesterday, it might be useful to you: meertalig.nl (Dutch only)

I think it is common in American English to put the comma there, but not in British English. Also, you may need a comma if the sentence is ambiguous. For example: "I bought a bag of crisps, salt and vinegar at the store." Does that mean you bought a bag of salt & vinegar flavoured crisps, or did you buy a bag of crisps, along with salt and vinegar? Adding a comma instantly tells us that in addition to the crisps, you also bought salt and vinegar: "I bought a bag of crisps, salt, and vinegar." Also see the Wikipedia article about the serial comma.

Sure. AFAIK - As Far As I Know IIRC - If I Remember Correctly IMO - In My Opinion (also sometimes IMHO - In My Humble Opinion) There's more like that, for example: ATM - At The Moment BRB - Be Right Back

Yeah, I'm Dutch. Though I'm also living in an English speaking country, for just over 1 year. I suppose we could start a "Discussion in Dutch" thread to keep our Dutch writing skills in working order.

I do have some understanding of German, we had to learn it in high school, but not so much that I could have a decent conversation in German. However, I can read german texts and I can understand more or less what it's about. So that works the other way too.

I like the concept and idea as well; constructed languages are very interesting. I've always wanted to do something with it; write a film script, write songs, things like that, only using Esperanto. I do see why it failed to become the worldwide language though. Why would I learn a language if I'm not entirely sure I can use it? Say I'm in the Netherlands and I want to trade in France, would I learn Esperanto, without knowing if the French are also willing to do so? Or do I just learn French, so that I know for sure I'll be able to work there? It's fairly obvious that without certainty, the risk is too great.

The way I was taught is that shall is only used for I or we (1st person), otherwise it is will. "We shall visit our neighbours soon." "I shall give a present." "They will be surprised." But, if a strong determination is implied, this is reversed. "I will send you to your room." "You shall clean it up." "Your mom shall punish you." "We won't allow this any longer."

That's a good idea, I'm sure I can come up with some. Anybody have any requests? Phrases you'd like to know?

Well, they usually come from something that once did make sense. A lot come from sailing, and a lot comes from military, so there's often jargon involved. Think about how today people often use sports terms to describe things. Imagine if football (soccer for those outside Europe) just stopped being a popular sport, but they'd still be saying "The Prime Minister was put offside at today's talks", people would be thinking that didn't make sense either, but we know it does, if you know it's a football term.

Most idioms make no sense, unless you know their origins. Phrases like "the cat's ass", "the dog's bollocks", "the bee's knees" etc. are likely just nonsensical. "The bee's knees" was probably invented because it sounds so nice. In Dutch we have a phrase 'the nose of the salmon', which also means it's the best. I can imagine that actually having an origin, salmon probably being an expensive and luxurious fish, the only thing better than that would be a salmon's nose (which of course, being a fish, they don't really have). Possibly people got creative and thought of other animal bodyparts that sounded just as ridiculous as being 'the best'. "Raining cats and dogs" is said to have come from ye olde days, when if it rained heavily, in the narrow streets, stray cats and dogs would drown in the floods. Then there would be dead animals everywhere, so people would say it had been 'raining cats and dogs'.

I think it's also important to know so you don't accidentally insult somebody yourself. If you know the swear words, you know where to look out for mispronunciation. And it'll explain why people are so angry if you do some something wrong.

Ooh, I got annoyed the other day when watching a video on YouTube, and this person kept talking about foilage instead of foliage. Is it really that hard to read?

I've had moments that I thought somebody was speaking in my native language, because it felt so natural to me. I think that's one moment that means my brain is accepting the language as its own.

I currently live abroad. Some issues I've had, some accents are difficult to understand. Especially in a noisy or crowded environment, I still struggle sometimes to understand people. There's also a lot of things I just don't know how to say. Some small things, like in English you can have "is it?" at the end of a sentence. For example: "That is not very far, is it?" Well I know that, but there's more like that in my native language that I just don't know in English. Also, a lot of things are different. You can get products here I've never heard of before and I want things that they don't sell here. I need to be told exactly what to get when I go shopping, because things are so different. I might just get a completely wrong product, if I just get a name they give me.

I've seen two, are there any more people learning Dutch? I am native Dutch, so if you need help with anything, feel free to ask me.

An acronym is usually an abbreviation, formed with initial components of a word or phrase. Think of words like UFO (Unidentified Flying Object), CPU (Central Processing Unit), NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). We see them a lot today in words like lol, iirc, brb, and so on. There are several types of acronyms, often they're slightly adapted with non-initial letters, for better readability, for example radar (radio detection and ranging). Care must be taken when choosing a name or title, to ensure its acronym is not anything offensive. The Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance Party would be CCRAP, for example, so they had to change the name. It can be fun to come up with backronyms, which are acronyms based on already existing words. For example, the name Ford (named after Henry Ford) has received the backronyms First On Race Day, but also Fix Or Repair Daily. Do you know any more acronyms or backronyms? Or any names that spell out something offensive when made into an acronym? And, here's your assignment for today , what do you think is a macronym?

I wouldn't be very comfortable giving my home address to any random stranger on the internet. E-mail would be less of a problem, and of course we have a message system on this forum (right?). So if anyone wants to write in Dutch, feel free to send me a message.

My phone automatically capitalises the first word of a sentence when texting, so that should be no problem to maintain. It would actually take me longer to switch to all lowercase. Of course, if I'd be lazy and left out all interpunction, then my phone wouldn't know where one sentence ends and the next begins. Then again, also the recipient wouldn't know that and they'd probably think I'm crazy and not worth their time.

I've only been living in another country for just over a year, but I can already tell my English is improving. I still have an accent, of course, but I've been told it sounds a lot more British already.

I am Dutch. My girlfriend is English. There's always the possibility of us going to live in the Netherlands, so I hope I can teach my children both English and Dutch.

Yes, language already uses pitch, language already has rhythm, so it is a lot like music. Some languages have this a bit more than others, but consider pitching up at the end of a sentence meaning it's a question, or the speaker is doubtful, and pitching down to indicate the end of a section.

Study shows that people who perform well at rhythm tests also show enhanced neural responses to speech sounds. This suggests music and language are linked in the brain. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24124158 So I play music, though less than I used to, and I'm doing well in language too, if I say so myself. How about you?

One I really like comes from the song 'Nature Boy' and is heavily featured in the film Moulin Rouge! Another one I like, from the film Magnolia is this one: