Speaking my Language

Before deciding to do this, the only language learning I've done specifically was doing French at school. At the time, I really didn't care much about it, although I'm lucky I have a decent memory, so I always passed my exams without any problem and I eventually left school with a B in my GCSE.

I've always been fascinated by other languages and for a long time I've wanted to learn one, but in a classroom it isn't the same. Then, I did French because I HAD to. This time, I'm doing it because I WANT to, which makes all the difference.

I have only used French outside of school once in my life. It was on a skiing holiday in the Alps (a school trip over the Easter holidays). We were staying a lovely village called Claviere, which was right on the French-Italian border. Half the village was in France, the other half in Italy. The border literally went right through the middle of the main street! There was even an arch to mark exactly where it was.

Most people there spoke English so I never had to use any French (although if I did, I would have made a fool of myself as my knowledge of it then was very small). However, our coach took us into the French mountain roads one day and we came to a McDonalds. All the staff there were French-speaking and to test us, my French teacher (who by coincidence had organised the trip) told us we had to order in French.

Although I mumbled to the woman behind the counter, I did manage to order what I wanted, although she probably hasn't heard someone speak such poor French since! So, having spent five years learning French at school, all I've used it for was to order a Big Mac!

My desire to learn Dutch is very different though. I really want to be fluent this time, not just "conversational." It's easy to learn a few everyday sentences and phrases. With just a few hours of practice, anybody could order a coffee or tell the time in another language. I want to go beyond that and really understand the language and how it fits together.

Eventually, once I am reasonably fluent, I want to go to the Netherlands or Belgium (or both, preferably!) and talk to people in their own language. 99% of English people abroad would expect the Dutch people to speak back in English. If it was the other way around and a Dutch speaker was here, I bet they wouldn't even ask us if we spoke Dutch.

I want to see the smile on their faces when I go to Amsterdam and start chatting to them in their own tongue. That would be the icing on the cake for me. Who knows how long it will take, but I sure hope you are still reading by the time it does!