A year of work in progress – day 63 (Dutch)

Day 63 – 4 April 2014 and day 4 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.

Learning Dutch is number ten on my ‘Ten things I’m going to achieve this year’. Why? Because it’s there. Actually it’s a little more than that. I enjoy learning languages even though I don’t think I’m very good at it. I like the mental challenge and I’m fascinated by the human story that is contained within them. The evolution of our languages parallels the evolution of our species and tells the tales of all of our travels and travails.

There is an old Czech proverb. ‘You live a new life for every new language you speak. If you only know one language, you only live once.’

I want to live. I can speak Spanish at a conversational level (I read novels in Spanish), can get by in French (I once did a presentation to a business audience in Paris, in French) and have dabbled in Italian, Swedish, Portuguese, German and even Esperanto. (Let’s face it who hasn’t?) My Spanish has the romance languages covered but I want to be able to speak a Germanic tongue. I like Holland, I like the Dutch people I have met, I like Edam and Gouda and so why not.

The phrase ‘double Dutch’ (Nonsense; gibberish – a language one cannot understand) also suggests a challenge, one that I’m rising to. Have I ever said that I’m a committed European and it’s only the languages of this continent that really enthral me?      

Now, I bought a self-help book with three CDs and I have listened to them hundreds of times, working through them and the accompanying book at least twice yet I still don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere. I’ve also just finished Benny Lewis’ great book ‘Fluent in 3 Months’ in which he says if the learning techniques you are using aren’t working them find new ones.

So I have. I’ve started to carry a phrase book with me and at every opportunity, rather than looking at my phone I look up a word. Broad bean is tuinboon (literally garden bean) while lift is lift (a true friend). I’ve changed my satnav to speak in tongue as well.

But I need someone to talk to, someone who can speak Dutch and let me start to live the language. Where do you find a Dutch speaker in Durham? I don’t know either, so I decided to try something off the wall and printed the following (I know I used paper) and stuck it on every notice board I could find within County Hall.

‘Wilt u een gratis lunch? Ik wil dat je Nederlands spreekt met mij. Bel mij op 07775 XXXXXX.’

It says something along the lines of ‘Do you want a free lunch? I want you to speak Dutch with me. Ring me on 07775 XXXXXX.’

Of course I never expected to hear anything but a few days later I got a text saying:

‘Hallo. Ik spreek Nederlands en werk momenteel op County Hall. Groetjes, Irina.’

Wow! It really worked. I have no excuses now. I’ve suggested some dates for Irina and had best get started preparing.

First thing this morning I had a breakfast meeting at the North East Chamber of Commerce. Around hot coffee and bacon sandwiches a dozen or so business leaders came to hear what progress we are making with Digital Durham and understand the role they can play in helping its take-up. It was a useful meeting with lots of enthusiasm and I also got the chance to plug Dynamo 14. There was a photo opportunity afterwards outside the latest green box DSLAM.

The rest of the day was taken up with project meetings and my weekly preparation time.

Learning points for today: Even the weirdest ideas can work if you give them a try; failure is over rated, it’s much worse than not trying; Brian Blessed is the latest insult; humour wins the day; small businesses are often time poor and; copper is much maligned.

Today’s enjoyment rating 9/10 – bursting enthusiastically.