Well I’m getting on with Dutch. I’ve even writted a blog post in Dutch. I feel I should admit that I did have help from my Dutch teacher with it as you can see below.

I’m finding it easier to have conversations, though more than one person is still difficult. As it tends to go too fast for me to follow and also work out what I want  to say. And my son gives me a thumbs up for my pronunciation (Daddy doesn’t get one!), which pleases and amuses me. Though I have had a couple of problems where I’ve made doctor’s appointments for different days than I’d thought!

I’ve found the library selection of easy readers for people learning and Dutch and I’ve read a couple. Whole books; and I didn’t auto-translate it all into English – some of it I just read in Dutch and understood. Which was a bit weird. There’s also been a few times where I’ve automatically responded to things in Dutch, rather than English. I try to translate my thoughts into Dutch, though I generally don’t manage it as the grammar constructs (eg could have, would have, should have etc) are too complicated. I don’t think I’ve dreamed in Dutch yet though, but then I can’t remember the last time I remember dreaming!

I occasionally buy packet mixes of things to see if I can follow the instructions. It also has the side effect that we eat food that we wouldn’t otherwise. The world food range is quite nice and yesterday the children and I made a quark tart, like a cheesecake but with quark not cream cheese. 

My aim is to take the NT2 twee exam in the spring, then my options are open to me once starry girl starts school and I have some time to do something – I just need to work out what…