Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

Merrywidow · 10 March 2009 at 8:19PM

Dag Horace, het gaat goed met mij, dank je.

Donny - Tell your Dutch neighbours that I lived in Petten which is not too far from them. I was on the North Sea coast and Hoorn is on the inland Ijselmeer. Hoorn is a really lovely town. Lession no.1. Goeden morgan, goeden middag and goeden avond. (Good morning, afternoon, and evening) Dank je wel, (Thanks) The great stumbling block - Dag, can mean hallo or goodbye. Dutch who's English is not too good, could wish you goodbye when they meet you - hilarious. Another stumbling block. Dutch get 'warm' never 'hot' which means something entirely different!!! Been there, got the red face.

Merrywidow · 10 March 2009 at 8:33PM

Donny - another good one when you take your leave of your Dutch friends, Tot ziens (till we see you again) Wel terusten (sleep well). Both are standard phrases. One word of warning. The Dutch equivalent for "Please" and "Thank you" doesn't really exist. Strange as it may seem they use other phrases. I had a really hard time impressing on my In-Laws when mixing with my parents to use Please and Thankyou. Unless you know this quirk the Dutch can appear very rude when really it is not in their vocabulary. More tomorrow.

droopsnout · 10 March 2009 at 9:36PM

I love these language lessons!

donny-gal · 10 March 2009 at 10:53PM

Sandy

It is with Europa - we go back to the UK at the end of this month, and will be there and out in our touring caravan (probably utilitising McD for Free Wi-Fi) here and in France for almost a month. Due back mid-end September, would welcome some info on what is available for what costs for then. This was 14.95€ a month, I have been told that Orange still offer 24-7 wi-fi too.

Cheers
DG

Merrywidow · 10 March 2009 at 10:58PM

Glad you like the language lessons Droopsnout - at last I can contribute to this thread. I spent many long and hard years learning Dutch. It is a horror of a language. Do you know the Dutch for I love you. Ik hou van jou. Its got all the hard horrible vowels that bears no resemblance to romance. The ou sounds are the same as in ouch. When my husband spoke English he could be so funny. For years my parents used to say "unbeliefable" because that was the way he said it. That and "va get ables". As I have mentioned earlier I am so glad I know the language otherwise I couldn't speak to my lovely sister in law or my two nieces. She is Polish but has knuckled down and learnt Dutch in double quick time. The first year I knew her I couldn't communicate at all because the only other language she spoke was German. I once learnt German in 1966 but it is rusty to say the least. Learnt French at school but lack of use make me forget most of it.

droopsnout · 10 March 2009 at 11:19PM

Oh, I think you have been making good contributions to this thread for ages!

I must say, "je t'aime" does sound much gentler than "ik hou van jou"!

We do have a nephew who has a Belgian partner, and we're hoping for an Anglo-Belgian result in June! He has been trying to learn some Dutch, as they live just outside Antwerp.

I just hope that no tiny Gascons appear here!!! (Well, it would be something of a miracle ...)

Merrywidow · 11 March 2009 at 12:23AM

So droopsnout - YOUR first lesson for your nephew. Gefeliciteerd met de geborte van Fred/Gladys - Congratulations on the birth of Fred/Gladys. Gefiliciteerd covers the whole spectrum - DH once bought me a wedding anniversary card which read - Happy Birthday. The Dutch/Belgium language has one word that does not translate. Gezellig (sp?) It means, great company with great ambience - fun etc. The nearest us English ever came to translating was "Cosy" but that doesn't do it. The Dutch also have the polite/familiar - U and je as in the French Tu. My MIL always said I could call her "je" but when we had a row she always used to laugh because I could never be angry with her in the 'familiar' so I always resorted to 'U'. Goodness that language was a minefield.

droopsnout · 11 March 2009 at 12:31AM

Surely not.

Surely you never rowed!

seven-day-weekend · 11 March 2009 at 1:05AM

I didn't actually know how to say 'I love you' in Spanish (never needed to say it to a Spaniard!:rotfl: ) - looked it up on the translator, it is 'te quiero' (tay kee-ero) which I thought meant 'I want you' but obviously the two are the same, yes it does sound better than the hard Dutch!

Merry Widow, we actually have several Dutch friends, we have Cecile and Tom who have a holiday retreat here, Lucienne who was married to a Spaniard but is now single and lives in our village, and Geri (aka Kerry) who is married to an Englishman and has a holiday home here, .....but they all speak excellent English to us! (They speak Spanish to the Spaniards and Dutch to each other).

Tom said the same as you did a few posts ago when I asked why they could all speak several European languages - 'no-one else speaks Dutch!'

Merrywidow · 11 March 2009 at 2:48AM

Oh Yes Droopsnout - we rowed. My MIL was a very domineering woman and tried to control my life with HER son. She seemed to think I should be running after him all day with cups of coffee and food. in fact just waiting on him hand and foot like she had always done. DH hated to be fussed over. She made my life a misery if I didn't react to her commands. It frustrated her that she couldn't manipulate me the way she wanted. OH Yes - we rowed. My Father in law was so henpecked and used to her doing his thinking for him, when she collapsed and died in the lounge one night he did absolutely nothing and sat there for two hours until youngest son came home from a party at 1am. He didnt know the emergency number, didnt call for help on the phone - nothing. Youngest son rang me in England to ask what he should do. When I contacted another family member who went to the house at 5am she was still there on the sofa!!! Brainwashing springs to mind.

Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

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