Learning the Language

Phrase of the Day: Wat een prachtige dag! What a beautiful day!

The knowledge that I will be living here for at least two years has inspired me to learn the language. Most people speak at least some English, but I think it would be fairly selfish and ethnocentric of me to not learn as much as I can. I really want to be able to start conversations and understand a little bit, though for more in depth chats English will probably be necessary. I work with an English-speaking population at school, and so I spend the vast majority of my day surrounded by people that speak the same language as I do. While this is helpful, it also doesn't "force" me to learn the language to get around.

I joined a www.livemocha.com, an online community for language learners. I'm going to give it a try and see if it will give me a bit of a start on learning Dutch. It's not an easy language. The Livemocha community has online lessons, but then also pairs people with a local speaker to practice the language. I will be paired with people who speak Dutch and are learning English, so we can both practice. Best of all, it's free. I was hoping to acquire a copy of Rosetta Stone, but it's too expensive and I haven't been able to get a hold of it from anyone yet. I'm hoping Livemocha will push me in the right direction. I will be taking Dutch classes at some point also, but it probably won't be for another few weeks.

Tot ziens!