Dutch [was Re: French pronunciation (Was: Re: Fw: [wika] Boreanesian)]

In a message dated 2000/05/23 06:51:26 AM, Christophe Grandsire|Sela Jemufan
Atlinan C.G. wrote:

>My problem with Dutch is not the language itself which is not very difficult
(at least
>for me) but the fact that each time I say something, my friend replies:
>"Well, that's correct Dutch but we would never say it this way" :)) . Dutch
>is full of difficulties like that (like the fact for instance that "very"
>has three equivalents: "heel", "erg" and "zeer" and that it's impossible to
>know which one is possible with which adjective, and which one is not), but
>it makes it a very interesting language. And my friend says he really loves
>the way I speak Dutch, because it's perfectly understandable but completely
>different to the way a native Dutch would talk. I'd like to be able to
>invent a language like that :) .
>
    My ex-housemate, Yuri , is a veteran of Afghanistan (he was Spetznaz/KGB).
Yuri is fluent in 19 languages. One of the languages he is fluent as a native
is Dutch cuz the Soviets trained his unit to be ready to invade the
Netherlands. His unit was to seize Amsterdam & hamper NATO forces. But then
the Afghan War came up...
    Anyways he defected during that nasty conflict.
    Our neighbors in Houston were two Dutch guys. They swore Yuri was a
Dutchman pretending to be Russian at first. They couldn't believe how well
Yuri could speak Dutch... even do complicated word-play in Dutch that even
native speakers had trouble with.
    Evidently Dutch is a fun language for word-play, but difficult at certain
points even for native speakers.

    zHANg