The first lesson is super easy!  Introducing yourself;

Hoe heet jij?… Ik heet Nadia of Ik ben Nadia.  (Who are you?… I am Nadia).

Hoe oud ben jij?… Ik ben vierentwintig (24) jaar. (How old are you?… I am 24 years old).

Waar kom jij vandaan?… Ik kom uit Schotland. (Where do you come from?… I come from Scotland).

Welke taal/talen spreek jij?… Ik spreek Engels en een beetje Nederlands. (what language(s) do you speak?…I speak English and a little bit Dutch).

Waar woon jij?… Ik woon in Eindhoven. (where do you live?… I live in Eindhoven).

Ben jij getrouwd?… Nee, ik ben woon samen met mijn vriend! (Are you married?… No, I live with my boyfriend) *I made a silly mistake thinking vriend was friend and vriendin was for boyfriend/girlfriend so wrote vriendin and was shocked when my Dutch teacher kept referring to my girlfriend.

Heb jij kinderen?… Nee, ik heb geen kinderen. (Do you have children?… No, I do not have children)

Hoe lang woon jij in Nederland?… Ik woon elf (11) maanden in Nederland. (How long do you lived in The Netherlands?… I live in The Netherlands for 11 months.

The key for learning a new language is learning for a couple hours EVERYDAY.  You don’t want to over do it because you start forgetting if your overloading your brain.   2 hours a day can easily be fitted into everyones busy schedules.  I felt learning the above was surprisingly easy to say and remember apart from the word getrouwd.  The Dutch have a ‘special’ sound for their G, to me it sounds like someone clearing their throat, but it is similar to the sound in loch and it ranges in sound depending on where you are in the country. I am a perfectionist and hate making mistakes, but I am slowly getting my head round the fact it is okay to make mistakes and its the best way to learn.

N x