improve my Dutch and teach it to my family

My kids are going to World Youth Day in Spain in 2011. So now they are more interested in learning Spanish than learning Dutch. Never mind – there will come a suitable time when Dutch lessons will be the preferred option.

I tried real hard to continually speak in Dutch but conversations in Dutch for me is difficult. The best thing to do is start finding Dutch people in my home town and surrounds and practice practice practice. Then also teach my Australian husband and the kids Dutch and try the occasional ‘all Dutch’ day. When do I begin?

I get such a buzz out of reading my Dutch scraps and messages on hyves, I site where I’ve started a family group to meet up on line with my cousins. Sometimes I chat with a Dutch cousin and I’d write in English, they’d write in Dutch, and we understand each other well. Writing in Dutch is more complicated without the help of an online translator – but I can do that too – though I need to check the grammar as I do so.

I just hope that speaking Dutch will come as easily (no chance to practice here).

I have discoverd I have Dutch cousins on the net. This is great. Although most of them do speak and read English – not all of them do. So with the help of an online translator, and with the knowledge I have of the Dutch language gained from my parents, I am writing to them in Dutch.

I live in Australia and have never been to Holland – nor have I ever met any of these cousins before – I’m loving this experience