Hey come in please Rick d'Israel i got a question

Not only Rick is Dutch,also nimh and more here.

What I can say: Actually in overall Europe you can at the school learn more than one language.

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Hiya John-Bush!

Yeah, in our normal lives we speak Dutch! Well, everyone except me, cause my ex is American and my work is all done in English, and I spend too much time on A2K and ... :wink:

And what you ask about languages in school, its true! Take me, for example. I went to a VWO secondary school, thats the school that prepares you for university, you go there from 12 to 18 years old. From the first year on, I got English and French, and from the second year on, German, Latin and ancient Greek. Latin and Greek were optional, but French, German and English were obligatory! Then in the fourth/fifth/sixth year, you could choose which subjects you wanted to continue with - but at least one foreign language was obligatory. I took several, myself, I opted for the so-called "fun package" (as opposed to, you know, maths, chemistry and stuff) - I did my final exams in Dutch, English, German, French, Latin, History and Geography.

Nowadays the system is a bit different, and kids spend less time learning French and German. But on the other hand they now already start English classes in primary school, when they're 10 or something!

How is it in China, did/do you get any foreign language in high school?

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Here in 'Merica, we don't bother with such nonsense. Y'all'll be speakin' 'Merican soon enough. We're a patient friendly people, and we'll wait for you yobs to catch up . . .

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Thanks nimh

I china from primary school to secondary school we only have to learn one foreign language.
But some school like us also offer other foreign language education like French, German, Japanese.

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Well, things change here - in Europe, and especially in Germany, where I live.

I started in grammar school with English, Latin three years later and then French the next year.

Nowadays, most don't learn Latin anymore (but another foreign language), and English is taught in my state in primary schools for pupils from the age of 5 - 6 years onwards.

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< Snif > I'm so honored to see a thread with MY NAME. < Snif > < Mumbles > Get a grip on yourself, Rick.

nimh wrote:

From the first year on, I got English and French, and from the second year on, German, Latin and ancient Greek. Latin and Greek were optional, but French, German and English were obligatory! Then in the fourth/fifth/sixth year, you could choose which subjects you wanted to continue with - but at least one foreign language was obligatory. I took several, myself, I opted for the so-called "fun package" (as opposed to, you know, maths, chemistry and stuff) - I did my final exams in Dutch, English, German, French, Latin, History and Geography.

This is really funny. This is almost the same as me! I did Latin and (Old) Greek too (which means I also did VWO). However, with the Tweede Fase (Second Phase), I dropped Latin. Now, nimh did the EASY stuff. He did his final exams in Dutch, English, German, French, Latin, History and Geography. I did my final exams in Dutch, English, (Old) Greek, History, Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology (and I had smaller exams - though eventually equal to the final exams, hard to explain - in German, French, ANW ('Algemene Natuur Wetenschappen', General Science, strange subject ...), KCV ('Klassieke Culturele Vorming', can't really translate it, it's a mix of philosophy and you learn stuff about the Ancient Greeks and Romans), PE and Dutch Literature).

nimh wrote:

Nowadays the system is a bit different, and kids spend less time learning French and German. But on the other hand they now already start English classes in primary school, when they're 10 or something!

True. Actually, my German and French isn't that good (especially French!). I "encountered" my first English words in school when I was ... well 10 indeed. Though nowadays, my little cousin - who's just 6 years old - already knows how to count in English, how to introduce himself in English etc.

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well, may my turn to ask:
At which age you can go to the university in Netherlands ?
...and...
If you,Rick, so are proud of Nederlandse... why do you want do emmigrant ?

Rick d'Israeli wrote:

Actually, my German and French isn't that good

I suppose, you can only read a little bit german? :-)

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Actually, I just finished High School. My University introduction starts ... TOMORROW! I don't know whether I should be pleased or not though. Confused

Why I want to be an emigrant? I'm proud of the Dutch, yes. But there are more beautiful places in this world. Canada. Australia. The USA. You know, countries with nice people and ignorant leaders (except Canada). Mr. Green

(Couldn't help it). Scandinavia could also be an option. Even Germany.

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It's easy to read German. But German grammar ... Yikes!

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Quote:

This is really funny. This is almost the same as me!

Oh man, you're from after the school reform eh? I'd forgotten you were so much younger ... yeah, back when I was in high school you narrowed down your number of subjects to 7 by the time of your final exams - you had so many more subjects! But less time for each then, I guess, cause the total number of hours shoulda stayed the same ...

Interesting definition of "almost the same as me" by the way, hah! You almost did like the very opposite of what I did, for your core package for the final exams! Yeah ... I did the easy stuff <grins>. Made for high grades tho - I had a 7 for Latin and higher for all the rest. Not that I can still decipher a single Latin description or keep up anything like a decent conversation in French now tho ... but I did read much beautiful literature ...

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OK, 'the same' was a bit overreacting, I saw the words Latin and Greek and I just thought: must be 'Gymnasium'.

nimh wrote:

Made for high grades tho - I had a 7 for Latin and higher for all the rest.

< Sigh > High grades! While, actually, I can't complain either. A 6 for (Old) Greek, the rest was all higher, some sevens, some eights, even nines (Dutch Literature - the subject I least expected to get a high grade). My biggest surprise though was an 8 for Chemistry.

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Rick d'Israeli wrote:

It's easy to read German. But German grammar ... Yikes!

Yeah, reading German is easy ... I still regularly read German papers, tho its been a while since I last read a German book. Speaking it is doable too - and if you dont know a word, you just use the Dutch word and pronounce it in a German way, works half the time! Mr. Green

But writing German, with all that grammar and stuff ... uhnhuh.

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Exactly! We had a teacher of German, who was born in Germany too (though he had a Dutch name), and he DEMANDED we learned the German grammar. Or else... Now imagine, this guy was like 2 metres tall, 120 kilos, and very sadistic. That was the only time I really learned my German grammar. Nowadays, I don't remember much of it anymore. Just some 'gegenüber, zwischen' etc. 'das, der, die, dem, den' etc. Brrr!

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Rick d'Israeli wrote:

Actually, I just finished High School. My University introduction starts ... TOMORROW! I don't know whether I should be pleased or not though.

Congrats. You should pleased, at least for me. I'm a nearly expert in Cultural Antropology and Development Studies. ( no kidding and no pretend )

Rick d'Israeli wrote:

I'm proud of the Dutch, yes. But there are more beautiful places in this world.

Yes, that's a confession! Mr. Green

But why even emmigrant, if you can just travel as a tourist?

Rick d'Israeli wrote:

It's easy to read German. But German grammar ... Yikes!

Rick d'Israeli wrote:

Dutch is more difficult to learn than German (which makes it a more interesting language of course).

Phaw,german is more difficult.

http://www.mainzelahr.de/smile/cool/keiner_cool.gif

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Rick d'Israeli wrote:

< Sigh > High grades!

Well, I was lucky, cause the, what was it called? The central exams at the end of the year, they count(ed?) for half the final grade. And for the languages, for example, it was all MCT's (multiple choice tests). And those I was really good in, so they really hiked up my grades.

Plus, in a final piece of luck, we got Ovidius for Latin at the central exams ... Ovidius is easy. Virgilius had been much more difficult. Tacitus was difficult too, though really interesting I remember, the political stuff was still very "fresh". But so, anyway, I'd done lousily at my earlier Latin tests that year (the, eh, schoolonderzoeken?), so Ovid came as a gift from the heavens ..

OK, now I wanna know what my grades were, exactly ... 's been ages since I last knew, exactly ... but the report must be somewhere in this square black box behind me ...

<10 minutes later>

OK, found it. So after the "schoolonderzoeken" I was doing fine for four subjects, but for French I had only a 7,5, for German a 7,2 and for Latin a ... <ahem> 4.7.

But at the central exams I got a 10,0 for my French MCT and a 9,5 for my German one, and a 9,2 for my test on Ovid.

So after those my end grades were:
French, English and Geography - 9
Dutch, German and History - 8
Latin - 7

Heh Mr. Green

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Thok wrote:

I'm a nearly expert in Cultural Antropology and Development Studies. ( no kidding and no pretend )

You're kidding Surprised

Why didn't you say that?

Thok wrote:

But why even emmigrant, if you can just travel as a tourist?

Well, I don't think I have enough time as a tourist. When I live there, I can enjoy a country 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 (366) days a year Cool

Thok wrote:

Rick d'Israeli wrote:
It's easy to read German. But German grammar ... Yikes!

Rick d'Israeli wrote:
Dutch is more difficult to learn than German (which makes it a more interesting language of course).

Phaw,german is more difficult.

Dutch grammar is even more difficult! Mr. Green

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Rick d'Israeli wrote:

Exactly! We had a teacher of German, who was born in Germany too (though he had a Dutch name), and he DEMANDED we learned the German grammar. Or else... Now imagine, this guy was like 2 metres tall, 120 kilos, and very sadistic. That was the only time I really learned my German grammar. Nowadays, I don't remember much of it anymore. Just some 'gegenüber, zwischen' etc. 'das, der, die, dem, den' etc. Brrr!

Oh God yeah. Our teacher was harmless, though grumpy, and yeah, stamp in those lists of conjugations, tenses and stuff! I remember nights of running lists through my head - he was, like, just paste up the lists on your bathroom mirror, on your bike, just keep on repeating! An, auf, hinter, neben, in, uber, unter, vor und zwischen. Durch, fur, ohne, um, bis, gegen, entlang und wieder. Mit, nach, nebst, samt, bei, seit, ... eh, I cant remember that one anymore. Der, des, dem, den; die, der, der, die; das, des, dem, das. And all those caps!

Hey Thok, congrats with your soon-to-be-achieved expertdom! :wink:

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Of course, all those German conjugations were easy compared to the Latin ones - and the Latin ones easy compared to the Russian ones ...

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Rick d'Israeli wrote:

Thok wrote:
I'm a nearly expert in Cultural Antropology and Development Studies. ( no kidding and no pretend )

Why didn't you say that?

I tought, it was not mentioned. I'm a autodidact on these two
subjects and many more.

Rick d'Israeli wrote:

Well, I don't think I have enough time as a tourist. When I live there, I can enjoy a country 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 (366) days a year

That's true.

Rick d'Israeli wrote:

Dutch grammar is even more difficult!

rather equal....

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Hey come in please Rick d'Israel i got a question

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