Would you ever consider moving to continental Europe? And if so where?

Brian?

seenitall wrote: »

Ah that old ‘inbetween’ phase of learning a language!! You know enough to get things done in the shop and not to appear as an uncouth fly-by-night, but not enough for the intricacies of small talk and ‘gibberish’. This just depends on your persistence now. Even if you never darken the doors of a language school again, if you really listen to that gibberish, and make sure you absorb the few words that you do understand, the meaning will start opening up for you at some point. It’s like magic.

There is no language teacher as good as living among the native language speakers and having to interact with them on a daily basis. None.

I’ve lived in the Netherlands 2.5 years and it’s incredibly difficult to learn the language. 6 months at a language school and I got the basics down. But every time I try to speak it out in the real world everyone switches to English as soon as I try. Most people’s English is better than mine here, so they don’t want to listen to my mangled Dutch.

zweton

Brian? wrote: »

I’ve lived in the Netherlands 2.5 years and it’s incredibly difficult to learn the language. 6 months at a language school and I got the basics down. But every time I try to speak it out in the real world everyone switches to English as soon as I try. Most people’s English is better than mine here, so they don’t want to listen to my mangled Dutch.

what part you living in?

Jim2007

seenitall wrote: »

There is no language teacher as good as living among the native language speakers and having to interact with them on a daily basis. None.

Most people are lazy about stuff that doesn’t interest them and they only learn it out of necessity. As a child, my daughter always spoke to me in dialect until she found herself alone with her Irish cousins... of course she already understood, but a month in Ireland without mom or dad to fall back on and she was blabbing away...

As for this “I’m bad at languages” excuse.. not true! Even the dimmest kid in school has managed to master a language sufficiently to be able to communicate with the world. I was terrible at languages in school as many of my school friends remember. And as one pointed out, I ended up spending most of my working life speaking a language other than English.

I have never been good or interested in languages, I just learned because it was a gateway to something I wanted.

Captain Havoc

Jim2007 wrote: »

As for this “I’m bad at languages” excuse.. not true! Even the dimmest kid in school has managed to master a language sufficiently to be able to communicate with the world. I was terrible at languages in school as many of my school friends remember. And as one pointed out, I ended up spending most of my working life speaking a language other than English.

I have never been good or interested in languages, I just learned because it was a gateway to something I wanted.

I failed my leaving cert French and the Christmas before I went on work experience, I got 5% in an exam. Came back as one of the best French-speaking students after work experience. I just thought I had to learn to get on with people.

HansKroenke

Another one for Switzerland here. What makes it unappealling to some is what draws others to it and I think I am definitely the opposing force to the person who is not attracted to Switzerland. High standard of living, strict compliance with the rules, private life respected, no mad partying, outdoor lifestyle, direct democracy (where they vote on anything), beautiful country with incredible food, great base for travelling to other parts of Europe, very international community, superb transport system, slightly more affordable rents than in Ireland but certainly a lot more stable for renting long term.

jester77

Jim2007 wrote: »

Most people are lazy about stuff that doesn’t interest them and they only learn it out of necessity. As a child, my daughter always spoke to me in dialect until she found herself alone with her Irish cousins... of course she already understood, but a month in Ireland without mom or dad to fall back on and she was blabbing away...

What age was your daughter at that time? My 4 year old is exactly like this, will only talk to me in German, and doesn't even want me talking her to English.

faceman

zweton wrote: »

Anyone bought an apartment in Spain? If so what part and was it a good decision?

I bought a gaff in Spain some years ago. I’m in the south of Valencia region. Alicante is my closest airport. It has proven to be a great decision.

yagan

HansKroenke wrote: »

Another one for Switzerland here. What makes it unappealling to some is what draws others to it and I think I am definitely the opposing force to the person who is not attracted to Switzerland. High standard of living, strict compliance with the rules, private life respected, no mad partying, outdoor lifestyle, direct democracy (where they vote on anything), beautiful country with incredible food, great base for travelling to other parts of Europe, very international community, superb transport system, slightly more affordable rents than in Ireland but certainly a lot more stable for renting long term.

Years ago I read the Xenophobes Guide to Switzerland and their adherence to the rules certainly set them apart. It seemed a lot more parochial in a way too in that supposedly people tend to stick to their own cantons.

Fascinating place, would love to visit but I reckon I could only tolerate being a tourist.

HansKroenke

yagan wrote: »

Years ago I read the Xenophobes Guide to Switzerland and their adherence to the rules certainly set them apart. It seemed a lot more parochial in a way too in that supposedly people tend to stick to their own cantons.

Fascinating place, would love to visit but I reckon I could only tolerate being a tourist.

Are you single or settled? I think this is what draws me to Switzerland when it would not have a few years ago; being settled, nearly married and close to having kids.

yagan

HansKroenke wrote: »

Are you single or settled? I think this is what draws me to Switzerland when it would not have a few years ago; being settled, nearly married and close to having kids.

Been married for years, but that hasn't stopped us emigrating twice in the last decade. We're childfree and always enjoyed new places, so the notion of settling is a bit alien to us. Having said that we've elderlies in their dotage that have put a stop to our gallop, for the moment.

Switzerland does look like a wonderful place to be a kid, I love mountains.

HansKroenke

yagan wrote: »

Been married for years, but that hasn't stopped us emigrating twice in the last decade. We're childfree and always enjoyed new places, so the notion of settling is a bit alien to us. Having said that we've elderlies in their dotage that have put a stop to our gallop, for the moment.

Switzerland does look like a wonderful place to be a kid, I love mountains.

Skiing and snow activities in winter, hiking, mountain-biking etc. in summer; the mountains are great. As well as being on your doorstep and being postcard beautiful. Combine that with the lovely lakes they have for summer sunbathing, swimming, watersports etc. and the fact chocolate and cheese are the national foods, it is heaven for kids and adults.

CelticRambler

HansKroenke wrote: »

Are you single or settled? I think this is what draws me to Switzerland when it would not have a few years ago; being settled, nearly married and close to having kids.

We were a well-settled family of 2 parents and 4 children, living in S.E. England at the time, and while the rules there weren't anywhere nearly as strict as Switzerland, it was more than we could stand. Breaking point (for me, anyway) was when the children's school refused us permission to take them out of class during term time. They were 7 and nearly 6 at the time and the reason given was that it would disrupt their education too much. :rolleyes: Well, I pointed out that the nearly-6-year old had spent three months learning Italian with me ahead of this trip, while her classmates were getting to grips with single letters in English. A year later, we'd sold our house and were happily homeless (and, incidentally, the two children that we took out of primary school for what ended up being six months, went on to be top-of-the-classers in secondary.)

JJayoo

South west of France would be nice

Bobblehats

JJayoo wrote: »

South west of France would be nice

With a big bag of Cannes

ShatterAlan

Deleted User wrote: »

You lived in Belgium? Then you should know that Flemish is not a language!

What would you call it then?

Bobblehats

ShatterAlan wrote: »

What would you call it then?

An ailment

Stovepipe

In Belgium, Brussels is regarded as neutral ground, so both languages are tolerated by both sides. The further away from Brussels you get, either North or South, towards Holland or France respectively, the signs get monolingual. If you attempt to use French North of Brussels, you will get a firm ignoring and any foreigner who does so will be politely told, once, that they don't speak or use Walloon/Wallonie/French so either English or Flemish is acceptable. The same prevails in the South. I worked with people from both sides. Most just shrugged and didnt really give a **** but others took it really seriously. I asked one Walloon, jokingly, if he loved French so much, why didn't they unite the South with France. He was horrified, "Oh, God,no!, they are worse than us!".......Apart from that, you could live easily in either side if you made the effort to speak a bit of both languages and it was common to find people who spoke the first tongue and good English and some German. They also make great chocolate, beer,coffee and have great places to see and places to go.

Brian?

zweton wrote: »

what part you living in?

Eindhoven

zweton

Brian? wrote: »

Eindhoven

Haven't been to Eindhoven but did visit Haarlem, thought it was lovely. Heard great things about Utrecht too...

ancapailldorcha

What sites do people use to find jobs on the continent?

Brian?

zweton wrote: »

Haven't been to Eindhoven but did visit Haarlem, thought it was lovely. Heard great things about Utrecht too...

There are a lot nicer cities than Eindhoven when it comes to architecture, it wasn’t a city before Philips moved in in the 1900s. But it’s a great city to live in. Has all the amenities of a big city in a small city.

Brian?

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

What sites do people use to find jobs on the continent?

LinkedIn is the best.

murpho999

Brian? wrote: »

I’ve lived in the Netherlands 2.5 years and it’s incredibly difficult to learn the language. 6 months at a language school and I got the basics down. But every time I try to speak it out in the real world everyone switches to English as soon as I try. Most people’s English is better than mine here, so they don’t want to listen to my mangled Dutch.

Everyone in Holland faced that problem.

Just keep going.

If your Dutch is at a level that it's delaying transactions then you need to improve.
So do a few things.

Find a Dutch person , for me it was a colleague that agreed to only speak Dutch with you. This will get you speaking more and improve your speaking manner, as in get rid of hesitancy and boost confidence.

I was lucky that one guy in my work heard i was in Dutch lessons and said from now on we'll only speak Dutch . It helped greatly. He was very patient and it was slow at first but within a short time it improved as my fear of the language eased.

Secondly, if a stranger, like a shop assistant speaks English back to you, which is impolite, then just pretend you don't speak English, ask why are you speaking English to me? I said I was from Romania once, and hoped the person didn't speak Romanian (as you'd never know in NL) and tell them you're learning the language. Worked a treat.

Also, just say "I spoke to you in Dutch why did you speak English to me?" Sounds confrontational but Dutch don't mind directness and they will generally speak Dutch back then especially if you say you're trying to learn.

Clearly your Dutch needs to be at a decent level for this.

It's all about confidence and presentation and as you improve your accent and pronunciation will improve also.

I left 16 years ago and even now when I go back nobody speaks English back to me anywhere. They hear an accent but also hear a level of confidence and ability to know that you understand.

So just keep going, you'll get there.

bullpost

faceman wrote: »

I bought a gaff in Spain some years ago. I’m in the south of Valencia region. Alicante is my closest airport. It has proven to be a great decision.

Been looking around Denia/Calpe area. Looks nice - mix of locals ex-pats and great climate (300+ days Sun) and year round activities also.

Tuesday_Girl

murpho999 wrote: »

Everyone in Holland faced that problem.

Just keep going.

If your Dutch is at a level that it's delaying transactions then you need to improve.
So do a few things.

Find a Dutch person , for me it was a colleague that agreed to only speak Dutch with you. This will get you speaking more and improve your speaking manner, as in get rid of hesitancy and boost confidence.

I was lucky that one guy in my work heard i was in Dutch lessons and said from now on we'll only speak Dutch . It helped greatly. He was very patient and it was slow at first but within a short time it improved as my fear of the language eased.

Secondly, if a stranger, like a shop assistant speaks English back to you, which is impolite, then just pretend you don't speak English, ask why are you speaking English to me? I said I was from Romania once, and hoped the person didn't speak Romanian (as you'd never know in NL) and tell them you're learning the language. Worked a treat.

Also, just say "I spoke to in Dutch why did you speak English to me?" Sounds confrontational but Dutch don't mind directness and they will generally speak Dutch back then especially if you say you're trying to learn.

Clearly your Dutch needs to be at a decent level for this.

It's all about confidence and presentation and as you improve your accent and pronunciation will improve also.

I left 16 years ago and even now when I go back nobody speaks English back to me anywhere. They hear an accent but also hear a level of confidence and ability to know that you understand.

So just keep going, you'll get there.

Same here. I still speak Dutch any time I go back and no-one responds in English. I have friends who've lived there for 25 years and they can't have even a basic conversation, they did try and they've spent huge money on private lessons over the year but somehow they can't master it and have pretty much given up now.

I did 6 hours of classes a week provided free by the Gemeente and spent a lot of time reading and watching TV to compensate for being in an English-speaking environment at work. I love languages so it was more of a hobby than a chore, and within a year I was able to speak it fluently. It's so worthwhile to be able to speak it, even if you can quite easily get by without. When I moved there we didn't even have mobile phones let alone a variety of translation apps at my fingertips, so motivation to learn it was definitely higher back then.

faceman

bullpost wrote: »

Been looking around Denia/Calpe area. Looks nice - mix of locals ex-pats and great climate (300+ days Sun) and year round activities also.

It’s nice up there. Plenty of English speakers. Although I do recommend to people to try learn Spanish. Makes a world of difference

seenitall

Bobblehats wrote: »

With a big bag of Cannes

An underrated pun! Or I’m just too easily amused.

Cannes is a rather weird place. It’s the French version of Hollywood, with its very own star-studded Walk of Fame, ‘Rodeo Drive’ (high-end boutiques etc.) and all. Moneyed ta feck. But the beaches (sand) are better than in Nice or many other places around (rocks and shingles).

zweton

bullpost wrote: »

Been looking around Denia/Calpe area. Looks nice - mix of locals ex-pats and great climate (300+ days Sun) and year round activities also.

What sort of price are we looking at for a decent 2/3 bed apt there roughly?

Jim2007

jester77 wrote: »

What age was your daughter at that time? My 4 year old is exactly like this, will only talk to me in German, and doesn't even want me talking her to English.

From about the same age until she was 11 or 12. The thing is kids are not stupid, they can quickly figure out that you understand them and so why bother with English???


It was different with my son, he has Asperger's syndrome and so his social radar is not very good. The result is he never copped on to the fact that I understood dialect, so right from the get go he spoke to me in English.


The best thing I can suggest is read to him, lots and lots of English books. He will like the stories and be motivated to pick up English.


I really would not be concerned about it, he will come around. Both mine scored perfect scores in the Cambridge Exams and when they are over in Mayo, nobody cops on that the are not from round there.

JJayoo

Bobblehats wrote: »

With a big bag of Cannes

Cannes is on the east coast....Pun denied off with your head