Approximately. I 'm afraid that I might disappoint you a little. I speak Dutch quite well, especially after starting my attempts to improve it. But I still have a lot to learn. In fact, I do better at English, and I am sorry for that, but that' s the truth. My language capacity in Dutch isn' t much more than the one of a ten-year-old child, maybe even less. After my sister was born, I stopped having much contact with the language, you know. She has a genetic disorder called PWS, so she couldn' t really speak Dutch (Greek took over). She now begins to learn a few words, but just a little bit, like a foreign learner, you know. I actually sometimes think that I might also be like a foreign Dutch speaker, but then I remind myself that I started speaking Dutch before Greek, and that I still think in Dutch when I am talking in Dutch.
Well, I wouldn' t say it' s easy. Dutch is a bit similar to German, though with simpler grammar rules. It is, in my opinion, a "soft"-to-listen-to language, in contrast to German, which sounds a bit harsh to the human ear. However, bear in mind that this is subjective.
It is not very difficult, either, though. It has standardised phonetic values, and a clear syntax. Of course, I have never learnt Dutch this way (with grammar/syntax rules), so I am being subjective here, too.
Oh, I alwayes prefer to talk in Dutch, so that I improve it. Well, I did have some difficulties at first, I had learnt the alphabet from a Fisher-Price game, and I already knew it when I went to primary school, but I had difficulties expressing myself in both languages. Then, I started reading books (in Greek), and this thing went away. I started talking so much that my parents told me I 'd get a chocolate, if I stopped talking for five minutes
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Well, those who say that Greek is superior base that claim on the greater number of words in Greek, the more complex syntax and the nativity of most Greek words... What do you think about that?
Well, I don' t agree with the distinction "superior to infererior languages", but, well, it is not exactly superior or inferior, but linguisticly rich.
Huh? What do you mean?
Ah, don' t count them like that. Amongst those 3000 words, there will be a portion you will already have learnt, or that you will already have encountered before. Or some derivatives from a word you already know. You also enrich your vocabulary when you come into contact with the living language (for example, read a book in English, listen to a song in English or watch a movie without paying attention to the subs). So counting the words you learn is not necessarily going to reflect reality.
All right. I 'm gonna be your lab rat, if you want
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@ Crookshanks
First of all,
Thanks for answering all my questions...!!!! I've never meant for you to feel like a lab rat....
Sorry, if you felt like I'm examining you or something, but the use of two native languages is a very interesting issue... Don't you think?
Linguistically, whether you are a fluent Dutch speaker or not, you are considered as a native Dutch speaker, because, as you mentioned in one of your previous posts, you were born to a Dutch mother.
The fact that you can use english better than Dutch doesn't lead consequently to the fact that you aren't a native Dutch speaker... Don't worry, then!!!
From what you've written, I don't have to have studied linguistics to assume that you have two native languages (greek and dutch) and a second language (english)... I'd like to underline at this point the distinction between native, second and foreign language, in order for you to clarify the meaning of these terms...
NATIVE language: the language that someone uses because he/she was born to parents speaking that language.
SECOND language: the language that someone can use with the same or approximately the same fluency as his/her native one and plays an important part in someone's education.
FOREIGN language: the language that someone uses less fluently than the afore-mentioned native or second language and isn't an important part of someone's education.
There's a trick in linguistics, in order for someone to find out the level of competence he/she has reached in a particular language: If you can dream that you're talking in a particular language, it means you've acquired it as your native or second language!:no1::no1::no1:
Keep in mind, however, that none can ever master a language!!! We all need constant improvement, even regarding our native language(s)...!!!!!!!
As far as the so - called "superiority" of greek over other european languages is concerned, I'd like to point out, first of all, that most of the european languages derive from a common ancestor, the indoeuropean language that linguists suppose it existed before the devision into all these languages spoken in the European continent, based on the great number of similarilities in grammar, syntax and vocabulary that these languages appear to be having. Secondly, we should not confuse a language's history, variety or richness with the terms "superior" or "inferior" language, that, as I highlighted in one of my previous posts, do not exist in linguistics!!!
I hope all these scientific details didn't bore you!!!
In order, though, to make our conversation less "linguistic", I'll pose you an other question, of general interest: Have you ever been in Netherlands? Would you recommend someone a visit there? What's the most worth-seeing thing for a tourist to visit?
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excuse me, do you believe that a number of 3000 words is enough for the proficiency?
I'm sorry I can't answer your question specificaly... I can however advise you on how to enrich your english vocabulary...
The best way for you to learn more english words, expressions, idioms and grammatical - syntactical phenomena, is to READ ENGLISH BOOKS, unadapted, of course... Choose the literature genre (novel, fiction, historic novel, science-fiction) that interests you the most and buy a few related books... If you'd like, however, to read "classic" english / american literature, I'd propose you to select books written by authors such as Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kate Chopin etc...
An other way for you to enrich your vocabulary is to read english newspapers, watch movies in english (without the subtitles, of course) and, if you can, communicate with native speakers (if you know some)...
My general advice, though, is to READ (books and newspapers) AS MUCH AS YOU CAN!!!!!!!!!
