Translation

[ches]

Michael --

If you want to learn Afrikaans AND Dutch, then learn Dutch, not Afrikaans. The difference is making tea from a teabag versus making a teabag from tea.

Dutch is a much more complicated language; very much more difficult than Afrikaans. For instance, while I had no trouble undersanding Flemmish in Ghent, I struggle with Dutch. I probably find German easier to read than Dutch and don't get me started on the Dutch accent...

There are stumbling points too, like the word "het", which in Afrikaans is a verb (part of the past-tense construction); in Dutch it is the definite article ("the"). In Afrikaans, the word for the definite article is "die" (and it's always "die"), whereas in Dutch, most of the time it's "het", but then when you least expect it, it's "de" and then I believe that sometimes "het" shows up where it's used in Afrikaans.

So like I said, start with Dutch, and if you ever master it, Afrikaans will be like the "Jane and John" books that you started learning to read with.

Good luck though! (My advice would be to pick one of the languages, and if you have a prospective tutor, then Afrikaans would probably be the sensible one to pick!)

-- ches

[liza81]

My little piece of advice - do not mentions Ches's little tea/teabag theory to the Afrikaans gril. If she is anything like me you will end up with a black eye and fewer teeth.

I can understand Dutch allright. Reading Dutch I'd say I can understand or at least guess from context about 80% of it. Listening to Dutch is harder - at first the accent makes it just incomprehensible, but after a while you grow used to it. It's kind of like if you listened to a drunk Ozzie reciting something like Chaucer - you get this faint feeling that you should be recognizing the words, but it's just not happening. After a few tries, and a few "wait, WHAT?" you start getting it.