parlez-vous quoi?

Real work and meetings to do today, yay!

Oddly enough, I’m finding that being in the Netherlands is very good for my French. I’d have said that the phrase “my French” was an oxymoron in and of itself, but I’m finding that often, when I have instructions for something in Dutch, French and German but not English, I can glean more information from the French than I can from the Dutch.

In a burst of giddy internationalism, at last weekend’s book fair, I bought two books in Dutch (101 Dalmations, because I’ve never read the original and was surprised to find it’s by Dodie Smith (author of the very different I Capture the Castle), and something by Phillip Reeve because I’ve been wanting to read his Larklight) but also a book in French. That one is a travel book, called something like Le Plus Belles Places d’Europe. We bought it for the pictures, but I was shocked to find myself able to puzzle out most of the French text as well. I think this is because it’s simple descriptive sentences, about concrete places rather than abstract ideas. Still, I’ve never studied French and my Spanish can at best be described as just enough to be useful. Barely. (I can order from a menu or ask directions, but I might not be able to follow the directions unless given very slowly and simply, and I’m mostly limited to present tense.) Of course, my reading comprehension in Spanish is far better than my listening, and if this French had been spoken rather than typed I’d probably be completely lost. Still, it surprised me to comprehend 80% or more of the test in my book.

My Dutch comprehension is probably more like 25% and of conversationally-spoken Dutch I just get the occasional word (unless there are lots of English or nearly-English inclusions). I keep having to remind myself that’s not really too bad after three weeks in-country.