Hi Hilmar,

>>>Hoi Jos,
>>>
>>>Spreek je nederlands of afrikaans? Ik heb mij altijd al afgevraagd welke nationilteit jij eigenlijk hebt ?
>>
>>I've had a lot of contact with Dutch language in my time... and it's definitely easier to understand than French. Probably knowing English and some German helps a lot... of niet?
>
>Dutch is quite similar to German. In fact, I thikn some German dialects are more similar to Dutch than to the official German.
>
>German and Dutch are different enough that if you know only German for instance, you won't understand much Dutch, but the same also happens among some of the German dialects!

I live 20 miles from the German borde and 5 miles from the Belgium border.

Our local dialect is very much influenced by the surrounding countries. When I talk in my local dialect, they can understand my in Cologne, but also in Luxemburg. But if I talk the official Dutch language, they cannot understand me. But I live 5 miles from another Dutch Provence and if I go 10 miles into that provence, they cannot understand me when I talk my local dialect.
Remember that the Dutch language has its roots in the western part of the Netherlands called Holland, with large strading cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam and the parlement in the Hague. So the nothern, eastern and southern part of the Netherlands have other, more foreign influences which also got reflected in their own dialect (or even an official language in the nothern Provence Friesland)
My dialect (Limburgs) has never been 'upgraded' to an official language because the 'small' differences between all the cities are too many to make it one big language. So we use different words for certain things but as a whole it is different enough so that most Dutch people from 'Holland' can't understand it, but people from other countries near Limburg can.

Regards,