@jan
Actually I am a native english speaker . However at the age of 3 we moved from Japan to Holland. I then learned Dutch while speaking English with my mother. As a consequence (and because my intyerest was never in) my grammar and writing are not 100%.
I do compensate this by being fluent in German and French, the last being very practical when flying there!
The Flemish on the other hand are the only people to speak native Dutch. You guys are so good at that, that we do not have a clew what the hell you are talking about... Fortunately .. The rest if your country is more sensible and speaks French.
Ps the difference between ofcourse and offcourse .. Would that also apply to an aircraft ? From an online dictionary:
Of course is an informal way of saying 'yes' or to give someone permission to do something.
For example:-
Student: Can I have some extra homework? Me: Of course you can.
Off course is used when a vehicle doesn't follow a planned, or intended, route.
For example:-
Tapes recovered from the airliner's cockpit voice recorder indicate that the crew were unaware that they were off course and violating Soviet airspace.
If Chaucer is to be believed - and why shouldn't we! - there were times when the English were not so keen on us, Flemish, either; especially not the weavers and traders of woollen cloth. OTOH I have no memory of the Flemish invading England, as the Dutch indeed did.
@Jude: I do will blame you, but of course with a broad smile, for even thinking of consulting machine translation - especially from a seller of commercial advertisements. There IS no Dutch equivalent for "cockpit crew", you cannot blame any machine to fail when forced to try. "Ik ben van de bemanning" of "ik ben piloot" will do nicely. The political correctness of the word "bemanning" is yet another matter, upon which I'd rather not enter - waarover ik me liever niet uitspreek.
And if the above is wrong, blame Google translate
Ik spreek nu meer woorden dan ja, nee, alstublieft en dank u. "Ik ben cockpitbemanning".
:)
Aha, but the English have not always been so keen on us Dutch. If I may quote sir William Batten
"By god", says he, "I think the Devil shits Dutchmen"
Always makes me laugh...
The Dutch are so nice they invaded England a few hundred years ago :)
My only problem with the Dutch is that they don't let you try to speak their language, they insist on showing how perfect their English often is. :p
From another historical trading country just slightly southward.
France??
(just kidding Jan!)
Hm. Sorry but you had better check your own English, especially the spelling of "of course", before querying other people's level of our little provincial language.
From another historical trading country just slightly southward.
Offcourse we are nice :-)
Stubborn .. maybe.. Open minded .. offcourse
Over the centuries the Dutch have always been nice... we used to be traders... Better to be nice and speak your languages .... :-)
p.s. how is your Dutch coming along?
