Hi from the Low Countries

[Beorn]

Hello, i am Thijs, i'm 21 years old and male. I'm from the Netherlands. I discovered fantasy and science fiction a few months ago and i totally enjoy it! Please don't be an ass if my grammar is incorrect, because English isnt my native tongue.

I love reading(Tolkien,Lewis, Pratchett, Douglas Adams and many more) and i'm fond of British culture. Yes, you could call me an anglophile. But i also have some books of American writers; Raymond Elias Feist, Gene Wolfe...

I also enjoy writing. I write short stories in Dutch, i hope there good enough. I enjoy Pure Fantasy, a short story magazine for horror, SF and fantasy in the tradition of Weird Tales. Somehow i hope that one of my stories will get published in Pure Fantasy.

I hope joining this forum will increase my English language skills!

[The Ace]

Hi and welcome aboard. If you see a giant spider with a cat on her head, don't worry, she's only after pringles.

[vector7]

Welcome aboard!!

I too am new here. But i have fallen in love with the forum already. So hope it fulfills all your hopes.

Vignesh

PS: From India.

[Beorn]

Ah, India. I have a friend who is from a Indian background, but he is from Surinam. A lot of Indian ethnic groups live in Surinam and the Netherlands, especially in The Hague

[vector7]

Hmm. Wonderful. So you must know a little bit of India?

[Dozmonic]

Welcome. Your English is already better than most English born people :-)

[nixie]

welcome

[BookStop]

Welcome to the mix, Beorn!

[Dr.Jackson]

Hello and Welcome to Chrons!

[Parson]

Welcome,

but be warned. This forum is like SF, invigorating, exciting, thought provoking, and well ... time consuming. Hope you enjoy your stay. My grandparents were immigrants from the Netherlands.

[SpaceShip]

Welcome Beorn - hope you enjoy the complete madness of the Chrons.

[Beorn]

Originally Posted by vector7

Hmm. Wonderful. So you must know a little bit of India?

Well, he recently cooked me an Surinam dish. He quite often does. But Surinam is one big melting pot, so i dont know if his dishes are Indian

I dont know very much about India, only that its one of the upcoming economies.

He is also a Hindu, but i guess the majority of Indians are.

[Beorn]

Originally Posted by Parson

Welcome,

but be warned. This forum is like SF, invigorating, exciting, thought provoking, and well ... time consuming. Hope you enjoy your stay. My grandparents were immigrants from the Netherlands.

Ah, are you American? Anyway i loved to spend some time in an English speaking country. Since the Netherlands are an small country we learn German, French and English at school. But if i 'm very honest, English is the only foreign language i can speak. Ofcourse not as good as native English speakers but everyone seems to understand me

Do your grandparents still speak some Dutch? The Dutch diaspora seem to assimilate very quick.

[Beorn]

Originally Posted by Dozmonic

Welcome. Your English is already better than most English born people :-)

Thank you

I'm an bit of an autodidact. I learned it at school, but i learned more English reading English language SF and fantasy books, and reading articles from the English wikipedia. Dutch and English are of course both Germanic languages. Anyway, most young Dutch people are able to speak 1 or more foreign languages.

[Dozmonic]

In England there is never a great emphasis on learning languages. We'll study French, German or Spanish in school, but it's only ever to learn enough to pass the exams. There's never any real exposure to other languages and cultures so people don't immerse themselves in it or try and learn it and because they don't really understand English, they don't understand how other languages relate to it. I have come across plenty of Dutch in computer games who speak very good English, most of them seem to learn on those games :-)

The most people know about the Netherlands over here is football or the band Within Temptation!