IK (KINDA) SPREEK NEDERLANDS!

What is spoken where in the country of Belgium.

Taking into account the inexplicable interest I take in languages and their ways, it is rather funny that I haven't intimated anything related to my Flemish experience yet. But I am ill again, stuck on the sofa watching season 6 of Grey's Anatomy (thanks to my numerous illnesses I am able to advance rapidly on the series), and so I might as well say something about multilingual Belgium. Meredith and Derek will wait, even though he has just become chief of surgery. Said too much? Sorry, I'm really into medical drama.

As you might know, Belgium is divided into three parts: Brussels area, Wallonia and Flanders. Brussels is officially bilingual, and so, theoretically, everything can be done in both Flemish and French. Wallonia is officially French-speaking, while Flanders is monolingual in Flemish. Wait, it gets even better - some Eastern parts of Wallonia are officially German-speaking, while most inhabitants of bilingual Brussels are actually monolingual in French.

You'd think that it's actually amazing that a country exists where different cultural and language groups co-habit in a happy, tolerant way. This of course is not true and most people believe that, as soon as the Belgians figure out what to do with Brussels (a mainly French-speaking area located in Flanders), Belgium will split with no great sentiment. 

But that's clearly irrelevant to my learning Dutch. Or Flemish, really, the Belgian variation of Dutch, softer in pronunciation but only slightly different from the original.

Why would you waste your time learning Flemish?, people tend to ask, showing their support and understanding. True - to live happily in Belgium you only need French or, come to think of it, English will do perfectly well. But you know me, I will jump at every opportunity of learning a foreign language and I do think it only fair to make the effort of learning the tounge spoken by half of the country you live in. Call me crazy.

And so I signed up for a free Flemish course - yes, it is free, so much the language is promoted - and once a week spend over three hours (!) together with other foreigners in a classroom, enjoying the mildly interesting and incredibly slow course, where, notwithstanding, we do learn very practical things (no irony here, we really do). I have thus discovered that the sound [h] can be pronounced in several tongue-twisting (throat-twisting?) ways and that the vocab is really a mix of English and German, which, accidentally, brings my German back from oblivion. Plus it's absolutely adorable.

Also, on a purely contemplative plain, I don't really believe that one language can be "better" than others. More useful? This is highly subjective. I had never considered French useful until I moved to Gabon. Only then did I start to hate myself for choosing German in my secondary education (which, by the way, seemed much more "useful" at the time). 

Actually, I strongly believe that each language changes you, enriches you, gives you yet another perspective. I am digressing violently anyway, so let me take it one step further. Galician. A language spoken in just one corner of Spain. A language without a proper country, resented by many of its speakers, a language constantly on the verge of disappearing. Oh yes, I have learned not to judge a tongue by the "usefulness" criterion. It doesn't exist. In my own private universe, Galician proved to be the most useful language I have ever learned.

Back to Flemish, I only wish I could get more practice. In Brussels, however, unless you go to a bar near the Saint Catherine square, with French (and, funnily enough, Arabic) you are good to go. But I'm not giving up. At least I will be able to order a bier when I go to the kust. And some kaas to go with it.

So cross je vingers! Nederlands is here to stay. In the end, well, you never know. Might as well prove to be useful as hell.

The map comes from here.

FIRST THING TOMORROW

Seriously, I will!

Print out the pictures to decorate our bedroom.

Buy curtains.

Put some order in my documents folder.

Look for books on Amazon.

Write e-mails to friends.

Call the insurance company.

Upload new pictures onto my picasa.

Read Kafka's "Methamorphosis".

And you? What have you not done recently? 

Merriam-Webster defines the verb procrastinate in the following way:
transitive verb: to put off intentionally and habitually
intransitive verb: to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done 

origin: Latin procrastinatus, past participle of procrastinare, from pro- forward + crastinus of tomorrow, from cras tomorrow
First Known Use: 1588

The first known use implies that people have been procrastinating consciously ever since 1588. Which, in a way, makes me feel a little less guilty but does not remedy the situation. And, as I publicly face the problem today, I must admit to you and myself that procrastination has recently become an issue in my life. Let's analyse the process.

1. A situation presents itself. Case in point: I must call the insurance company to find out how to claim insurance.

2. It is not a disagreeable situation. It does, however, require some action. The action does not have to be immediate.

3. I know that after doing what I must do (e.g. get the information on how to claim reimbursement for medical costs), I will feel happy and fullfilled.

4. Every night I decide for the very last time that I will do whatever I need to do the next day. The next day I look for ridiculous excuses not to do it (e.g. "I don't like speaking French on the phone") and I convince myself that they are a valid and crucial impediment to completing the previously set task.

5. Points 3 & 4 repeat until - completely disgusted with my pathetic self - I finally make the damn call just to realise that my phone manner in French is impeccable and that the dreaded conversation takes around 90 seconds.

I only do it with little things. I only do it with things that have no deadline. And recently I do it more and more. It's not writer's block that stopped me from blogging for three months. It's not a big amount of work either. Oh no - I have finally found a culprit of all the evil in my life and its name is Procrastination. 

The cure, I think, are deadlines, and so I vow to set them for every little thing. For the curtains. For the photos. For the books. For the e-mails. And for Kafka. These deadlines I will observe. Procrastination will be defeated. 

Yes, deadlines will do just fine... And I will come up with a deadline for every item on the list. First thing tomorrow. Promise.

Image comes from here.