As in:
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It means āold dragonā - āhenā = old, ādraigā = dragon. I am actually an old dragoness, but the āddā (softer than ādā) is something that happens after āhenā, not to show Iām female!
Diolch yn fawr (thank you very much) for signing. I am very distrustful of the UK Government. There is a tendency to try to use S4C as a bargaining chip just before elections and reverse all promises afterwards!
Oh, I see others have explained my name before me, never mind. I am not actually the oldest on the forum, One chap is 82 and Iām only 75.
I am sure you will progress fine with your Cymraeg and be very welcome when you visit. As I am in Yr Alban (Scotland), Iāll not see you, but you will feel a lot of warmth from those who do!
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Wow, Elkie, thatās great news, Iād love to get in touch and have a paned and a chat or two. I realized when I read your note that I got the subject wrong - Iām near Alkmaar (in West-Friesland, so technically not very wrong 
), so perhaps Utrecht might be more on the way? Weāll figure out something, Iām sure. Iāll PM you my phone number - Iām very busy until Sinterklaas but would love to talk to you after the 5th.
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No connection, but I had been thinking for a long time that I should really know the second official language of the Netherlands, so when a friend pointed out the Futurelearn course, I went for it. I find it much harder than I thought, partly because of the courseās methods, but also, strangely, because Frisian is both similar and dissimilar enough to Dutch for me to get confused.
I am sure Aran wouldnāt mind if someone were to create a SizzeWatynitFrysk courseā¦
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This has been exactly my experience when, with a prior knowledge of Afrikaans, Iāve tried to learn Dutch! To paraphrase: Dutch is both similar and dissimilar enough to Afrikaans for me to get confused. Ek vind dit 'n bietjie moeilik (āI find it a bit difficultā - Afr).
BTW Louis, I understood two words in Frisian in your post - āswakā and ābytsjeā - so it seems these two words are interchangeable between Dutch, Frisian and Afrikaans.
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I donāt know āswakā (apart from guessing from the context), but Iām guessing that ābytsjeā might be cognate with German ābisschenā and English ābitā.
I could plug them into a translation tool, but whereās the fun in that.
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German schwach, Dutch zwak - weak
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Damn, I should have got that one too. My German is very rusty.
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And Afrikaans swak = weak (exactly as in Frisian)
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Hi Emma,
I too am a Welsh learner in the Netherlands. I am originally from Wales but now I live in the centre of Amsterdam. I have been using SSiW to improve my Welsh and to fill in all of the little gaps in my knowledge. I would still consider myself a beginner but I can hold a conversation.
Let me know if you are looking for a language learning partner.
Regards,
Ewan
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