Today I have been on a trip over to the Netherlands to visit a client.  It has been a long day because I got up at 3.4 a.m. so I could get to the airport in time to catch an early flight over to Amsterdam, hop on a train from Schipol airport and head towards the Hague.

When the arrangement for the meeting came up I was a little bit concerned that I would have to spend a whole day on the road and in meetings right in the middle of my project to learn Spanish for free however going over to Europe has been really useful to me for a number of reasons but especially for reminding me of the importance of learning to speak another language.

On the way over I sat next to a Japanes man on the plane.  He was of oriental origin and the book he was reading appeared to be in Japanese.  It might have been Korean but as I have no knowledge of either language I can't be sure.  I am pretty certain that the book was not in Chinese becauase the characters looked different from the Chinese I am used to.  Ha! That sounds like I am an expert in Mandarin and Cantonese when all I meant was that having spent many hours scanning menus in Chinese restaurants I have seen plenty of Chinese characters.

Anyway the point is I could not speak to him because I didn't know his language.  Now I don't make a habit of speaking to everyone on a plane but here was someone who I COULDN'T speak to and I felt somewhat inadequate by that especially as he was from another culture and I bet his English was at least passable.  The world has many problems at the moment  and lots of those are caused by ignorance and I get the feeling that if we could all speak more languages, the flow of communication between different cultures would be much better, a greater understanding of our differences and similarities and there may be less strife. 

At the weekend I read an account from the biography of General Sir Mike Jackson, former chief of the defence staff in the UK about something that happened to him in Kosovo during the problems there a few years ago.  A particularly sticky situation that could have blown up into World War III (his assessment not mine) was averted by him being strong in spite of pressure from his superiors AND being able to speak Russian so he could communicate with his opposite number.

Anyway back to my trip.  When I arrived in Amsterdam I was reminded of the isolation and relative insecurity one feels when you don't understand the language around you.  I chickened out on buying a train ticket from the counter and instead went to one of those automatic machines.  At first I didn't see the English language selection and so tried to follow the buying process in Dutch and got hopelessy confused about whether I was buying a return ticket or not and whether the ticket was on or off peak.  Imagine my relief when I saw the little union jack symbol at the bottom of the screen and could process the transaction in English.  Now I bet 95% of Dutch people would not have the same problem in England because their English is usually so good.

I have heard people say that Dutch is the hardest language to learn because you can't practice it.  As soon as you try to speak Dutch to someone from the Netherlands, they are likely to start speaking back to you in your native tongue, particularly if you speak one of the main European languages.  It is always impressive going to the Netherlands because so many people speak English.  And it isn't just the educated classes, EVERYONE seems to have perfect command of my language - shop assistants, taxi drivers, road sweepers, train staff….

Today in my meeting I was particulary impressed with Jacqueline who spoke seven (yes SEVEN) languages - Dutch, English, Hebrew, Spanish, Italian, German and French.  I asked her how she did it during a lull in proceedings and she only had time to mention that living in the country where the language is spoken does help.   Anyway knowing that she spoke Spanish, I used my first phrase with a live Spanish speaking person.

It wasn't much, it was over very quickly but I think she enjoyed it, I know I certainly did.  She asked me if I wanted a drink and I just pointed at the glass I had just finished and said "another please" (but in Spanish).  She replied ok and got me another one.  She understood what I said! 

What a great feeling that gave me.  I know it is just a small start but UN Interpreter's job here I come yahooooooo!

Ok I have calmed down now but honestly the buzz of using words in another language and being understood gives a wonderful sense of achievement so early on in my learn Spanish project and has given me a real boost to my confidence and motivation to learn more.

Coming down from that high on the return journey I got my flash cards out on the plane and checked my recall of all of  the words and phrases I had learnt to date.  I revised the numbers from 1-20 and then in the car on the way home from the airport I listened to another edufone Podcast and learnt some more new words.

So at the end of day 6, even though I have not learnt as much as I would have liked, I sit here happy, inspired, motivated and ever so slightly smug.