Gebruik van het Nederlands heeft mij vanaf mijn geboorte omringd, zij is mijn moedertaal, ik spreek (sprak?) Nederlands met een Noord-Brabantse tongval – compleet met getrilde huig-r – die later is overgoten met o.a. Zuid-Limburgse en Utrechtse invloeden, en ik schrijf ook Nederlands. Ik heb er als tiener maandenlang op geoefend om de rollende "r" (IPA: r) te leren spreken toen ik bij het dwarsfluiten de toonversiering Flatterzunge wilde kunnen toepassen, die immers met een rollende "r" gemaakt wordt. Door het luisteren naar vele Vlaamstalige uitzendingen van de BRT radio heb ik kennisgemaakt met Vlaamse taalgebruiken, en pas hen soms in mijn eigen Nederlands toe.

Miene oetsjproak van het Hollesj is mesjiens een bietje angesj gewoeëde wie ich elf joare in Limburg woeënde en noar sjoeël ging en doa ummer Limburgs hoeërde.

Als ich als zehnjähriger Junge mit meinen Eltern und Geschwistern in Norddeutschland in Urlaub war, hörte ich fünfjährige Kinder deutsch sprechen. Das versetzte mich in Erstaunen, weil diese Kinder zweimal so jung waren als ich, und ich das nicht konnte. Dann wollte ich auch deutsch sprechen lernen. Meine Tante, ihr deutscher Mann, und ihre beiden Kinder haben mir dazu ganz gut geholfen indem sie mich bei ihnen logieren ließen. Später kamen dazu noch die Deutschstunden im Gymnasium.

As my oom deur Afrika gereis het, het hy 'n Suid-Afrikaanse koerant gekoop en later daarvan 'n afskrif aan my gegee. Dit was vir my baie interessant om daarin te lees. In 2011 het ek – om beter wakker te kan bly dan by voorlese in die Nederlandse taal – aan my tienjarige seun 'n Afrikaanse vertaling van 'n Harry Potter-boek voorgelees. Ons het dit kan verstaan en ons het gelag om die snaakse verskille met die Nederlandse taal.

Ech kann Texte op Lëtzebuergesch lesen an deelweis verstoën.

English was in my secondary school curriculum. I remember trying my utmost to pronounce both sounds spelt "th" (IPA: θ and ð) correctly, to the point where my sister said I was exaggerating. I may have been, but I think I succeeded. Listening to the World Service of the BBC radio helped me to improve my knowledge and pronunciation of English. I remember reading "Robinson Crusoe" as well as "A Journal of the Plague Year" by Daniel Defoe as a seventeen year old boy as part of the school curriculum, and at the time I found reading them rather difficult. While studying meteorology and physical oceanography, I had to read many a textbook in English. Eventually, all this has helped me develop my knowledge of and proficiency in English.

Svenska är mycket intressant för en person som jag är, som tycker om att lyssna på språkljud och att tala dem, bland annet därför att det är den typiske ljud (IPA: ɧ) som skrivs t.ex. som "sj", "skj", "stj", "sk", m.m. Ordprosodin är också intressant, och in ordsprosodin det svenska språket liknar det kinesiska språket lite, men den sistnämnda har en mycket mer omfattande ordprosodi. Jag är glad att jag i de senaste åren har kunnat läsa några svenska böcker och läsa många inlägg på SMHIs webbplats utan ordbok.

Dansk ...

In scholae linguam latinam studebam.

À l'école il fallait aussi apprendre le français pendant quatre ans. C'était presque seulement au vacances que j'ai utilisé ce que j'avais appris. Récemment j'ai recommencé à lire en français, notamment 'Vercingétorix' de Jean Markale, et je peux comprendre presque tout le texte dans ce livre. J'arrive à comprendre l'essentiel des émissions du journal de TV5.

Posso entender uma parte considerável do que leio em português, mas entender o que ouço è difícil, quando ouço falar os portuguêses mais do que os brasileiros.

Español ...

Anche l'italiano è una lingua romanza, e posso capire una parte significativa di un testo scritto.

Amikor iskolában voltam, meglátogattam Magyarországot egy kulturális cserére. Hallottam hogy az embereket beszéltek, hallgattam a magyar nyelvet. Nekem a magyar nyelv zenés hangzik. Különösen a számos toldalék szerkezete nagyon érdekes.

                .لقد تعلمت قليل من اللغة العربية. يبدو هيكل خذورها أنيقة جدا بلنسبة لي

Etimoloġija u r-relazzjonijiet bejn il-lingwi huma saħħru li. Il-lingwa Maltija hija bint jew oħt tal-lingwa Għarbi. (Il-Għarbi l-Maronita Ċiprijotta hija wkoll relatat lil-Għarbi.) Verbi bl-għeruq mhux Semitika huma inkorporati fis-sistema tal-għeruq trikonsonantali Semitika tal-Malti.

我可以讲一点中国话，可以读一些中国文字。我喜欢发音中国话。

As a matter of fact I am a graduated meteorologist and physical oceanographer and hold a PhD in applied mathematics. I take a broad interest in various fields of knowledge. When reading texts I seem to have an eye for deviant as well as erroneous formulations, and I am prepared to change or correct such formulations, or suggest changing them, to help improve the legibility and intelligibility of texts.

Languages, their mutual relationships as well as their structures fascinate me. As a secondary school boy I used to spend hours on looking up information on languages in the large and hefty volumes of my parents' encyclopedia.

Also in that time I learnt to appreciate Western classical music since my mother used to play record after record with such music. By listening to radio broadcasts, BRT 3 in particular but WDR 3 and Hilversum 4 as well, I came across Indian classical music, flamenco music and various other styles I learnt to appreciate. I was captivated by recordings of Vietnamese overtone singing, and put a lot of effort into learning to do a bit of overtone singing myself.

From the above, you may have gathered that a denominator common to several of my interests is the use of voice and breath to produce sounds.

In everyday life I am involved with children and with an ambition to help them profit from good relationships with both their father and their mother, rather than with only one of them. When I see signs of gender discrimination in that area, I tend to signal it and sometimes act to help reducing or removing discriminatory attitudes. Several times I encountered unprofessional attitudes or acts of counsellors or social workers in cases of children with divorcing or divorced parents, and I have filed complaints and found recognition in several of these instances. I consider the workings of the Dutch society as not (yet?) well developed for dealing with the well-being and healthy development of children of divorcing / divorced parents.Redav (talk) 00:35, 11 June 2014 (UTC)