Wedding in Holland

by **welsh_aap** » March 23rd, 2012, 1:10 am

Hi I'm new to this website, I've had a quick look, and I think it's really going to help me.
I've been learning Dutch for a few years, but not really studied it, I used to work in the South of Holland, and now I'm engaged to a Dutch girl. She almost always talks English to me, but I have still picked up a good amount of vocabulary and grammar considering I haven't really tried. By the way, we will be having a baby in the summer, so I really want to start learning properly as our child will undoubtedly speak both English and Dutch, and I don't want to miss anything.
We are getting married in Bergen op Zoom very soon, and when I make my speech at the wedding, I would like to start in Dutch. I will be very nervous, but I think it would a nice gesture as half of the guests will be Dutch. They can speak English, so it will be a short introduction, then carry on in English.

is there someone who could help me translate and simplify a short paragraph into Dutch, and then I was thinking of recording myself saying it, and email back to get feedback on my pronounciation?

The wedding is on 4th April, so I hope I haven't left it too late..

Groetjes,
Nic

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by **welsh_aap** » March 23rd, 2012, 1:17 am

This is an idea of what I want to say:

As you know, my Dutch is not so good, but I’m getting there slowly.
I must try harder though or soon I might not be able to talk to my own Daughter!
I’ve made a promise to Flow to be there for her forever, and now I promise to all of you that I will try to improve my Dutch, so encourage me sometimes, instead of only speaking English!
Thank you all for coming today and for making me feel so welcome in your family. It is an honour to be here today, I wish Prem was here to see his beautiful daughter get married, but maybe he is laughing at my accent right now!

Then I will make the rest of my speech in English.

If there is someone who could translate it and also simplify it in the best way, I would be eternally grateful..

by **Shazzy** » March 23rd, 2012, 1:26 pm

I am half Dutch so at our wedding some of our Dutch relatives were present and my husband speaks Dutch. At the wedding it was much more basic than he is now but even so he gave some of his speech in Dutch and our relatives were well impressed. I would encourage you to start learning Dutch. This forum is brilliant for learning and there are many on here that will help and encourage you in many ways. If you live in holland perhaps you can find a local class to help you. I am sure you will learn a lot from your baby when he or she is born as well. Would your wife to be not help you learn Dutch or at least practice with you?

Shazzy

by **Vilmos** » March 23rd, 2012, 4:17 pm

welsh_aap wrote:As you know, my Dutch is not so good, but I’m getting there slowly.
I must try harder though or soon I might not be able to talk to my own Daughter!
I’ve made a promise to Flow to be there for her forever, and now I promise to all of you that I will try to improve my Dutch, so encourage me sometimes, instead of only speaking English!
Thank you all for coming today and for making me feel so welcome in your family. It is an honour to be here today, I wish Prem was here to see his beautiful daughter get married, but maybe he is laughing at my accent right now!

Zoals jullie weten is mijn Nederlands niet zo goed, maar ik word steeds beter. Ik zal toch harder moeten oefenen, anders zal ik binnenkort niet eens tegen mijn eigen dochter kunnen praten!
Ik heb Flow beloofd om er altijd voor haar te zijn en ik beloof jullie nu dat ik mijn Nederlands ga verbeteren, dus moedig me af en toe aan in plaats van dat jullie alleen maar Engels praten!
Bedankt dat jullie vandaag allemaal gekomen zijn en mij zo welkom hebben laten voelen. Het is een eer om hier vandaag te zijn. Ik wilde dat Prem hier was om te zien hoe zijn prachtige dochter vandaag trouwt, maar misschien lacht hij nu wel om mijn accent!

---
Ik hoop dat iemand anders mijn vertaling nog even wilt nakijken.
I hope there's someone else who can check my translation.

by **Quetzal** » March 23rd, 2012, 10:00 pm

Vilmos wrote:
welsh_aap wrote:As you know, my Dutch is not so good, but I’m getting there slowly.
I must try harder though or soon I might not be able to talk to my own Daughter!
I’ve made a promise to Flow to be there for her forever, and now I promise to all of you that I will try to improve my Dutch, so encourage me sometimes, instead of only speaking English!
Thank you all for coming today and for making me feel so welcome in your family. It is an honour to be here today, I wish Prem was here to see his beautiful daughter get married, but maybe he is laughing at my accent right now!

Zoals jullie weten is mijn Nederlands niet zo goed, maar ik word steeds beter. Ik zal toch harder moeten oefenen, anders zal ik binnenkort niet eens tegen mijn eigen dochter kunnen praten!
Ik heb Flow beloofd om er altijd voor haar te zijn en ik beloof jullie nu dat ik mijn Nederlands ga verbeteren, dus moedig me af en toe aan in plaats van dat jullie alleen maar Engels praten!
Bedankt dat jullie vandaag allemaal gekomen zijn en mij zo welkom hebben laten voelen. Het is een eer om hier vandaag te zijn. Ik wilde dat Prem hier was om te zien hoe zijn prachtige dochter vandaag trouwt, maar misschien lacht hij nu wel om mijn accent!

---
Ik hoop dat iemand anders mijn vertaling nog even wilt nakijken.
I hope there's someone else who can check my translation.

I think under the circumstances nitpicking your translation is justified, for Nic's sake... so I will.

In "Bedankt dat jullie vandaag allemaal gekomen zijn en mij zo welkom hebben laten voelen", I kind of feel like the second part of the sentence still seems to be linked to the "vandaag" (i.e. today). I don't think Nic is talking just about the day of the wedding when he says that, so maybe that should be amended a bit.

"Het is een eer" seems a bit stiff, isn't "Ik ben vereerd" better?

I would move the "vandaag" up earlier in that sentence, to "Ik wilde" - also, I'd say wou, but that may be a matter of personal preference - "dat Prem hier was vandaag, om te zien hoe zijn prachtige dochter trouwt". On the other hand, then you have two "vandaag"s in very short succession, so maybe not. Maybe we can just lose the second "vandaag"? It's not there in the English either...

by **welsh_aap** » March 26th, 2012, 9:48 am

I really appreciate all of your help.

I'm busy organising the wedding, but later I'm going to sit down and read through your suggestions, and hopefully make a little recording while I attempt to pronounce it :-/
Is it possible to post it on here? or would I need to link to a different site?
Failing that, I could email it to someone?

Thanks again, you're all very helpful.

Nic

by **Quetzal** » March 26th, 2012, 10:01 pm

welsh_aap wrote:I really appreciate all of your help.

I'm busy organising the wedding, but later I'm going to sit down and read through your suggestions, and hopefully make a little recording while I attempt to pronounce it :-/
Is it possible to post it on here? or would I need to link to a different site?
Failing that, I could email it to someone?

Thanks again, you're all very helpful.

Nic

I believe you can add an attachment to your post, yeah, right below the textbox, next to the Options section, there's an "Add attachment".

by **welsh_aap** » March 27th, 2012, 3:39 pm

I'm real busy, so it's hard to find the time to practise that whole paragraph, so I really need to cut it down.
My spoken Dutch is ok, but it seems only with the words I am already familiar with, so when I tried to read out loud that whole paragraph, I realised it is way above my level.

Maybe, I should just conduct the speech in English, which will give me the chance to get used to speaking in public,

then end it with something nice in Dutch :

Thank you all for being here and making me feel so welcome in your family.

Could someone translate that for me?
I could probably do that myself, but don't want to 'guess'.

As pre wedding nerves are beginning to kick in.... I am reminded of the first thing I learned in Dutch: Let op! Dremples

Thanks again for your help

by **andreengels** » March 29th, 2012, 7:37 am

welsh_aap wrote:I'm real busy, so it's hard to find the time to practise that whole paragraph, so I really need to cut it down.
My spoken Dutch is ok, but it seems only with the words I am already familiar with, so when I tried to read out loud that whole paragraph, I realised it is way above my level.

Maybe, I should just conduct the speech in English, which will give me the chance to get used to speaking in public, then end it with something nice in Dutch :

Thank you all for being here and making me feel so welcome in your family.

I think I go a bit free in my translation for the second half - the literal one sounds a little bit awkward in Dutch.

Bedankt dat jullie er allemaal zijn en dat jullie me zo warm in jullie familie hebben opgenomen.
(literally: Thank you that you are all here and that you have accepted me in your family so warmly)

by **Gules** » March 30th, 2012, 12:59 am

Welkom en Gefeliciteerd met jouw verloving!

Interglot is een geweldig hulpmiddel. Ik gebruik het vaak.

Ik ben nog steeds een beginner maar ik ben het leren.

(Hoe zeg ik: "I am addicted to learning Dutch" ?)
Is dit het: Ik ben het Nederlands verslaafd leren?

Toch, dit is waar ^

If I can help you feel free to ask

Hartelijk groetjes,
Gules

by **Vilmos** » March 30th, 2012, 2:05 am

"Ik ben verslaafd aan Nederlands leren", maar dat klinkt in het Nederlands allemaal net iets minder natuurlijk dan in het Engels...

by **Bert** » April 1st, 2012, 9:12 pm

Gules wrote:Hoe zeg ik: "I am addicted to learning Dutch" ?

Nederlanders gebruiken vaak de uitdrukking 'Ik ben dol/gek op ...'. Dus kun je zeggen: Ik ben dol/gek op Nederlands. (Natuurlijk is dit geen letterlijke vertaling.)