If you follow my blog, you know that, beside the rumors, I surrendered to the idea that, without Dutch, I would never be able to do here what I did since 1990 (project and change management).
But this is not the practical impossibility I am referring to in the title.
On my personal Facebook profile, I started a small count-down, as since I passed an A2 exam in Dutch in June 2009, I was looking for any position that could use as much as possible of my experience and skills (or add new ones, if needed), while completing my language skills (local and not).
The tool? Studying more formally for the exam was a first step- you can get individual language training (up to 60 hours) if you get at least A2.
This article is 750 words, but divided in sections (150 words each; excluding the index).
A practical impossibility usually comes coupled with an unpractical possibility
The practical side: to use the hours, you have to either set up your own company, or (better) be an employee, as your employer would set the learning targets.
The impossible side: yesterday I was given the last drop- yet another message from an agent saying that my profile is not in banking and not in project management.
Well, I will let you be the judge (see here): let’s just say that my first project for a bank was in 1987 (a General Ledger), and the last in 2007.
Setting up a company implies some costs- and if the market says that 20 years are not enough, it is an hopeless task.
So, the practical impossibility (at least for me) is what in English is called a Catch-22.
As for the unpractical possibility… using 60 hours of language training in less than two months implies at least one day off every week (I do not expect to find teachers willing to work every Sunday).
I had planned to complete the 60 hours by December, and then test again my Dutch skills, to reach at least B1/B2.
Considering the practical impossibility and the unpractical possibility… I will return the voucher next week.
Better to call it a day, and keep learning Dutch at a slower pace, using my own resources.
Chances are that the only activities that I will be able to do locally are those that require more flexibility on the time schedule, and, considering my “working handicaps” (beside my Italian passport, age, and the oft repeated word “overqualified”), I cannot ask an employer or customer to accommodate for my language training schedule.
As soon as I will have returned the voucher, I will start using a German course (8 CD, moving up to B2 and the Goethe exam preparation).
It seems that landing all my activities from 2006 until March 2008, to start looking to settle here without any further lingering consulting activities, wasn’t really the smartest choice.
I speak obviously English, French, Italian, and I can survive/communicate in Spanish, while in the past I learned and forgot other languages (e.g. a little bit of Latvian and Swedish, to say nothing about German).
And recently I moved my Russian, started last year, to the point where my Dutch was in Spring and Summer 2008: some really basic understanding.
Two more languages to go: Chinese and Arabic. For Chinese, I started by spending evenings in April to do all the exercises in a book on the Chinese official script, and in October I started training on the basic sounds.
For Arabic, well… maybe 2013 or 2014?
As I wrote elsewhere, and repeated often to my friends: some people like to learn songs by heart, I enjoy learning and studying cultures.
Hence, my (old) business choice- change management, embedded in project management, organizational development, negotiations, and so on.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 11:59 and is filed under commentary, everything.
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A practical impossibility
If you follow my blog, you know that, beside the rumors, I surrendered to the idea that, without Dutch, I would never be able to do here what I did since 1990 (project and change management).
But this is not the practical impossibility I am referring to in the title.
On my personal Facebook profile, I started a small count-down, as since I passed an A2 exam in Dutch in June 2009, I was looking for any position that could use as much as possible of my experience and skills (or add new ones, if needed), while completing my language skills (local and not).
The tool? Studying more formally for the exam was a first step- you can get individual language training (up to 60 hours) if you get at least A2.
This article is 750 words, but divided in sections (150 words each; excluding the index).
A practical impossibility usually comes coupled with an unpractical possibility
Moving to the unpractical possibility
Giving to Peter what belongs to Peter
Languages, languages…
A practical impossibility usually comes coupled with an unpractical possibility
The practical side: to use the hours, you have to either set up your own company, or (better) be an employee, as your employer would set the learning targets.
The impossible side: yesterday I was given the last drop- yet another message from an agent saying that my profile is not in banking and not in project management.
Well, I will let you be the judge (see here): let’s just say that my first project for a bank was in 1987 (a General Ledger), and the last in 2007.
Setting up a company implies some costs- and if the market says that 20 years are not enough, it is an hopeless task.
Market rules, so move on.
back to the table of contents
Moving to the unpractical possibility
So, the practical impossibility (at least for me) is what in English is called a Catch-22.
As for the unpractical possibility… using 60 hours of language training in less than two months implies at least one day off every week (I do not expect to find teachers willing to work every Sunday).
I had planned to complete the 60 hours by December, and then test again my Dutch skills, to reach at least B1/B2.
From June, I did not sit on my exam results- to keep improving my skills, I immediately started a new weekly short story website in Dutch.
The concept? mmmh… the language game.
Also, I translated and adapted in Italian a free Dutch grammar online (see the draft; maybe eventually it will be online on the official website).
Beside using mailing lists from Dutch newspapers, text-to-speech software, conferences to build language patterns.
back to the table of contents
Giving to Peter what belongs to Peter
Considering the practical impossibility and the unpractical possibility… I will return the voucher next week.
Better to call it a day, and keep learning Dutch at a slower pace, using my own resources.
Chances are that the only activities that I will be able to do locally are those that require more flexibility on the time schedule, and, considering my “working handicaps” (beside my Italian passport, age, and the oft repeated word “overqualified”), I cannot ask an employer or customer to accommodate for my language training schedule.
As soon as I will have returned the voucher, I will start using a German course (8 CD, moving up to B2 and the Goethe exam preparation).
It seems that landing all my activities from 2006 until March 2008, to start looking to settle here without any further lingering consulting activities, wasn’t really the smartest choice.
back to the table of contents
Languages, languages…
I speak obviously English, French, Italian, and I can survive/communicate in Spanish, while in the past I learned and forgot other languages (e.g. a little bit of Latvian and Swedish, to say nothing about German).
And recently I moved my Russian, started last year, to the point where my Dutch was in Spring and Summer 2008: some really basic understanding.
Two more languages to go: Chinese and Arabic. For Chinese, I started by spending evenings in April to do all the exercises in a book on the Chinese official script, and in October I started training on the basic sounds.
For Arabic, well… maybe 2013 or 2014?
As I wrote elsewhere, and repeated often to my friends: some people like to learn songs by heart, I enjoy learning and studying cultures.
Hence, my (old) business choice- change management, embedded in project management, organizational development, negotiations, and so on.
back to the table of contents
This entry was posted on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 11:59 and is filed under commentary, everything. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.