> > Well, i must have been real tired yesterday-evening, that i couldnt come up with a prononciation-aid for that dutch name!
> > Its so obvious! Of course that 'ie' exists in english!!!!
> >
> > Pronounce Rien Poortvliet as:
> > 'ie' = the first 'i' in millennium, so a short 'e' (or the 'i' in mini ... )
> > and the 'ie' in Poortvliet is the same
> > but 'rtvl' is probably hard to pronounce for you (right, Issachar?)
> >
> > So R-ien Pooooort-vl-iet should do the trick.
>
> Uh... my next door neighbour is fluently Dutch, but she's away on vacation right now so I can't ask her how different her Dutch is from Flemish. She did tell me that "v" is often pronounced "f" in the middle of a word. So wouldn't that name go something like:
>

LOL, you touched a sensitive spot there. We, flemish people (especially the west-flemish, like me), are known for not making a difference between 'f' and 'v', or 'g' and 'h' (not the english g and h though).

> "Rin Poooortuh-FLEET" ? or "-FLIT"?
>

You should drop however that 'tuh', its just a 't' not with all that stuff behind it, lol


> I cannot read or speak any Dutch despite knowing quite a few Netherlanders. They are very nice people to meet though!

Well, there has always been a certain rivalry between flemish people and dutch people. Personally, i like Netherlanders, met a few on vacation, had lots of fun with them. Of course the're always some *bad elements*, but thats in every race, i guess.

>
> And Rien Poortvliet is one of my favorite nature wildlife artists.
>
> Wolfspirit


Jommeke