Incidentally, wideman, Chinese is my second language! And I am learning Dutch, or at least aspiring to, because (1) I want to be able to communicate on a different level with the colleagues of my dutch friend and (2) I still harbour hopes of someday settling down in Europe, hopefully in the Netherlands. And for that I definitely need to know Dutch (immigration requirement, I think). I think it's fair that one puts in an effort to learn the native language of the country he applies to live in, that's the bare minimum I feel. I do agree with you that Dutch appears to be the Chinese of European languages. Argh... ;(