91Èȱ¬

Light my fire

When I first dared to speak Dutch it was in my Dutch boy-friend's local pub. I wanted a light for my cigarette, but literally translated 'light' into Dutch being licht.Everyone pointed to the light bulb and said that would be a bit difficult. In Dutch you have to ask for vuur which is 'fire' in English. It took quite a while before I dared to speak Dutch again.Talk about double Dutch!

Sent by: Kappe

Comments

Aoibhgreine 2008-11-19

Haha! You also ask for fire in French.

Flag this comment

Jenny 2006-11-05

In German, you ask for fire, too.

Flag this comment

Richard 2006-08-01

I found this out too in Utrecht but from the other perspective. I was speaking English with friends at a beer garden when a Dutch guy turned to us and asked us "hey guys, you have fire?" I am sorry to say I did have to supress a chuckle and the urge to say "Well, I don't carry huge bags of it around"

Flag this comment

Share this page

Open/close

Related Links

On bbc.co.uk/languages

12-weeks email tips

Quick fix phrases 36 languages

Teachers and tutors

On bbc.co.uk

91Èȱ¬ Schools

91Èȱ¬ Learning

91Èȱ¬ World Service Learning English

Elsewhere

The 91Èȱ¬ is not responsible for the content of external sites

91Èȱ¬ iD

91Èȱ¬ navigation

91Èȱ¬ © 2014 The 91Èȱ¬ is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.