Evaluate

I’ve been blogging in English for a while now and while the stats show a steady amount of readers, I haven’t really had any comments on anything really.

What do you think about the switch to English? Writing English regularly at least has made me acutely aware of how much I still have to learn about the language and how much I need to develop a feel for it.

6 thoughts on “Evaluate”

  1. I would say as long as you are inspired to play a role on the International field, keep blogging in English. Though keep on checking your stats and replies, if 90% is from the Netherlands, and all your comments are from Dutch people, than what is the use..

    Personally I would feel switching back to Dutch as a failure, something like ‘good bye hopes and dreams, I’m Dutch I’ll always stay Dutch)

    If, on the other hand, you want to make some career as freelance consultant (or what ever) in The Netherlands, and want the scene to know you, I would switch to Dutch.

    Though if you want to keep on blogging in English it might be useful to write more on a specific topic, so English people who don’t know you in person, might keep on returning to your blog, and keep discussing your posts..

    To answer your question, you probably first need to answer what you actually want from your blog, and who than the most likely audience would be (and what their language is 🙂

  2. I got into a discussion about this with @jojanneke and she told me that it’s not much use blogging without a clearly defined topic and an idea of who you’re writing for.

    Anyway going about it that way makes it look too much like work. I think I use my blog as a personal CMS and to provide context about myself to people who find me online. For that goal, I should write in English because I get visitors from all over the world and I’d like to be open to them.

    And you’re right switching back now would both be too soon (give it a year or two) and would smell too much as failure.

  3. Wat is het doel van je blog? Daar zou ik de taal aan aanpassen.
    En oefenen met engels schrijven, lijkt mij nooit een verkeerd iets.

  4. Het doel is om context te bieden en Googlebaar te zijn en niet alleen voor Nederlanders. Dus, Engels wordt het dan, denk ik.

  5. euh…
    why not have 2 blogs then (2 separate subdomains or folders)?
    (or posts in 2 languages that have their own category pages for that matter)

    Some of your posts cover Dutch issues and local events… a bit weird to write them in English since they’re only of interest to Dutch-speaking people. Writing in English on Dutch subjects doesn’t stimulate commenting either.

    For posts on design or development, or your impressions of events abroad, English is of course a no-brainer.

  6. @Pascal I agree hard categories and separate feeds for each categorie may be the best option. That way my one blog can be both a Dutch blog, and an English blog and a photography blog and whatever I want it to be all at the same time.

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