Een stiekem-toch-tomaatje.

Where’s klaas4 when we need him?

What is an untranslatable phrase, according to my web sites?

(What clearly cannot be “a secretly-nevertheless tomato”? Or can it?)

@gailcalled – it can :P

But I’m guessing klaas4 can explain ;-)

Wat doet mijn moeder in mijn lunchbox als ik het haar niet vraag?

@klaas4 – whaha xD

But it was supposed to be “het is rood en geen tomaat, rarara wat zoek ik?”

Haha, lol.

Guys, gelieeve te helpen me. Ik ben miserabel since I can’t get the joke. (And I know no Dutch – don’t be fooled by my elegant translations.) And I have to, yet again, congratulate both of you on your fluent and idiomatic Engish. Do you also speak languages of the other countries that border the Netherlands?

What does my mother put in my lunchbox that I did not ask her to?

This is red and no tomato; “rarara” what is missing? How’s that for clarity.

The translations are very good, Gail! Bravo!

Ich kann Deutsch sprechen, weil ich das in die Schule lerne.
(I can speak German, because I learn that at school.)

Je peux parler français aussi. Un peu.
(I can also speak French. A little bit.)

What they speak in Belgium, is actually a dialect from Dutch.

Joke:
Q: What is red and no tomato, what is it?
A: Secretly, still a tomato.

Kind of tricky translating, ah well, that’s Dutch. ;-)

* searching for French textbook *
Question to you: Don’t you think the French stole a lot from English:

se concentrer: concentrate
s’énerver: energize
la réservation: the reservation
une arrivée: an arrival
un échange: an exchange
impossible: impossible
préparer: prepare
présenter: present (as in a presenting a presentation)
intéressant: interesting (actually more like the Dutch ‘interessant’)
Je suis sur: I’m sure
le sujet: the subject
le projet: the project
idéal: ideal
un adulte: an adult
...

But maybe French was first, I’m not sure.

Anyway, thanks for the compliment. :-)

@gailcalled – I’ve had French (four years) and German (three years) at school, just like Davey, but I can still hardly speak it. French, well, just because I haven’t spoken that a lot and because the French speak way too fast. German because I hated that language and because our teachers weren’t quite, well… Skilled ;-)

I do speak a bit Flemish, but mostly just a random collection of words I picked up from Suske and Wiske (I believe they’re called Bob & Bobette in English) in combination with a feigned accent :P

As for the riddle, I think I’d translate it with “it’s red and not a tomato, what am I looking for?” I just know there’s a translation for stiekem, better than “secretly”, but I can’t think of it… Stiekem is more playful than secretly. I think “a tomato anyway” would come closest to the meaning of the answer.

“Wat doet mijn moeder in mijn lunchbox als ik het haar niet vraag?” – What does my mother make for lunch without me asking her?

@klaas4 – they’ve mutually influenced eachother. During the Hundred Years War, Britain and France had a lot to do with eachother which allowed both languages to greatly influence the other, as I understand it.