Imports System.Globalization

Public Class mydate

    Function build_verbose_date(mydate As String, language As String) _

                 As String

        ' parse given date string
        Dim d As Date = parseDate(mydate)

        ' culture info
        Dim ci As CultureInfo = CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture(language)

        ' format date
        Return d.ToString("D", ci)

    End Function


    ' parse given date string, trying various formats
    Function parseDate(mydate As String) As Date

        Dim d As Date

        Dim formats() As String = {"yyyyMMdd", _
                      "yyyy-MM-dd", "yyyy-MM-d", "yyyy-M-dd", "yyyy-M-d", _
                      "dd.MM.yyyy", "d.MM.yyyy", "dd.M.yyyy", "d.M.yyyy", _
                      "MM/dd/yyyy", "M/d/yyyy", "MM/d/yyyy", "M/dd/yyyy"}

        Try
            d = Date.ParseExact(mydate, formats, _
          DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo, DateTimeStyles.AllowWhiteSpaces)
        Catch ex As Exception
            Return Date.MinValue
        End Try

        Return d

    End Function

End Class