I’ve decided I’m officially adding Dutch to the list of languages I “know.” My current level of fluency mostly involves calling a company, getting put on hold, and randomly pushing buttons until I finally reach a real person who speaks English.
One of the many adventures of moving to a foreign country is learning a new language. I’ve always had the utmost respect for people who can speak more than one. I’m very proud of my English, and also extremely grateful that so many people around the world speak it. In The Netherlands, most children begin learning English around the age of ten and, within just a few years, they’re fluent. Everyone here seems excited to practice their English with me, and they’re always happy to help when I’m struggling to understand something.
The Dutch are known for being very direct. Sometimes it can come across as a little blunt, but I usually just laugh because it’s so unexpected. When you ask someone here if they speak English, the answer is often, “Yes, of course!” Which to me sounds like, “Who in their right mind wouldn’t speak several languages?”
Other times they’ll say, “A little.” What this actually means is, “Yes, I do, but let’s ease into this conversation slowly.” And sure enough, within a minute or two, they’re speaking perfectly good English.
One day I was at the meat market asking a very kind Dutch woman if she had turkey. I was having a little trouble getting her to understand my English… until I finally said, “Gobble, gobble, gobble!” She burst out laughing and said, “No… we do not have that.”
One of our favorite TV channels here is Discovery Channel because it’s in English. We’re learning so much and getting much smarter… although somehow we’ve also picked up a slightly British accent along the way.
Which brings me to one final question. If all your bills arrive in a foreign language and you can’t read what they say… does that mean you actually have to pay them?
Thank goodness for Google Translate.
Blueberry Pancake Publishing 