Charles and I had our first Dutch lesson yesterday evening. We are taking an 8 week course that involves about 6 students: the two of us, an Australian, a German, a Romanian, and someone from Singapore. So it's an interesting mix.
I feel as if we're beginning to learn something about the language, but we are going to have to do some serious practicing. We can introduce ourselves and conjugate a few verbs, but nothing more than that. Supposedly the big challenge here is that it's difficult to practice Dutch. Because everyone speaks English here, you start speaking to someone in a shop and as soon as they hear your American accent, they decide it's easier to speak English. *sigh* We'll see what happens. For now I definitely am stuck with an American accent. The "ui" sound is particularly difficult.
1 comment:
you start speaking to someone in a shop and as soon as they hear your American accent, they decide it's easier to speak English
Yes, this is often the case. However IF you tell people you're trying to learn, more often than not they're tickled and will be extra helpful. It's a great ice-breaker as well: the Dutch tend to be more reserved than Americans, so the "trying to learn your language" routine can be a great way to make acquaintances.
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