When G and I first started researching NL, we discovered
quite quickly that a) the Dutch language is not that different to Afrikaans and
b) the Dutch speak very good English. During our first few months of living in
Ede I found that I was picking up Dutch quite quickly without much effort
thanks in part to the limited Afrikaans that I knew and in part to the fact
that I was living in a small town where Dutch is definitely required. My
vocabulary was expanding and I was starting to get the hang of the basics. Then
we moved to Amsterdam. It didn’t take long to realise that my Dutch was going
backwards because nobody in this city speaks the local language (that’s what it
feels like anyway). We have a teach-yourself book but I wanted to do an evening
course to provide structure and to fight my laziness, but the courses generally all
start in the same week and run over the same 6 week blocks. I couldn’t do the
courses starting in February because I was visiting SA during that time so
would miss a few (expensive) lessons. I completely forgot in March/April and once
May rolled round I realised that I would be away for a large chunk of the
June/July classes. This means I can only do a course from August/September
onwards. I can still understand a fair amount when reading or listening carefully,
but speaking is a problem which probably has more to do with self-confidence
than actual ability.
Up until today, I have had a mild guilt complex because I’m
living in a country and I don’t know the local language. This all changed this
morning on my way to work. It looked like it might rain so I took the metro. I
was putting my headphones on as I was boarding the carriage which meant my hair
and the long headphone cable had an altercation. I was fixing the hair/cable
situation whilst getting comfortable in a seat and didn’t immediately notice
the person sitting facing me. Out of nowhere these clumsy hands shot across to
the cable and my leg and started to try help me untangle the cable. I looked up
to see who was doing this and instantly realised the person was mentally and
physically disabled. He was innocently trying to help me and explain his
actions but I couldn’t respond in a way that he would understand and I was
battling to understand him because a) he was speaking Dutch and b) his Dutch
was very slurred/mumbled due to his disability. All I wanted to say was thanks
but it’s ok if it’s tangled and I could tell that he did not understand my
English. He then had this very sad look on his face, probably thinking how I
didn’t appreciate his actions which is not at all the case. I felt terrible but
there was nothing I could do beyond asking someone else to intervene but the
other person sitting with us clearly did not want to get involved. Not a good start to the day.
So from this I have realised that even if 45% of the local
residents were not born in the city and therefore everyone speaks a more
international language, if you want to be a responsible and caring citizen you
need to learn the language.
P.S. My English vocabulary also seems to have gone backwards - dealing with second-language speakers all day with no time to read in the evenings and severe bride-brain does not make you sound intelligent...
