Why Dutch?

[Bieneke]

Waarom leer je Nederlands?

Why do you learn Dutch?

[Jacu76]

Why is there no option "belgian partner/parents" or "surinamese partner/parents" ?that's not what my vote would have been but still. or perhaps someone has old indonesian parents who speak dutch? Ok, getting off topic here
jack

[Bieneke]

Thanks, Jack, you are absolutely right. Change has been applied.
Bieneke

[Geree]

Hee,
I think this topic is used to discuss why do we learn Dutch. I want to learn it, because I would like to learn there. It would be good, because Hungarians don't really able to live "good" except if they go abroad. It's a poor country. My other reason is I would like to live there. You know, if you study there, you can settle down easier. I think it's a good place, I like the laws, the people aren't "unlovely" there.. Of course if I can live there, I would like to work there too. The wages are MUCH better than hungary! It's a good place for me. But the main reason, why I've decided to learn Dutch is my girlfriend. She lives there, and I don't want to lose her only because I live far... I love her enough to leave this country for her. That's my story. What's yours?

Why can't I vote for more than one? I've got 4 reasons there...

[tagalog_la]

I would like to study in holland, civil engineering.My cousin studied there and he has a good job now Information is very good here.Dutch is a nice language but difficult especialy pronouncing!I come from the Philippines but I have a girflriend already here I wish everybody good luck here.

[Sue]

I come under two answers so I just chose the one nearest the top..... not the most scientific way of voting!

[Koala]

I have been trying to learn dutch for nearly 3 years now, mostly on my own from books tapes cds and of course the internet. Why because my youngest daughter married a Belgian. I started just before he arrived in Australia. Not because he can't speak english because he speaks english better than me! But I wanted him to have someone to speak dutch with here if possible. Then I found out his Dad speaks little or no english and that renewed my enthusiasm. His mum speaks some english but like all of us it was a language she learnt at school which was a long time ago. I hope to achieve fluency someday but have been really struggling as I'm 48 and my memory isn't what it used to be. We are going to visit them in Belgium in the near future and I hope to be able to communicate with them and wow my son in laws Dad with what little I know. Ever hopeful!

[Sue]

I have been learning a lot longer than you Koala! I started to learn to communicate with my ex-husband's family (he is half-Dutch) but they gave me no help at all and on the contrary were very critical of my attempts. My new Dutchie's family are all the same as well - fortunately he is very supportive and I hope to learn more when I move over there next month, but I have a lot of problems with my confidence because of how people have treated me.

We just have to keep plodding on with it - I am the same as you, the old brain can't retain as much information as it used to!

Sue

[Bieneke]

Sue and Koala,

It's just too tempting not to mention the cliche that you are never too old to learn. I knew a lady who took up learning French at the age of 92! Learning Dutch in Australia without any Dutch people to talk to must be quite a challenge. What a wonderful motivation you have, to be able to communicate with your daughter's father in law.

Learning Dutch when you are IN the Netherlands brings along its own difficulties, as Sue outlined. My partner used to get quite discouraged when people would respond in English when he was speaking Dutch. That seemed to be standard practice when we lived in Amsterdam. People would even address me in English when they overheard me talking to my partner in English. As if my Dutch was not good enough

Despite this interesting habit of speaking English to anyone with a foreign accent, foreigners are expected to speak fluent Dutch after a while. Sue, I am glad your husband is so supportive. It takes courage to start speaking a foreign language and there are, unfortunately, always people who do not realize that.

Tagalog_la, I think the following topics may be interesting: (English language) programs in the Netherlands) and NT2 / CNaVT. Is your girlfriend joining you to Holland?

Groetjes,
Bieneke

[TheLostSaint]

well this being the first post i figure i would post here .

so why dutch for me ? well me girlfriend is from the nerderlands and i would like to suprise her by learning dutch. so its pretty simple for me , tho i have only started maybe little over a month now.

[Shea]

I'm learning Dutch because whenever I come in the Netherlands,I feel myself at Home!!

Shea

[Geree]

This is a truly lovely answer!

[Koala]

Hallo Sue & Bieneke, I understand full well what you mean Sue. To get my Belgian son in law to speak any dutch at all is like drawing teeth. Its like he's embarrassed or something. The other impression I get is it disturbs him when I murder his language in my attempts. I do however have a Eureka languages of the world cd rom which has flemish on it so I can hear the pronounciation used there. Which is slightly different to the main stream dutch. Bieneke have you found any problems going from Amsterdam to Gent in regards to changes in dialect. I had a uni student from Belgium teaching me for about 3 months untill she had to return home. That was really good and we have remained friends keeping in touch on the internet. We hope to get together when I go over. That came about from advertising for a teacher on the local "wanted adds". Bieneke I think your site is wonderful and I'm very grateful for the work you have gone to. It has helped quite a bit and I eagerly await your updates. Tot Ziens Koala

[BigBadBill]

groetjes to all,

myself i have just moved to nederlands after about 150 hrs of language training and thought i would be ok to at least get by and after 3 weeks all i seem to say is "wat zegt u?" i need Dutch for my work, the job is in english but i need to comunicate with the Dutch guys i work with and it is unfair to expect them to always speak english and as it is a tchnical job alot can be lost in translation.

ok, eerste post compleet

MVG

BBB

[Bieneke]

Dag BigBadBill,

At least, you know how to say "wat zegt u" really well now. Apparently, you let your colleagues speak Dutch to you, which sounds like a true immersion course to me. The most important thing is probably to insist on people speaking slowly and clearly. In my experience, much of the difficulty for non native speakers to understand spoken Dutch is caused by the inability of native speakers to speak clearly. There will be several colleagues who prefer to switch to English but there might be one or two who do possess the patience to stick to clear and slow Dutch.

Veel succes!
Bieneke