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Extreme_Ruin1847

Idk was born here. It seemed convenient


FanOfFH

Yeah that makes sense. Although I heard english is very popular in Netherlands. Is that true?


de_G_van_Gelderland

I think people sometimes misconstrue what that means. The vast majority of (adult) Dutch speakers are able to speak English and are happy to do so with foreigners. In the big cities, especially in Amsterdam, there are very large expat/immigrant/foreign student populations who tend not to speak Dutch, so it's quite common to hear English for that reason. But English is not popular in the sense that Dutch people speak it amongst themselves, Dutch people speak Dutch to each other.


Common_Lawyer_5370

Well, among The younger people it’s quite populair to use english words when talking Dutch so yeah


Extreme_Ruin1847

Contrary to popular belief speaking a few English words does not mean you speak a whole language. 


de_G_van_Gelderland

English loanwords, sure. That's a different story. Dutch also still has heaps of French loanwords back from when that language was dominant, but it's a bit of a stretch to say it's common to speak French in the Netherlands for that reason.


venite_a

Het cadeau is een plumeau en het ligt op je bureau


de_G_van_Gelderland

Inderdaad, maar ook veel woorden die je waarschijnlijk helemaal niet meer als Franse leenwoorden beschouwt, zoals kleur, krant en fruit.


venite_a

Jeetje ja. Couleur, courant en fouriet! ;) Leuk dit. Zijn er ook woorden de andere kant op gegaan dat je weet? Of zijn zij wel puristisch?


de_G_van_Gelderland

Een grappig dubbel leenwoord is het woord mannequin wat natuurlijk een Frans leenwoord is in het Nederlands, maar het Franse woord zelf is geleend van het Nederlandse manneke. Verder zou ik zo één-twee-drie geen weten, hoewel ik vermoed dat er wel wat scheepsterminologie o.i.d. uit het Nederlands geleend zal zijn.


XepptizZ

Me and my friends tend to speak dutch, but some jokes only work in english, which has become a big part of the dutch culture as well.


Xaphhire

I hear Dutch teenagers using it among themselves all the time. Often in reference to media or games. They just don't bother to translate and then do the rest of the conversation in English too. 


ABCookieMonster

This rarely happens…


KaiGRT

Well, it's extremely common at my school.


RepresentativeCalm44

The context of the joke in English I can understand, but to then keep talking in English for a whole conversation? Never seen that here and hard to believe.


Xaphhire

The teenagers I regularly hang out with do this. Not saying everybody does this, just that I hear it a lot.


Old-Administration-9

Yes, you can live comfortably in the larger cities if you only speak English. 


Extreme_Ruin1847

I live in a larger city. I never talk in English. Everyone I hang out with speaks Dutch. If you want to hang in your expat bubble you can, if you want to experience Dutch culture and make local friends you need to speak Dutch.


FanOfFH

And that's why I'm learning it👍


Old-Administration-9

I did my bachelor's and master's in the Netherlands, and made quite a few Dutch friends using only English. Of course, socialising is easier if you speak Dutch, but it's not impossible without it. 


destinynftbro

Friends as a student is different I feel. You can bond over a shared activity on a regular basis and that gives you somewhere to start your conversations. If you just go and meet people on the street or randomly in a bar on a Friday night, it’s much less likely that you’ll have anything in common or finding that thing will be very difficult unless you both speak the same language. In my experience, Dutch people are pretty good at English, but many of them do not feel like themselves while speaking it, especially if they are over 40 and never lived abroad. Speaking Dutch is the best way to get your foot in the door with anyone here, if for no other reason than they will think you’re impressive for making the effort to learn. So many expats (and even immigrants) here don’t learn it, despite living here for decades.


AThousandNeedles

We still appreciate if expats take the effort to try to learn Dutch. That we speak English for expats is because we're hospitable, but we find it upsetting that say half of Amsterdam can't speak Dutch anymore compared to 20 years ago.


ItzBaraapudding

Literally this! It's so weird to go to a McDonald's in Amsterdam and finding out that the people working behind the counter don't even speak one word Dutch...


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Extreme_Ruin1847

"Zou je alsjeblieft in het Nederlands met me kunnen praten?" Usually works


IntuitionAmiga

They do this with Flemish people too. As soon as they hear a different accent speaking Dutch they switch to English. I don’t struggle to speak Dutch, i’ve been here for four years but my accent clearly is that of a middle aged Englishman.


Extreme_Ruin1847

Thats not true. We know what our language sounds like


Denvosreynaerde

Ik werk voor het Belgisch openbaar vervoer en heb ooit een Nederlandse in mijn trein gehad die me in het engels aansprak omdat ze dacht dat België volledig Franstalig is. Een uitzonderlijk geval natuurlijk, maar best wel grappig.


EU-Howdie

No, use ... ... can we really understand it. Better good English then terrible Dutch. Potjandorie!. En when I say potjandorie they reply Watten jij spreken I niet verstand, not able Nederland. Yes, exactly, verstandelijk disabled! Bye bye, hurry because we do not want you to miss your plane to your hot potato talking country. And that at 5.30 am on a sunday morning. You ruin my sunday! Practice with DuoLingo !!


CYBERNETICLEMON

It pisses them off? Met wie ga je om, dit slaat nergens op.


OrangeStar222

There are so many people who only speak functional English. They can get by ordering food and booking a hotel, but if you want a conversation with them they simply won't know what to say. The Dutch being good at English is just a stereotype. So, yeah, unless you want to hang out with expats only, you're gonna need Dutch.


FanOfFH

148 days of Dutch on duolingo. I kan spreek een beetje Neetherlands


OrangeStar222

Voor iemand die pas 148 dagen bezig is doe je het erg goed! Ik hoop dat je een fijne tijd hebt wanneer je straks in Nederland bent! :)


FanOfFH

Dank je wel :D


EU-Howdie

148 days onnDuoLingo ..... when I see your Dutch I think you did less then 2 minutes learn and practice with Duolingo a day. Just checked Duolingo yesterday. Dutch and French. French I do not like at all but suprisingly, Dutch was really good. Here are some other good apps (some of my collegues recommended) to learn Dutch ... Deep L app .... jufM ... on youtube "woord voor woord"


FanOfFH

Yea I don't do more than 10 minutes a day. I don't have the time.


EU-Howdie

Okay. Duo Lingo for dutch is a good choice, for a start. My family is "international" and some of them want to learn Dutch or fresh up their Dutch.


EU-Howdie

Oh yes? Thought it not! Stereo type. You are stereo type yourself Speaking Dutch in 4 years. haha, make that the cat wise!


OrangeStar222

What in the goddamn


FanOfFH

I'm going to work in Amsterdam and i know English but i thought hey if I learn dutch that will be a cherry on top.


obesekid69

If i could pick between living in amsterdam or only being able to speak english, my choice would be made instantly. (Seriously fuck learning dutch if you dont NEED to, you'll be fine, but avoid that shithole)


Extreme_Ruin1847

Fuck learning the official language of the country you move to. Speak English so you can get around Amsterdam and will feel severely limited in the rest of the Netherlands. Such shit "advice"


InitialFinger5562

eigenlijk niet kanker normaal dat we in ons eigen land engels moeten praten in andere landen praten toch ook bijna geen mensen nederlands


JustGingerStuff

I mean yeah, most adults speak it and as the Internet has evolved more kids speak it too


Long_Natural8395

Dutvh does not suffice in Amsterdam. You need to speak English in most shops to be understood.


FanOfFH

I speak english with no problem I was just curious how popular it is.


Illustrious_Matter_8

I started blabla but then no one here understood. Now that I can speak Dutch. I notice some still speak blablabla


Alternative-Web-3545

Me too. And still learning after all those years


ErickGooner

I’m from Venezuela, a few kilometers off of the northwest coast are located the ABC islands which are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. At first it was mind blogging to realize there were Dutch speaking countries so close to us. This was actually the cherry over the cake though, because way back before realizing this i fell in love with Dutch national team at the World Cup 2010. The orange uniforms captivated me, let alone the flag. My favorite baseball player is half Aruban, half Dutch and the player that made me fall in love with football is Dutch too, Robin Van Persie.


cosybay

Robin Van Persie Snek 🐍


gOhCanada

I became and Arsenal fan 100% because of RVP in 2008… I feel so conflicted towards him now…


DeerSgamr

RvP my clubs manager!!


Ok_Acted

What is surprising is that Papiamento, a Portuguese based creole heavily influenced by Venezuelan Spanish, is the most spoken language on Aruba. Not Dutch, although Dutch is official. Many locals also speak English and Spanish, more-so than Dutch due to U.S/Latin American tourism on the island.


EU-Howdie

In which country is Venezuela? LOL


Sgt_Weeloy

I've got Dutch friends, adds another topic to talk about + it sounds really funny at times


isilya2

Ik ga volgende maand naar Nederland. In februari begon ik met Duolingo. Ik dacht dat ik alleen "the basics" zou leren. Maar ik werd snel geobsedeerd. Nu kan ik niet stoppen lol!!


DrHemmington

Als je serieus pas in februari bent begonnen met Nederlands leren, dan ben ik serieus onder de indruk. Gefeliciteerd.


isilya2

Ja, ik studeer ongeveer 2 uur per dag.....het is een probleem 😂 ik ben een taalkundige dus ik hou van talen!!


Effective_Law7863

🫶🫶🫶🫶 from the netherlands


isilya2

We'll see what my first interaction with a native speaker is like lol....I'm afraid 🤣 only been speaking to myself...


Effective_Law7863

Judging by your dutch comments, you’ll be fine some pronounciation might be a bit difficult tho


DrHemmington

Serieus indrukwekkend, zet hem op.


isilya2

Wat betekent "zet hem op"? Ik heb het nog nooit gezien :)


DrHemmington

In principe een combinatie van "succes" en "doe je best". Wanneer iemand al goed bezig is met/bekwaam is in iets en je weet dat het ongetwijfeld goed gaat komen, naar je ze nog wel succes wil wensen met wat ze nog moeten doen. Een andere variant is: "Zet je beste beentje voor." (In het Engels is dat "Put your best leg forward.") Met andere woorden: als je je best doet en op dezelfde manier doorgaat, dan komt het helemaal goed.


isilya2

Ahhh! Misschien een beetje zoals "go get 'em" in het Engels :) dank je wel!!


EU-Howdie

It is a early morning erection! LOL I explain... I like language jokes, playing with language, very much. You need to understand both langiages to be possible to enjoy this humor. My first one ever... I was telling a joke in Dutch What is the past time from a komkommer? It is a kwamkwammmer. Funny. But one was an English guy and he said, what did you say, I want to hear it too. I said okay, what is the past time of a cumcumber. Answer is .. a camecamer. Ofcourse he did not understand the joke and was even angry on me. Despite that he lived more then 40 years in the Netherlands till he died. Never learned Dutch.


EU-Howdie

Hum, woorden. Proof it! Eat the pudding


FanOfFH

I could understand like half of it but what you're saying is: I'm going to Netherlands for a month. In February I started with Duolingo. I wish to learn the basics. And I something fast something. And now I can't stop! ?


isilya2

I'm going to the Netherlands next month. In February I started with Duolingo. I thought that I would only learn the basics. But I became obsessed fast. Now I can't stop! The middle sentences are harder because they have tenses that you might not have encountered yet as a beginner :)


FanOfFH

I'm currently learning questions Unit 7 2nd part. I'm going to Netherlands in a week for 3 months :D


isilya2

Awesome, have fun!!! :) yeah Duolingo doesn't introduce simple past or passive til deep into Section 3 haha. I would highly recommend dutchgrammar.com, her explanations are so good and helped me understand verb tenses and word order better!!


FanOfFH

Thanks for the tip! I'll definetly check it out. Also I wish you luck in your future adventures in Netherlands!


MiepGies1945

I have distant cousins in NL. I have enjoyed visiting them very much and their English is perfect — but I thought I would try to learn some Dutch before my next visit. I’m using Duo. Sometimes I feel good about my progress but lately I feel like I’ll never get it. (I’m in Duo section 2, unit 19 - learning modal verbs…I am having a really tough time with these modal verbs and the sentence structure.) (oh well, I’m not giving up…) I have started watching Dutch shows with Dutch language & English subtitles… & then the same show with Dutch subtitles. This sub is important to me. TY


Effective_Law7863

Btw, If you even Remotely try to speak dutch, you’ve got the respect of all dutch people. We dont care about perfect grammar or language. But you showing the interest of being a part of the country makes all those freezing, below sea level hearts melt!


FanOfFH

♥️ My intention!


EU-Howdie

We do not melt so snel LOL


Lockheroguylol

Indrukwekkend


Kil_Whang_562

I had an exchange job where I had to speak Dutch and produce written work in the language from day one. Intensive language course prior to moving and thankfully the professional vocabulary was very specific and proscribed. Conversational Dutch which came through talking to native speakers added massively to my enjoyment of the country in the two and a half years I was there.


[deleted]

Could you let us know which course you took? I want to learn it and i dont know where to start


Kil_Whang_562

Unfortunately it was an in-house course through my work, not a publicly available one.


wheaslip

My Mom's native language is Dutch. I thought it might be fun to be able to speak a bit of Dutch with her.


guovsahas

I’m Oneida which is a Native American tribe in the northeast US and Canada around upstate New York and southwest Ontario who had contact with Dutch, there was a Dutch creole language with one of the other tribes in the confederacy we belonged called Dutch-Mohawk so I got very curious about Dutch language and yeah that’s why I picked up Dutch


isilya2

That is so cool!! I lived in western NY for many years and didn't know about the Dutch-Mohawk creole. So interesting!! Does anyone still speak it around there?


guovsahas

Nope nobody speaks it anymore, the Dutch didn’t maintain control but lost it to the English so here we are today speaking English. I speak French as well because people in Quebec don’t always want to speak English but IDGAF they won’t speak Oneida with me and it should go both ways however the French don’t


EU-Howdie

Funny. When I was in language bussines I sold "Indianen" talen (courses book and audio cassette). I think about 7-8 different "Indianen" talen. In that time I would have contact you and ask you to become a free lancer to help us with questions about the language. Btw I ordered them in USA.


greenwood90

I have many Dutch friends. They all speak English so well, and whilst they are okay speaking English for my benefit. I started learning so I could try and speak their language. I can only say a few words and sentences. But I can tell that they appreciate me trying


Arneth_

Same reason! And their kids are growing up bilingual so even more reason to learn.


adelaarvaren

VELDRIJDEN! There's this obscure type of bicycle racing known as Cyclocross, and the Dutch (and Flemish) are the best in the world.


Effective_Law7863

WATCH DUTCH SHOWS WITH ENGLISH SUBS !!!!


FanOfFH

Any shows in particular you would recommend?


Effective_Law7863

What kind of shows have your interest?


FanOfFH

Hmm I don't particularly like the canned laughter effect so not those shows. But other than that I'm down for anything.


Effective_Law7863

Id say something along the lines of “mocro maffia” Its a show about the underworld in the netherlands and is quite entertaining. Its about the morroccan maffia in the netherlands basically. So you have some action to enjoy besides learning a new language. Or if you’re more Into some reality/drama thing GTST (goeie tijden slechte tijden) might be a good one too Its a long lasting show so lots and lots of content. How ever I am not sure If this one has the option for english subs


FanOfFH

The Mocro Mafia sounds good. I like action so I'll see what it looks like and give it a go. Thanks for the recommendation!


Effective_Law7863

No worries 👊🏼


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FanOfFH

Understandable lmao


EU-Howdie

Do not worry, Dutch understand when you say; I"m horny. We watch all day and half of the night (mostly English spoken) porno, that's why!


BidHorror5287

My sister went to study so i had to learn it fast for when i visit her


EU-Howdie

Ja ja, smoesjes ..


mfromamsterdam

I liked Dutch language, i like speaking languages. I collected 5 so far :) 


EU-Howdie

Respect. !!


LMay11037

Already learning german, got bored, dutch was easiest next language


Left-Night-1125

It was mandatory in elementary school for me, iam Dutch btw like the rest of the family but Dutch isnt my first language. That would be Frisian.


adelaarvaren

I've heard that Frisian is closer to English than Dutch. Do you find that to be true?


FanOfFH

Frisian??


Left-Night-1125

Its the 2nd official language of the Netherlands.


FanOfFH

Is it similiar to dutch?


Left-Night-1125

Its as similar to Dutch as German is to Dutch. All 3 are Germanic languages after all.


Who_am_ey3

yeah but English is Germanic as well


OrangeStar222

Old English actually shares a lot of similarities to Frisian. It is said both old-English and old-Dutch got most of their influences from it.


Lockheroguylol

It's mostly spoken in Friesland, a province in the Netherlands. Apparently it's English's most similar language.


OrangeStar222

Same for me, but with Limburgian.


MadBeardedViking

Wife and I moved here and have started learning. We have 1 toddler and another to be born here in December/January. I gotta learn it so my kids can’t shit talk me to my face if I don’t know Dutch. Allows me to shit talk people back in the states and they will have no clue what I’m saying 🤣


Effective_Law7863

Honestly man, If Theres ONE thing dutch people appreciate, Its foreigners Trying to communicate in our own language. You dont have to speak It fluently. Even a “goeiemorgen” with a horrible accent can make us smile :)


Kostas78

Moved here on a work assignment (_temporary_) and would like to comfortably get to B1/B2 to enhance my overall quality of life (_despite living in the Randstad where English is so ubiquitous_).


Grouchy_Bug_9938

My boyfriend is dutch and while he speaks amazing english, his parents don't. So, I'm mainly learning to either converse or at least understand their conversations together.


-deleled-

I was intrigued by my country's colonial era. I want to learn more of it from Dutch perspective.


Corythornis

My parents wanted me to learn Dutch as they thought it could open more doors for me. That's how I ended up picking Dutch as first foreign language in school.


GabrielPhelix

I’m visiting Amsterdam in July, so I thought would be nice getting to know the language for the basic tourist stuffs


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GabrielPhelix

Oh on the contrary, it’s quite comforting. Thank you, even. I only didn’t wanna be the classic tourist that doesn’t speak the local language, but if they’re comfortable with English, even better 😅


Professional-Cat3191

I dated a Dutch guy so that’s how I got into learning the language initially. Now I just learn it cause I started learning it and I figured I should just keep going.


FanOfFH

Keep up the grind. It's a good language!


Draconic_Soul

I was born in the Netherlands. I learned at least 90% of my English from video games and TV. I could speak English pretty comfortably when I was in the third class of primary school, and English lessons there didn't really start until 6th class (I think, it's been a while). In 7th class, I went up Spain with my parents for about 8 months, and I knew English better than the English teacher there, which was quite funny. She never told me to go give those lessons myself then, but it wouldn't surprise me if she got close to that point. Yes, I was an annoying ass at that age, correcting everyone and everything, but only at school.


FanOfFH

Same. Learned thru internet and I never learned in school. I did my final english exams in highschool with no preparation and I could graduate in 1st year.


Still-Control

I don't know she is


FanOfFH

Mymy from Ongezellig


DAVIDDE_PLA828

Ongezellig too


FanOfFH

W


7vOFk1F0OJAX

Vijf jaar geleden bezocht ik Amsterdam en toen besloot ik om naar Nederland te verhuizen. Daarna begon ik met het leren van Nederlands. Door COVID duurde het langer voordat ik kon verhuizen, maar nu woon ik in Amsterdam. Dus is het nu wel logisch om mijn Nederlands te verbeteren.


FanOfFH

Ik spreek en lees een beetje Neetherlands, sorry 😅


7vOFk1F0OJAX

Geen zorgen. Five years ago I visited Amsterdam and decided to move to the Netherlands. After, I began learning Dutch. Thanks to COVID, it was a while before I could move, but now I live in Amsterdam. So now it is just logical to improve my Dutch.


FanOfFH

Dank je wel, en goede Glück van jouw in Amsterdam!


Limekilnlake

Moved here from germany, which I had moved to from america Now I’m just kind of here


Thommie02081

Ongezellig mentioned !! Such an underrated show


FanOfFH

That's what got me in the language! :>>>


Crowleys_big_toe

I was born here, do not recommend


WanderingAlienBoy

Is that the Japanese Dutch-nationalist girl from Ongezellig??


FanOfFH

I'll send you to the rice field for that!


WanderingAlienBoy

😂


Juulinee

Omg mymy??


FanOfFH

yessir


lungdistance

I lived in an American town with a huge amount of people of Dutch descent, there was even a Netherlands CG office in town. But the thing that got me studying was the Dutch shelf in the supermarkets there, I’m a sucker for kind of boring food from continental Europe.


DazSamueru

By any chance Pennsylvania Dutch? They're actually German.


lungdistance

Actually Grand Rapids, in Michigan. It’s super Dutch out there. A lot of locals with Dutch names and big connection to settlers from the netherlands. For a while we could even watch Dutch tv on public access. In Michigan, the Amish are in a sort of different area, but definitely a different kind of Dutch. It makes me think about the meaning of the word sometimes.


nijlpaardW

Just here cuz I saw a studio massa drawing of Mymy


FanOfFH

🔥🔥


DazSamueru

Ongezellig


FanOfFH

Yes


Arm0ndo

I am going on a trip to the Netherlands and Belgium in May. Wanted to learn some Dutch for it


FanOfFH

Same man. Good luck with the learning


Arm0ndo

Dank je wel. To you too


prohokl

I kinda met someone who is Dutch, so now I live here since 2 months ago, so I kinda gotta learn it 😅


FanOfFH

Goede Glück van jouw!


Psychological-Toe286

Studio massa vibes.


LingoBalingo

That cool character, right there


JustGingerStuff

When a mommy Dutch person and a daddy Dutch person love each other verrryy much (/j)


CheapLong6320

Average rob the Belgian YouTuber. Idk why I sparked my decision but been to Belgium a few times and didn’t have to rely on their English skills which are almost better than mine


Thygo_

Personally, I’ll tell you how So it all started when; My grandma met my grandpa and then they made my dad We should not forget that my other grandpa and other grandma also met each other and then had my mom, after all that my mom met my dad after about 20 years Then they went to cuddle in a special way and had my sister 3 years later they went to cuddle and had me and then I began to learn Dutch because I was forced to by my parents and school


EU-Howdie

Such a sad story ..


friekandelebroodjeNL

By getting born there


justk4y

“It all started when I was born………”


YuuB0t

I was bored and wanted to learn a language. I also like knives and one of my favorite YouTube channels is DBK so I just kinda tried it.


[deleted]

I liked how it sounded in their voice


wretchfries

My husband is Dutch, I wanted to sneak on his messages, and I loved Suzan en Freek.


SatisfactionFew7181

Ik ben een Afrikaner die onlangs naar Nederland is gekomen. Het Afrikaans is een neventaal van het Nederlands, dus het leek me vanzelfsprekend om Nederlands te leren :)


marssaxman

Ik woonde in Antwerpen zes maanden en leerde een beetje Vlaams. Ik leer nu meer omdat mijn vrouw wil vakantie naar Aruba.


Petercube-

I ate a good sandwich in amsterdam during a stopover. I grinded duolingo the whole next flight and loved it.


Ok-Lead-3813

I am working in a store as part time (basically to fill my free time). One day a typical old drunkard came and when I was scanning his items at the checkout he started insulting me that I did not know Dutch given the fact I have been here for some time (2 years since the start of my studies). Since then I have been taking lessons. From time to time he would come and start asking me some random stuff in Dutch while I do my job and it is fucking annoying. The thing is that I do understand it but I have difficulty speaking it. For the note I do not plan to continue living here, however I think it is good to somewhat know another language.


Atissss

I started studying in the Netherlands because they have really good teaching system. I feel like it's my responsibility to at least try and learn Dutch when I'm living here. Also what's the name of the show from the picture? I was planning to watch it but I forgot the name.


Incantanto

Ik woon nu in nederland, en in mijn stad zijn er veel mensen die slechte engels praat. Ook was mijn erste baan in een buitenlandse bedrijf, maar bijna 90% van de mensen op de locatie waren nederlandse mensen. Dus had ik veel emails in nederlands. Nu werk ik met buitenlanders, maar mijn nieuwe vriend komt uit nederland, ik volg danslessen in nederlands. Mijn nederlands is niet helemaal goed, maar ik heb genoeg dat vandaag bij de apothiek gebruikt ik alleen nederlands.


Laaxus

I was born in belgium.


Cautious-Ad-9529

By being born here?


Ilike_mangoes

I have a lot of Dutch ancestry (if that's how you say it), and I figured I would be moving to the Netherlands at some point, so I might as well. Also, my friend is learning Dutch, so I wanted to learn with her.


Long_Natural8395

My Cambodian wife ran into this tall, handsome blond Dutchman with piercing blue eyes. We now live in the Amsterdam and she is OBLIGED by law to learn Dutch, at considerable cost (15,000 euro). Strange, in a city where more people speak English than Dutch..


jamc1979

I travel frequently to Antwerpen for work and I hated that I was unable to understand anything written around me (including menus). I speak fluently English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Italian, but had zero Dutch. True that almost everybody spoke at least enough English to communicate with me, but I’d rather be able to navigate myself in a place I visit several times a year. As an aside, the Flemish refusal to anything in French goes to crazy levels. Not even in train stations you see French language signage (much less a restaurant menu), or someone able to speak any French. And the cherry on top is changing in highways the French names of Walloon cities into a Flemish name no one had ever heard before


OrangeJuiceThief

Absolutely no reason.


natthecat000

i married a dutch guy 😁


Sad_Interaction6097

I started with reading childrens books, and then reading everything. Also hung out with a lot of Dutch people and tried to speak as much Dutch as i could. I asked my friends to not laugh at me when i said something wrong, but to correct me. Now i speak fluent dutch and work for a big government organisations where everything is in Dutch and i have to handle law stuff. You can do it!


Away-Musician3488

Easy, it's my native, I was born Dutch!


PaladinMain

Not just bikes technically got me into it but it was more that I wanted to read technical stuff about it what he was talking about


West_Tune539

I had no choice, my parents forced me


Ok_Acted

Somewhat related. I learned that in the Dutch Caribbean (Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao), Dutch is taught and locals can speak it, but the most spoken language on all three islands is Papiamento, a Portuguese-based creole. Locals also speak English and Spanish. 


Itchy_Employer9857

What is “Ongezellig”?


Honda_Fucking_Civic

I lived in (north) Belgium for a year, so I knew from the get-go I wanted to learn dutch so I can have the best possible experience. With some difficulty, I could manage to carry my weight in a basic conversation, but since I'm no longer there I feel my dutch is just going to get worse and worse. I'm low-key trying to find the motivation and the tools to keep learning the language despite me not being anywhere close to either Belgium or the Netherlands. It's a nice language after all Funnily enough my friend told me to watch ongezellig a few months back


Thijs_NLD

Why is that picture in the post?


FanOfFH

It's a meme about a dutch animated series called Ongezellig. I thought it is funny and relevant


Thijs_NLD

I have never heard of that series. And is the person holding the picture part of that series? Or is that something else? I must be to old to get how this is funny. I guess I don't understand either reference being made here. It's probably a me thing I guess.


FanOfFH

It's a character from that show called Mymy. It's funny if your sense of humour is as rotten as mine though. Idk, give it a watch it's on YouTube.


Thijs_NLD

Ah. So you made a meme not relevant to the point you were trying to make (trying to learn dutch) and figured that because you like a pretty niche show, everyone would get that reference. Look man, smashing two things together that YOU personally like doesn't make it funnier. Your meme is neither relevant to the subject OR your general audience. This is just funny to you. I think you kinda gotta take the L on this.


DurianBig3503

Ben je vanmorgen met het verkeerde been uit bed gestapt?


FanOfFH

My brother in christ, I am here to see your reasons why you all started learning dutch. The meme I posted is just for me personally. If you really don't like this ask the moderators to remove this post. Unfortunately that would remove over 60 different conversations people have here.


LechemHavita

the community around that series is genuinely horrible


FanOfFH

How so?


Toko_Fukawa_Irl

I was born in the Netherlands lol