The most frustrating part of this move is the language difference. Whenever I'm out with Martin, and he's talking with someone (eg. shopping), I have 4 choices:
1) go to another part of the store, so that I'm not involved in the conversation at all
2) stand beside him, looking to be interested in whatever he's talking about, but not saying a word, like a good submissive wife who doesn't care about the outcome. I feel really rude doing this.
3) pretend that I'm Dutch, using a few words (like "thank you"), at the risk of the other person carrying on a conversation with me in Dutch
4) mention that I only speak English, which often makes a scene.
I don't like any of these choices. So off to learn Dutch for me :)
I think you'll pick it up easily! At least it sounds somewhat similar to English and uses the same alphabet! Don't be discouraged! I took me a month to distinguish words, 3 months to start to memorize easy sentences, and 6 months to make simple sentences BUT ALL IN A LANGUAGE VERY UNLIKE ENGLISH- KOREAN.
ReplyDeleteStudy and put on any dutch TV station in the background whenever you are home. It helped me tons.
YOU CAN DO IT!
Wow... Jess, I'm really impressed that you're picking up Korean already, but I'm very thankful that I don't have to learn a new alphabet!! Thanks for your encouragement :)
ReplyDeleteIs this Jess, or someone else?
ReplyDeleteHey TL, I picked up Dutch once I really put my mind to it, it became much easier. If you work at it you'll get it. :) Once you start to recognize words, you'll notice many similarities to English. Watching tv is a great way to help you pick it up faster but don't get discouraged by tv... they talk fast on news especially and it can be hard to follow. One thing my family did, was they would say a sentence in Dutch, then translate for me and they'd help me make a sentence to reply using the words they'd used. This helps you learn everyday words quickly and you get used to sentence structure and asking/answering questions. It'll be tiring at first but it does get easier :) I'll be praying for you!
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