The title means \u2018I DO NOT UNDERSTAND YOU\u2019,\u00a0 and that is what I\u2019ve been feeling a lot of lately.\u00a0 Yeah, this is another language rant.<\/p>\n
I feel like a coma patient who woke up and suddenly has to learn their language all over again, err\u2026 only it\u2019s not my language.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I regretfully spent so long living in here Holland and tuning out the language that now that I want to interact and understand it frustrates me when I can\u2019t.<\/p>\n
For years I just avoided the language.\u00a0\u00a0 It was too difficult, I thought that if I learned it I would be telling Xander that I never want to leave.\u00a0\u00a0 There was a plethora of reasons why I avoided it, but avoid it I did and I did it well.\u00a0\u00a0 People around me could be speaking and I wouldn\u2019t hear a word they said.\u00a0 If the radio or TV was on I turned a deaf ear and ignored it.<\/p>\n
I know, it was stupid\u2026 don\u2019t ask me to explain why I felt that way.\u00a0\u00a0 Even I have no idea now, after the fact.<\/p>\n
There came a point where that changed though.\u00a0 I think once I realized that was here for good and that this is the language I\u2019d be living at least part of my life in.\u00a0\u00a0 I had heard about Dutch classes given by the government so I went and asked to be enrolled.\u00a0\u00a0 I had to ask, because I am Canadian and they figure I can get by because I speak English, everyone else is forced to take them.\u00a0\u00a0 They went on about how they are intensive Dutch classes <\/em>and I was ready, I was pumped!<\/p>\n Those intensive Dutch classes turned out to be lame ass, get refugees off welfare, bare minimum so they can get out to work \u2013 Dutch lessons.\u00a0\u00a0 UGH!\u00a0 I did learn more and it really helped my confidence with speaking the language but it was nothing like I expected.\u00a0\u00a0 After a year I finished the course at the top of my class and moved on.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t know enough Dutch to really carry on proper conversations and I certainly didn\u2019t know enough to work in the language\u2026 I knew just enough to get by.<\/p>\n That was a few years ago and between speaking English at home and a general lack of socialization with the Dutch, my skills haven\u2019t improved that<\/em> much.\u00a0\u00a0 Sure, I know more words and can speak more than when I was fresh out of that course but I am still far from fluent and am pitifully behind after being here for almost 9 years.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sure if I was Japanese, Turkish or Moroccan I\u2019d be fluent by now, but knowing English is a curse in a way, because it makes it easy to avoid speaking the native language when you don\u2019t want to.<\/p>\n Now, I\u2019ve reached an awkward stage.\u00a0\u00a0 I know quite a lot of Dutch, I can understand most of what goes on around me when I am out and about, and I can carry on small conversations with neighbours and such.\u00a0\u00a0 What ticks me off is that I don\u2019t know enough to get a job working in Dutch and there are still times when I\u2019m completely lost.\u00a0\u00a0 I can talk to one person without any issues, then a few minutes later try to speak to someone else and don\u2019t seem to understand a word they say.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It frustrates me!<\/p>\n I can\u2019t turn a deaf ear to the language anymore and I can\u2019t tune it out.\u00a0\u00a0 I understand enough now to be irritated when I come across things I don\u2019t know yet.\u00a0\u00a0 I want to learn more and understand everything<\/em> that goes on around me.\u00a0\u00a0 I want those insignificant conversations and situations back!<\/p>\n For example\u2026 the other day I was out and saw a man with his son.\u00a0\u00a0 The kid did something cute and I wanted to make a passing comment to the man.\u00a0\u00a0 He knew I saw it and was looking at me and in any normal situation the passer by would say something.\u00a0 I knew exactly what I wanted to say in English but was stopped in my tracks when I realized if I was going to say anything it would have to be in Dutch\u2026 and I didn\u2019t know how to say what I wanted to say to him.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So instead I gave an awkward smile and a look that tried to tell him \u2018hey, I saw it, just because I\u2019m not saying anything doesn\u2019t mean I didn\u2019t see how cute your kid is!\u2019.<\/p>\n I want more Dutch.\u00a0\u00a0 I crave it.\u00a0 I do try to speak it as much as possible when I am out but I need something more\u2026 and god love Xander, but trying to learn from him is a painful experience because he is too much of a perfectionist.\u00a0\u00a0 He won\u2019t let me just be understood in the beginning, I need to be perfect\u2026 and that just leads to me telling him (in English) where he can stick it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Trying to learn from him is like asking someone how to microwave a piece of pizza and then sitting through a 20 minute explanation on how to make pizza dough from scratch.\u00a0\u00a0 He tries, but he is completely incapable of simplifying and he just confuses me more than when I started.<\/p>\n I need a course, a REAL course.\u00a0\u00a0 One that makes you learn the language on a higher level than just learning how to ask for chicken in the supermarket.\u00a0\u00a0 I want to LIVE this language.\u00a0\u00a0 I am so flippin\u2019 done with being a permanent tourist in this country language wise\u2026 I\u2019m ready to be one of the locals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The title means \u2018I DO NOT UNDERSTAND YOU\u2019,\u00a0 and that is what I\u2019ve been feeling a lot of lately.\u00a0 Yeah, this is another language rant. I feel like a coma patient who woke up and suddenly has to learn their language all over again, err\u2026 only it\u2019s not my language.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I regretfully spent so long …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,6],"tags":[104,33,57],"class_list":["post-913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-life-in-nl","category-tantrums-rants","tag-dutch-lessons","tag-netherlands","tag-rants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=913"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1250,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913\/revisions\/1250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}