Language Lesson Part IV: Finding Teachers in Unexpected Places

I’ve taken a little break from worrying too much about learning Dutch. Things like, oh, finding a place to live, getting status here, and zwangerschap have taken priority. However, I’m getting back on track. And here is partly how I’m doing it:

1. Find a husband with an amazing ability in language. (Thankfully, I only had to look as far as the one I already have.) Dan is incredible! He keeps learning and absorbing words at such a fast rate. A lot of his learning has come from reading legal documents for our quest to get our status resolved, want ads for apartments, and talking to the people in the office. So his word bank complements mine quite well, which is based largely on Dr. Phil and Oprah shows and trips to the grocery store. (I, for instance, know how to say “My mother-in-law eats red peppers.” Dan could say, “I need to rent this apartment. Do you have an application?” Therefore, together we can say, “My mother-in-law needs an application to rent red peppers.”)

2. Read the want ads. Latest vocabulary addition? Kooi. This is from two want ads at the grocery store: hamsterkooi and vogelkooi. I knew from a trip to a bird park that bird is “vogel”. I think we all know what a “hamster” is. So kooi, we deduced, is a cage!

3. Move somewhere where there aren’t a lot of foreigners. In Rotterdam, it was hard to find someone who refused to speak English. Here, whew! At the question “Spreekt u engels?” I’ve had people start gasping for air, run away from me, and just simply say, "NO". (Funny thing is, NO isn’t Dutch.) Well, that means I better speak nederlands if I need to figure something out!