Speak Dutch with Me!!!

25/7/2013

Many expats are sick of Dutch people speaking English to them in shops, bars, restaurants etc. For those of us who have lived here a while this is nothing new, however today’s article in the Volkskrant newspaper; "Haagse expats zijn het zat; ze spreken heus wel Nederlands" (Dutch expats have had enough; they can speak Dutch) yet again shines a light on the subject.

But will anything change?

I remember when I was learning Dutch how frustrating it was to receive a reply in English each time I made an effort to speak the language. It is meant well but it's very annoying when you're trying to practice a language and the person you're talking to insists on speaking with you in English. I’m pretty stubborn, so I just kept going in Dutch regardless. It must have been quite funny to an outsider, me speaking (or should I say trying to speak) in broken Dutch, Dutch person replying in English.

I remember a so-called friend refusing to speak Dutch with me…”but it’s much easier for me to speak English with you, it takes too much time to have a conversation if you want to speak Dutch”. Thanks for the vote of confidence. That friendship didn’t last.

I’ve lived in the Netherlands for over 10 years and in that time I’ve lost count of the amount of Dutch people who have commented on internationals living here who don’t speak the language. Yes, there are many who don’t bother learning it for one reason or another, but there are many who do try to learn, and guess why a lot of them give up???? Yes, you’ve got it! Because it’s kinda hard to practice a language when the locals refuse to speak it with you.

If I may give a wee little bit of advice…..

For anyone wanting to learn Dutch– go for it, it’s not that difficult, keep practicing, be stubborn, and if the person keeps on in English try asking them why they don’t want you to learn their language.

For the Dutch folk – yes you do mean well when you switch to English, no-one is arguing with that, but if someone makes an effort to speak Dutch with you please make an effort to reply in Dutch.

Click here for the full Volkskrant article

7 Comments

The Smiling Dutchman link

25/7/2013 02:10:42 am

This is exactly what I tell my Dutch friends: speak Dutch, and if expats do not understand you, help them out in English.

I think the biggest problem is that in some strange way, most of the Dutch are always in some kind of hurry and do not take the time to wait for "struggling" expats to say what they want in Dutch. Why else would we Dutch people say "hoe laat is het" (how late is it) when we ask for the time? Exactly; we are in a hurry.

I always tell my students to say: "Nederlands alstublieft, anders ga ik" (Dutch please, otherwise I leave). And it works! Most of the Dutch people you encounter have a shop or sell services, so they need the expat community. This way, you can blackmail them a bit.

If speaking Dutch to the locals and forcing them to speak Dutch to you is not enough to learn the language, you can always contact me to help you out!

Encarny P

7/9/2013 11:38:56 pm

It is so true!!! I came here four years ago for the first time as a tourist; I felt in love with the language, then, I got an scholarship in Tilburg; where I had my first Dutch lessons (finally!! For two years I've been studying for myself) for International Students, level A1. Now I want to continuous with Dutch; but, in my case, I am trying so hard, that I don't want to give up!! But, sometimes, I think, well,..they will answer to me straight away in English, even, if I order some tea. But thanks of this article, maybe, more Dutch workers in the trainstation will not switch to English. Thank you for sharing this information. Now, I know, it was just not my impression and I know that many other expat people feel like me.

Louis Hofman

7/9/2013 11:39:49 pm

I admit I have been guilty of this. With my ex I spoke for 17 years almost always in French even though often she would talk to me in Dutch :-).

11/9/2013 10:05:15 pm

Hi Caitriona, I am Dutch, I am a teacher of Dutch as a second language and what you say is completely true.
I always tell my students to be stubborn and keep trying even when people answer them in English.
But the truth is: most Dutch people are meaning well when the answer in English, they think it's easier, quicker and more convenient for the foreigner (pffffff, great misunderstanding!)

28/10/2013 07:31:22 am

I totally understand where you're coming from! But as you said yourself, Dutch mean it well (like myself). Like earlier comments stated, we learn at school to always speak English when the opportunity arises. I myself am 18 years old and studying interdisciplinary social studies and speak Dutch, English, French and German. All my textbooks and articles are in English, so I don't even know some words in Dutch.

So when someone is trying to speak Dutch to me, I try to help the other person by speaking English. But besides that, Dutch is a really difficult language and hard to understand (even for Dutch) when spoken with an accent. I know people who are Dutch/have lived here for a great amount of time, but (still) can't speak proper Dutch. They aren't always English, so I can't communicate with them in English. But neither in Dutch! So it's really awkward to talk with them. The point I'm trying to make is Dutch is hard to understand when spoken with an accent, so it takes a lot of time to have a conversation with someone who is still trying to learn the language. I would love to take the time to learn someone the language, but most of the time (when you talk to me in the streets or a shop) I'm in a hurry. Another reason is whenever I'm in a foreign country, I'm spoken to in the language they speak in that country. So for instance in Spain they keep talking Spanish to me. That's really frustrating because I don't speak that language! I'm glad I speak French, so I do understand a bit of what they're saying. But that's also why I talk English to foreigners in my own country: I know how it feels when people talk to you in a language you don't understand. I know the feeling of struggling with your words, because you only know really basic words in that language (like I have with Spanish for example). But above all, as I mentioned before, I start talking English automatically when I notice someone isn't from the Netherlands. It's not really something I can change.

When someone explicity says to me they want to speak/learn Dutch, I'll try. But that's only something you can make clear when we're not standing in a crowded shop with six people standing behind you in line and you're trying to figure out what "drieëndertig" means. So when you were my friend, then I would speak Dutch. Even though it would be pretty frustrating sometimes.

I hope you understand a little better why we/I speak English to foreigners most of the time! Maybe you already knew this.

I do think it's great you're trying to learn/have learned Dutch (especially because Dutch is a really complicated language and sometimes just doesn't make sense. I know most of the grammar rules, but most people, also the ones at my university, do not because some rules just don't make any sense. Maybe you're familliar with the difference between "hen" and "hun"?).

Sorry for my rambling, I just tried to help!
So you're fluent in Dutch now?

26/3/2020 03:31:51 pm

Unfortunately the Dutch do not usually 'mean it well' when they speak English even against the stated or obvious wish of their interlocutor. If they did mean well, they would not do it.

Glen Parry link

28/11/2020 07:59:13 am

Nicce blog post

Speak Dutch with Me!!!

Leave a Reply.

Archives

Categories