On Language

When I come to a new country, I certainly do my best to learn the language. But the utility of Dutch is pretty non-existent, when you consider that nearly everyone here speaks English and the language is basically spoken nowhere else. Ok, so I'm ignoring Aruba, etc., but the point is, this isn't like learning something with value, like arabic or spanish.

Upon arrival I managed to learn to identify the crucial words posted on apartments all over town, "Te Huur" and "Te Koop" -- for rent and for sale. I dutifully recorded phone numbers and addresses, only to discover that anyway real estate agencies wouldn't deal with my six month stay.

The Dutch also say "sorry," which luckily means, "sorry," so I figured that was a word within my grasp, but despite my best efforts to mimic their accent, they still reply, "No problem at all." I next turned to numbers and the first few numerals came easily, so I looked for the rest in my guidebook (Nagel's Holland Travel Guide (1951)), but it warns, "it is almost impossible for a foreigner to understand figures spoken by the Dutch." So it goes.

And I think I have a sufficiently difficult lingual challenge at the office with the French -- a challenge which I adore -- so I'll probably stick there, for now.




Although I must add that another barrier is the stupid Chipknip (pictured above). The thing is, they give me change in coins everywhere, including 1 and 2 euro coins, the latter being worth almost three bucks. But then when you go to a vending machine, for say, a much too alluring 20 cent cup of instant coffee, you can't buy it, since they only take Chipknip.