Learning Dutch (Nederlands leren)

We've been here almost a week now so you probably expect me to be entirely fluent in Dutch by this time, but unfortunately, the opposite is true. Despite my best intentions to learn the language, I currently know approximately two Dutch words: "hullo" (hello, duh) and "straat" (street). Before we left, I bought several books on Dutch, including a dictionary, an audiobook, a phrase book, etc... And not one of them have been opened yet. My main excuse for this laziness is that about 99% of Dutch people speak English, so that makes it slightly difficult to motivate myself to learn this crazy language. But every street, menu, newspaper, sign, etc. is in Dutch, so it makes it a bit hard to get around not knowing how to read anything at all. Plus, people have started speaking to me constantly in Dutch (at least they don't instantly peg me as an American... my last name is Stryker after all, which could be Dutch even though it isn't), and since I don't even know the phrase for "I don't speak Dutch" all I can do is look at them with a blank stare until they realize that they need to try again in English. People have even been coming up to me all the time asking for directions, and since I am constantly lost in the city and can't understand a word they're saying, I have begun to feel like it's time for me to open that phrasebook and get a decent map.

My other main excuse for not being a fluent Dutch speaker by now is that I have no idea to pronounce anything at all. Dutch words in general are way too long and have about 9 vowels each. They also tend to be pronounced with the throat instead of the mouth and tongue. One humorous native Dutch speaker told Brian and I the other day that if we wanted to be understood in Dutch, all we had to do is vomit and everyone would understand what we were saying. Another told us that her throat hurts after speaking too much Dutch because there is so much hacking when speaking it. Well, since my background is in the beautiful Latin-based languages (you know, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese...), these comments are a little bit unnerving to me. Dutch is not one of these flowy romance languages, and people do not sound beautiful when they speak it. On the other hand, English isn't the prettiest language either, and I always love a challenge.

So, here we go... ik spreek geen nederlands ("I don't speak Dutch!")!

Vondelpark, a very pretty park near where we're hoping to live

Fishstick thoroughly enjoying himself in the sun

Tot straks,

Krista