Fri, 19 March 2010
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Be it noble or masochistic, Expatica's blogger has decided to learn the Dutch language, but what is she getting herself into?Andrew and I are taking Dutch lessons. I alter between thinking this is a noble way to integrate more fully into our community and considering it a totally masochistic endeavor.
Learning Dutch ... a noble cause or masochism?
Neither of us are strangers to learning languages. Being brought up in Canada's bilingual province, New Brunswick, it was considered important to my future job prospects to enroll in a French immersion program in junior high school. 
I had grown up with French classes in elementary school, French on Sesame Street and French on road signs. Most of my friends were enrolled in immersion as well and with a child's inherent adaptability, it was only a matter of weeks before I was speaking full sentences en Français.
Six years later I graduated high school with a certificate stating that I was bilingual.
Then I moved to Nova Scotia for university. Despite its large Acadian French population, Nova Scotia (NS) is decidedly English. Even though Andrew, who grew up in NS, took French immersion as well, we both went through university without speaking so much as a word of French.
Fast forward to my current life in Brussels. I am, in turn, amazed at the French that has remained filed away in the dusty recesses of my brain after years of neglect; and horrified at the simple French words that have fled my vocabulary.
However, each time I venture into the city, I am more and more comfortable with my ability to parler.
My French does little good in Everberg. While only a 15 minute drive from the heart of Brussels, in language, Everberg is as Flemish as can be.
While many people, expats and locals alike, insist that there is not much value in learning Dutch, as most people can communicate in English or French, I feel it is important.
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