Blogs & Photos

05/02/2007The open door

On discovering that I have now secured a job as the features editor of Expatica Netherlands, which should keep me in Holland for a while yet, I find myself once more thinking of the difficult relationship I have with the Dutch language.

As Scottish travel writer Alastair Reid observes in his book 'Whereabouts – notes on being a foreigner': "Learning a foreign language is a process of slowly divesting oneself of scaffolding. In the end, something stands up by itself and, if it is lucky walks away."

Certainly, learning a language isn't just about learning the grammar, you need to open up on an emotional level as well and take on a new 'persona' along with the language.

Languages are like people, we feel an attraction to some more than to others. The language that 'fits' your personality, or that you feel drawn to most is the one you will be most willing to lose yourself in, and therefore learn.

I lived in France for seven years before coming to The Netherlands and after some effort, got to grips with the French language. Once I was fluent I really enjoyed speaking French through the 'persona' I adopted while in 'French mode'.

However, my Dutch persona has eluded me so far.

I have been so 'undutchable' that I even blocked reading 'The UnDutchables', a book which takes a humorous as well as accurate view of 'the Netherlands, its culture and its inhabitants', and which was presented to me one birthday, much to my surprise, by a Dutch friend of mine.

At the time I remember feeling mildly insulted by the gift. After all, being given such a book is a statement in itself, especially after you've been living a few years in the Netherlands. The message I received – a projection of my paranoia of course, was, "You are hopeless at integrating into Holland and you certainly have no ability for learning the Dutch language."

I slipped the book 'untouched' into my book shelf and blocked it out.

1 2 Next >

< Previous article Next article >