Speak English mothersmurfer!
Over here (in the Netherlands) all official papers etc are available in arabic among other languages.
I was in The Hague for a few days and everything was in English. (advertisements, shop names, restaurant menu's). I'm used to that being so in Amsterdam but I didn't know other big cities did this too.
So many people never learn to speak Dutch, even though they have lived here for years!
One of my teachers is from London and she said she never really had to learn Dutch since everyone adressed her in English. After ten years she still can't speak Dutch without a very heavy accent.
My best friends (American) mother didn't learn to speak "proper" Dutch in fourteen years.
@ Finnish/Swedish thing. Lots of people think Dutch and German are the same language or so similar that we can understand each other. Ehm. No.
(Not related to what I said before but reading this thread reminded me of this:
I was in Michigan last year, speaking Dutch to my friend and some guy then told his friends:
They're Russians! )
Over here (in the Netherlands) all official papers etc are available in arabic among other languages.
I was in The Hague for a few days and everything was in English. (advertisements, shop names, restaurant menu's). I'm used to that being so in Amsterdam but I didn't know other big cities did this too.
So many people never learn to speak Dutch, even though they have lived here for years!
One of my teachers is from London and she said she never really had to learn Dutch since everyone adressed her in English. After ten years she still can't speak Dutch without a very heavy accent.
My best friends (American) mother didn't learn to speak "proper" Dutch in fourteen years.
@ Finnish/Swedish thing. Lots of people think Dutch and German are the same language or so similar that we can understand each other. Ehm. No.
(Not related to what I said before but reading this thread reminded me of this:
I was in Michigan last year, speaking Dutch to my friend and some guy then told his friends:
They're Russians! )