Nederlands

Goedemorgen! Hoe gaat het met u?

I tackled Dutch tonight..And in all honesty, it wasn't even tackling..More like mauling, destroying, obliterating, vaporizing, or basically choking it out.

Dutch has by far been one of the EASIEST languages to pick up, and here's why: it has some Germanic roots. Don't know any Germanic languages? No? You're lying. If you can understand what you're reading right now, then you definitely know a Germanic language, because English is one!

Also, let me clear something up, because I used to be in the same boat. Dutch is spoken as the official language of The Netherlands. There is no country called Dutchland. Norwegian is spoken in Norway, Danish is spoken in Denmark, and Flemish in Belgium. Got it? Heel goed.

Tonight's lesson dealt with greetings, such as "How are you?", "very good", and basically anything to get me in and out of a short casual conversation. But I really wanted to focus on how easy it was. Because English is Germanic, and because Dutch has Germanic roots, a lot can be understood just because some words look and sound the same.

For instance:

English - I speak.
Dutch - Ik spreek.

English - Thank you.
Dutch - Dank u.

English - Not so well.
Dutch - Niet zo goed.

See where I'm coming from? There are differences when it comes to pronunciation, and there is the breathy 'g' sound for words like 'goed', but it's nothing that's impossible to anyone. It almost felt like I was a child in nursery school learning to speak English all over again. Dutch = Super easy. Learn it.

Resources to help me spell: None except Google Translate. Once you understand the sound words make with a "oe" and with a "g", you really barely need to use it. A lovely language from what I am sure are an equally lovely group of people. Can't wait to learn more.

And before you say anything...Yessssss I know I need to do Vietnamese for y'all...It's coming..It's coming..Chill.

Tot ziens,

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