Buitenlanders leren de Nederlandse taal

“Foreigners learn the Dutch language.” It would seem too easy for one who is determined to study another language to hook up with the right kinds of forums even from close friends on social media site. Well, this was the case when I wanted to refresh my Spanish. I had more native Spanish speakers than I could use willing to help. Also, the same is with French speakers. I found many willing (especially out of Quebec) that were glad when people wanted to learn French and impart a bit of Quebec culture too.

Most speakers of other languages on language forums are willing to help and are often willing to give respectful correction. Learning an language, or even refreshing another, requires feedback from native speakers or a language instructor, especially in writing, and is vitally important.

This is not the case when attempting to make use of internet resources when it comes to the Dutch language, and I will give an analysis as to why this is in a minute. When a foreigners (buitenlanders) are trying to learn and advance their Dutch language ability they find walls of stone on the same social media sites. Not only one does not get the same friendly help was with other speakers of French and Spanish from speakers of Dutch, some play silly games at it too. Once, a fellow said he wanted to learn elementary Spanish in exchange for my learning of writing Dutch grammar.  I wasn’t going to make a lot of demands. After some attempts to friend him, he showed up on the same Facebook group and said the deal was off. This is part of many stories about sheer lack of basic civility toward buitenlanders leren de Nederlandse taal. There is also a sheer lack of pride on the part of the Dutch that most learners of their language are well outside of the Netherlands and are willing to take the time to learn their language. There is also a sheer lack of equal understanding that this interest in the Dutch language is not from those who are trying to immigrate, but from Americans, Canadians and Brits.

Until I found a certain friendly forum early this spring (write me if you want to know where it is! Have a valid email address!), there were few places where learners of Dutch like myself could actually go and not be subjected to games, exclusion and rude behaviour I eventually spent the end of October last year to the end of March this year just studying Dutch grammar on a daily basis. I have built a good knowledge base of Dutch grammar. I can read most Dutch language books with a dictionary, webpages and understand about 65% of spoken words on NOS news programs enough to understand whole news stories.

This ill treatment of us Dutch language learners has been felt by others that I have been in contact with over the past year. All the people I have made contact with are not attempting to learn Dutch for purposes of immigrating to the Netherlands. One lady told me her grandparents were Dutch and she wanted to learn it for ethnic purposes. The reason for this ill treatment of Dutch language learners, people like me, goes to the core of what is really wrong in Dutch politics and culture today. The whole notion of “non-western immigrants” that should be kept out of the Netherlands and has now manifested itself in policies that are getting the Netherlands in hot water with human rights NGOs, like Human Rights Watch. [see report]

Placing obstacles to learning the Dutch language appears to be an tacit strategy on the part of the Dutch government and obnoxious nationalists alike to keep out the buitenlanders.

There is also a rather well-known and often quoted episode from interviews and focus groups on immigrants in the Netherlands by Maykel Verkuyten in 1997. This excerpt I see often quoted in books on non-Western immigrants in the Netherlands and their supposed lack of ability in or “respect” for the Dutch language. It may be a part of the attitude of looking down at learners of Dutch, who make obviously mistakes when learning, and “are showing a lack of respect for the Dutch language” by making mistakes.  From Paul Sniderman and Louk Hagendoorn, When Ways of Life Collide (2007, 71-72):

At this shop all people…most people who work there are Turkish. And they speak Turkish. It is okay with me if people speak Turkish among themselves, but I hate it that they speak Turkish every time I am in the shop. Therefore I went to one of these young Turks and I tell him: “Hey listen, I don’t want to make an big point of it, but you are in the Netherlands and you work in a Dutch shop, so why don’t you speak Dutch?” He answers: “That is none of your  business!” So I go to the manager and it appears to have been discussed many times … and the manger concludes that he “can do nothing about it.”

This is the Netherlands and I am in a Dutch shop, so let them speak Dutch, because it is very unpleasant to walk around there as a Dutch person and you hear people only speaking Turkish.

Over the past couple of months, I have a goal in mind to make access to Dutch language learning easier for anyone, with an internet connection, anyplace on Earth. Without feedback – you simply don’t know if you are using the language properly. I also use an internet-based, language learning school where I get feedback on short writing assignments in the Dutch language and I pay for this course. The internet could be a powerful tool for learn languages – just as it is for other distance learning – but courses have to be structured properly with timely feedback. I would like to go one step further in that I would like to someday see free or low cost tutoring in especially writing in the Dutch language, without hostility, available to anyone willing to take the time to learn.

Well, there is a little community of us who are Dutch language learners and we occupy various learning spaces. We come from diverse places. You will not stop us from learning the Dutch language and I will do my part, personally, in the future to see to it that learning Nederlands becomes much more easier for anyone, anyplace on Earth!

Nice text - get the CDs too!