I often tell people that I’m not learning Dutch very well because no one lets me practice. They all speak English and immediately switch to English when they hear my miserable attempts at Dutch.
Well, Henry (my son) has a friend named Sid. I talk with Sid’s dad a lot when dropping Henry off at school. I made this “I never get to practice Dutch” comment to him yesterday. So, today he insisted on speaking Dutch with me.
It didn’t go so well. I understood like 20% of the words. At one point he was asking if I was biking to work today. I got that and replied in half-Dutch, half-English that my wife was driving me so I could bring in a guitar to work, but normally I bike.
He then asked me if it was electric. I said it was. Then he asked about the fender. I have no idea about my bike’s fender. Maybe he was asking if we had an electric car? But why would he want to know about our car’s fender?
After a few more misunderstood sentences I realized we weren’t talking about the bike or the car. He was asking about my guitar.
At this point I gave up on Dutch and explained my confusion in English.
Like a good friend, he let me speak in English but he continues speaking to me in Dutch to force me to learn.
My brain is tired already. Oh, and it was a lie when I said that I don’t speak Dutch because no one lets me practice. Really I don’t speak Dutch because I’m lazy and haven’t put in the effort to learn it. It’s just more fun to say that people don’t let me practice because their English is so good.
Dutch Bentleys 