Three Good Reasons to Learn Dutch

From my Dutch reader, which got it from The Holland Handbook, Nuffic

1. In the beginning, a Dutchman thinks it's perfectly fine if you speak English. He will answer in English, too. It would appear that his own language is not so important to him. But appearances can be deceiving. If, after a year, your Dutch is still non-existent or barely so, he will start to get irritated. He will think you are not doing your best and will hold this against you--either explicitly or implicitly.

2. You remain an outsider. Whenever the Dutch want to, they can shut you out, simply by switching to Dutch. Even if this is not intentional, you could be missing a few interesting points. Personal things, fine details, those little things that could contribute to an understanding. Also this can lead to a certain degree of isolation.

3. Your intellectual capacity might be estimated to be at the level of your language capacity. The better your Dutch, the smarter you are thought to be. If you stumble your way through the announcement that you are a professor in your home country, your Dutch audience might look somewhat incredulous.

I love the Dutch!

I pulled an all-nighter last night, but I am finally totally caught up. I have no more winter term German, and I'm right where I should be on my actual schoolwork for this semester.

Today in Public International Law we picked topics to follow throughout the semester. We will also present on these topics at the end of the semester. We got placed into groups of 2-4 based on our interests. I'm really excited because our class is about 90% Americans, and we only have two men (and twenty-odd women), but I got both of the guys (who are both from different countries) in my group. The group is me, Kevin from Germany, and Filipe from Brazil! Epic win! And we're studying issues in disarmament and non-proliferation, specifically focussing on Iran's nuclear program.

Now I have to finish up my Dutch homework, buy some school supplies, and go to sleep. Class at 6.

Thank you for the comment love, family. I take back my earlier statement. :-b (Connor's still awesome though.)

Oh! It might be wintery here, but it's 0º in Oberlin. Now I know the true meaning of schadenfreude!

Oh also! Another cool fact about my Public International Law teacher: She was on the Detroit bomber flight.