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Post by jk on Jul 22, 2022 10:52:48 GMT
I'll expand on this a little if I may… Many newly arrived ex-pats find themselves in a Catch-22 situation where they have to do shitty jobs because they don't speak the language, and where their colleagues are less than educated Dutch folk and "guest workers" from the Mediterranean and elsewhere, most of whom speak a kind of pidgin Dutch! There's a real danger that once you do get into the swing of speaking Dutch, however rudimentary, you begin to lose your grip on your own language and start spouting what they call Dunglish, English that gone Dutch. Been there -- oh my golly gosh have I been there… Intelligent websites like BBT and EH are a godsend in that respect. And I've been blessed with supremely eloquent pen pals, which helps immeasurably. But it's still a battle to stay on top of the mother tongue, when you're hearing and speaking Dutch most of the day.
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