Things I wish I knew BEFORE learning Dutch

and i feel like no one's asking this question but i'm gonna answer it anyway so here we are [Music] my name is casey i make language learning videos and if you haven't seen me before then hello and welcome to my channel and if you're here again watching then thank you very much today i wanted to talk about things that i wish i knew about the dutch language before i really got into it the first thing that is the biggest difference for me in how i use language and how the dutch use language is that they have a formal and an informal way of addressing people and i feel like for me being an australian and most of our language being pretty casual in all situations this was the biggest adjustment that i had different words to use and a different way of using the language when i was speaking to different people and i know when i was working in a job i was required to speak dutch and addressing people as uh instead of yeah creations of english i would say that australian english is incredibly relaxed the amount of slang that we use in a range of even professional settings is kind of crazy when i think about it but so normal for us so this would have to be my number one thing that yes they have a formal and informal way of addressing people and they actually use it they actually make that differentiation and use the different words in different contexts and in different situations the second thing that i think was like a really big standout for me is how often dutch people want to speak english i think like at first as a foreigner you really appreciate it and you think like this is great i can still partake in all of the things and yet i haven't really got a grasp on the language yet and i'm still enjoying the culture so that's fine it's great but i think now looking back on it i somewhat feel a little disappointed because it took a long time for people to understand that i was really serious about learning the language and i had to say constantly like can we please speak in dutch can we please go back to speaking dutch can we stay speaking dutch and the amount of times that i had to stay speaking dutch even when the other person had started speaking english to me and i don't know where this comes from so if you're a native dutch speaker please enlighten me is it efficiency like are we just trying to get the point across and we don't have time like i understand especially when you're talking to a beginner it's really difficult and it takes a lot of patience and i totally get that but at the same time you guys are like really excited that people are learning your language so i don't understand the whole like yes learn our language but yes we're gonna speak english to you all the time like the two ideas just like don't come together for me i guess point number two would be that yeah you guys like to speak english a lot a lot a lot so let me know why that is let me know because i'm still at a loss i don't get it point number three is that english and dutch are very very closely related more so than i expected i think initially i thought that dutch would be a little bit more like german i was expecting to have to learn a massive amount of weird and wonderful and crazy words to express how i was feeling but a lot of the words are actually really similar and i wanted to give a tip here it doesn't always work but if you are struggling to come up with a word chances are you could actually create it in dutch if you know the rules around how dutch and english are linked with each other so take for example a word like information it has the t-i-o-n suffix at the end of the word and we have heaps of these words in english most of these words the shin words that we have in english will translate to a c word in dutch so say you're speaking and you're having this conversation and you can't think of the word for information instead of stopping the conversation or switching back to english you can just assume and in this case it's correct you can just assume the shin turns into a c so you would say informati instead of information and you actually gain a massive amount of vocabulary without having to go through and memorize specific words another example of this is using the l y suffix in english so words like finally friendly they all have that l y suffix so this l y suffix in english translates to look in dutch and this is the l y j k suffix so things like friendly then become frindelic so if you already know this start the first bit of the word you can just end the lick suffix and then you're describing how something was done the last example i have of this would be when you use just the y suffix so if something's nutty or sunny or juicy or funny you have the ich so the i g suffix so something is so you can come up with these words on the fly you don't have to go out and memorize a whole bunch of new vocabulary you've already got it sitting in there because you know english so it's a fantastic way to link the two languages and i think i was surprised at how many links you can make now again this rule doesn't always work sometimes the word is just crazy and is way on the other side of what you think it's going to be but chances are it does work and it also gives you an opportunity to ask the person what that word is my next thing that really surprised me was the grammar and i feel like any new language and any new grammar rules are surprising in a language there's always a way in which a language is built and it has its own specific rules but i know for me at the beginning and still now my grammar's terrible but for me at the beginning having to put verbs take them out of the sentence and then tack them onto the end of the sentence was like what are we doing here like how do i know what i'm saying if it's gonna go all the action words are gonna go all the way at the end of the sentence and i think my tip for this would be listen listen listen listen exposure exposure exposure it's the only way that you start to hear the rhythm of the sentences and hear the rhythm of structures write them out write it out all the time the more times you can hear it and then reproduce it the more chance you're gonna have of cementing it in your brain that this is the order of the words another thing that probably shouldn't have surprised me but did was how much learning the language would change my experience of living in the netherlands and i know that learning the language of wherever you're living or wherever you're on holidays or anything like that totally opens up the culture and opens up the people that live in that place in a way that is completely unexpected and i think this was very very much the case living in the netherlands and learning the language and it took a lot of effort and a lot of time to get comfortable with the language and being able to connect with my partner's family and friends and understand jokes and understand the culture and understand the way that the language is used and why that makes the dutch the dutch and i feel like i would never have had that appreciation for the culture and my experience of living here if i didn't take the time to learn the language i guess that kind of brings me on to my last point is that i'm surprised at how fun it is to speak dutch i think a lot of people are thrown off and and feel like it's a pretty ugly or harsh language because of that that that k sound that you have to make when speaking dutch but i actually find it such a beautiful language and i have so much fun speaking it and the way they express themselves and little sayings and things that you learn along the way and the way that they use the language is really a reflection of how the dutch are and i am such a massive believer that cultures and people are a product of the language that they use and i think learning dutch gives you way more appreciation for the country and places where dutch is spoken so i guess that is what sort of surprised me about the language i thinks that i wish i knew before i started learning dutch both good things and both some pretty irritating things that make it difficult but again these are just my thoughts and feelings towards dutch if you are studying dutch let me know in the comments below how long have you been studying what are things that you wished someone had told you before you started studying the language i'm super super interested to know so definitely leave a comment below and if you love learning languages and want to share any resources that have helped you leave them below as well so that other people can see them and find these websites and find these resources too hit that like button if you found this video interesting and make sure to subscribe i upload videos every single week and i will see you guys next time so thanks for watching bye [Music] you

Channel: Casey Kilmore

Views: 404,233

Keywords: caseykilmore, learn dutch, improve your dutch, learning a language, studying dutch, australian speaking dutch, dutch accent, dutch language, dutch language spoken, dutch language vs english, how to get fluent in dutch, language learning, language learning videos, learning dutch, moving to the netherlands, native dutch speaker, nederlandse taal, self study dutch, self study tips, studying dutch at home, the netherlands, what i wish i knew before learning dutch

Id: Ew8QH19inpQ

Length: 10min 13sec (613 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 17 2020