An Accent Waiting to Happen

It's fair to say that accents are very distinct cultural and geographical identifiers. In the UK, it is easy to tell whether a person is from England or Scotland just from their accent. Similarly, it is also easy for a native English speaker to distinguish between other native speakers and those who have learned it as a foreign language, just on accent alone.

If I was taken into the centre of Amsterdam tomorrow and attempted to talk to the locals in Dutch (assuming I was fluent, which I am certainly not yet!), they would instantly know they were talking to a foreigner without knowing anything about me.

This is the main reason I'm writing this post. Since I started studying Nederlands in February, I have struggled most of all with pronunciation. Even though a lot of Dutch words are similar or even identical to English, the pronunciations, especially of the vowels, is extremely different.

This has been my biggest frustration up to now, as I can hear myself and know I sound so alien to the native speakers I'm trying to imitate in my audio files. Even though I can hear how they are pronouncing words, when I try to do the same my tongue feels like it has a mind of its own and I end up in a horrible muddle.

Forunately, I'm told this is only natural as my brain has only ever known English speech patterns until now. Because my English knowledge is so deeply set in my memory, when I try to speak Dutch my subconscious is telling me, "No, Josh, you are English and that is not how we pronounce vowels."

I realise I will never sound like a native Dutch speaker completely. If I get chance to live in the Netherlands and immerse myself in their language and culture, I will undoubtedly pick up a twang and at least sound less alien to them, but they will always know I have a different mother tongue.

A good example of this is Wigan football manager Roberto Martinez. Despite being Spanish (which you can tell just by listening to him speak) he has an undoubted hint of northernness which highlights his time in that part of the world.

Maybe in time, I'll record myself trying to speak Dutch and post it on here, but unless I improve I may be too embarrassed to even attempt it. Wish me luck, folks!

Tot de volgende keer!

Video - Introducing Yourself in Dutch

If you've ever wanted to surprise your family / friends / pets, then why not watch this video and suddenyl greet them in flawless Dutch?!

 Dutchforn00bs is a Youtube channel looked after by Lidewij, a Dutch linguistics student. Her videos are all designed to teach basic Dutch terms to English-speakers who are interested in foreign languages.

I shall post more of these over the next few weeks, but this seems like the perfect starting point.

The Language of Intelligence

According to scientists, learning a second language can actually make you smarter.

A study conducted by experts at Northwestern University in the US found that learning another language acts as a kind of "brain workout," changing the way our nervous system responds to sound.

The study used a group of English-speaking students and a group of bilingual ones, and found that those who were able to speak two tongues were able to process much more sound from a background of noisy chatter. They must be able to concentrate fairly well too, considering they had scalp electrodes attached to their heads!

This article from The Independent tells a similar tale, recommending a new language (or, better still, languages) to help keep our control centers fighting the effects of age.

I must say, this is not the reason I want to learn Dutch. My reasons are far more practical than that:

That was a joke (obviously!), but it is nice to know that this could make me a sharper tool in the shed! It is also far better at "training one's mind" than those silly brain training video games that seemed to swamp the market a few years ago.

Maybe once I'm fluent in Dutch, I can then waltz my way to a Mensa membership as well!

Return of the (Dutch) Jedi

So. It's fair to say I'm guilty of not maintaining this blog over the last couple of months. Alas, procrastination has had my number. I've promised myself to start writing new posts for a while now but I haven't been able to deliver on those promises...until now!

I think "relaunch" is too big a word for this post, but nonetheless, that's what it is really! So here are some spectacular fireworks to celebrate the second greatest comeback after Lazarus:

A lot has happened since my last post. I've recent secured a new job (which is almost double the pay I get now). I spent a lot of time and effort applying and preparing for interviews, assessments, so I'm absolutely thrilled, as is my bank account.

One of the perks of having more money is that I can invest in my hobbies more. This means - amongst oter things - learning Dutch!

I'm still working my way through levels two and three of the Rosetta Stone software and now have quite an array of books to help me. However, I figure that if I'm going to become fluent rather than just conversational then I'm going to need some personal tuition.

Thankfully, whilst idly searching the oceans of Google's knowledge, I stumbled upon this. This is a place in Oxford that offers courses in Dutch as a foreign language. Not only that, but they offer the chance to take professional qualifications, which for me means GCSE and A Level. To supplement this, they also offer personalised tuition. Perfect for me.

This isn't cheap by any means, but I'm serious about this and if I'm going to do it, I might as well do it properly! It might even open some doors to meeting likeminded people to me.

As well as this, I have plans for the blog itself. I've been busy in my absence, trawling through tons of videos related to Dutch and linguistics in general, so keep an eye out for some of these in the near future.

Tot de volgende keer! (Until next time)