Going Dutch!

Okay, so what's all this with Dutch about? Why is it in the blog title? And what does it have to do with me living in Germany??

All to be answered here ;)

I love Dutch. There, I said it!! Truth be told, I've actually never been to the Netherlands. But my voice teacher is Dutch, and a good deal of my friends are as well, and somehow I've managed to sneak learning their language into my life. It's so pleasant and happy, and I think the Dutch people I know are that way as well. 

I originally fell in love with this language and culture after I had my first major German experiences (like visiting Germany in 2010), and some strange things started happening.

For one, German became amazingly simple for me to understand in a very short time. In English class in 2010, we started learning about old and middle English. At this time I became very interested in our parent language, German! And I realized learning German was a lot like learning a very early version of English. At least, that was the key in my head that unlocked the secrets of this wonderful language. After I realized that, everything I learned made sense and found a specific spot in my head- it just all clicked! Since then, learning German was a whirlwind of information and mathematics (German is indeed a very mathematical language, something that also makes a lot of sense in my mind).

So where does Dutch fit in with that?
Well after I visited Germany, I came back to America and heard one of my friends speaking Dutch with someone else.

And I realized... I understood them!! And they had such a cheery way of speaking that made the language umso mehr (that much more) attractive. This "phenomenon" happened to me also in German- I'd hear friends speaking and understand, though I couldn't pick out specific words and translate at will- but I knew the ideas they were conveying.

I was so excited- something like that hadn't happened to me in a year! So I started listening more and trying to speak. Now I'm proud to say I could survive in the Netherlands (even though they're all decent enough to speak perfect English!).

A perfect example of an "ancient" English word being German: Netherlands. In German it's called die Niederlande, or the 'low' (nieder) 'lands' (lande). Nether is just a really old English word for lowly (and if you think about it, the whole country there is really flat and has a low elevation). Just an insight into how my mind works.

I'm also excited to say this is starting to happen in Polish. Polish is half of my ancestral heritage and I've visited the country- I absolutely love it! I know how to read it, but I don't understand much of what I read. When I hear people on the bus speaking it though, I can always pick it out and understand the concepts they're talking about!

I'm a language freak! But a happy language freak. I absolutely love learning new ones, and reaching people in their mother tongue. It's so exciting.

It's getting close to being Friday! AAAAAND SATURDAY: OKTOBERFEST! YES!

Have a great rest of the week, everyone!
India :)

Abendmusik: Bedroom Hymns by Florence and the Machine