learn to speak Dutch

My new job is going to interfere with Dutch lessons, so I’ll have to drop the class. It’s too bad; I was enjoying it, and the people were really nice. But I’ll try to do more on my own and maybe communicate more with my Dutch-speaking friends.

We were warned not to go poking around the Belgian Embassy (it makes the concierge nervous). Since there aren’t huge numbers of people in this city interested in learning Dutch, the few who are there seem to be a highly motivated, self-selected lot. It will be fun getting to know them.

The language itself seems to be a lot of fun: easier than German and pronounced with soft “ch” sounds and diphthongs that make the speaker sound as though she is communicating in earnest about something very important, even when the subject is only Brussels sprouts.

The Belgian Embassy in my city offers a Dutch language course, but it’s not cheap—at least, not by my standards. So I’ll have to decide within the next week or so whether to drop $230 on the course, plus $100 for books.