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The Horror and Embarrassment: Dutch Attempts at Speaking English

There aren’t many things that make me laugh and be embarrassed at the same time. Something that does this to me however is hearing Dutch people speak English. The Dutch, although usually complimented because of their excellent knowledge of the English language, have a tendency to speak English with the most horrible accent imaginable. Surely not all of us do, but 9 out of 10 times when I encounter a Dutchman abroad having a conversation in English, I am an unwanted witness to something that sounds extraordinarily ridiculous. Unfortunately it’s not only the accent. Although a Dutch person’s vocabulary usually isn’t too bad, English sentences are usually constructed by translating them straight from Dutch. This doesn’t only apply to grammar, but also to the words used, which are literally translated without keeping the context in mind. Continue reading The Horror and Embarrassment: Dutch Attempts at Speaking English