Dutch Lessons

Before we moved to Gent, we were told that people here speak Flemish. I could not remember any time in my life where I had heard Flemish or had ever even thought about learning the language. However, when we decided to come here, it seemed like it would be a good idea to try to learn some so we could converse with the locals. When we arrived, our relocation agent explained to us that Flemish and Dutch were very similar and that Flemish was to Dutch like U.S. English was to U.K. English. She thought it would be more beneficial for us to learn Dutch as it is more widely used than Flemish. So, Dutch it is!

We looked into our options for lessons which included Rosetta Stone (or some other computer based courses), taking classes in a group setting at a school, or having a private tutor come to our home. We decided that, with the boys, it would be easiest to have a private tutor come to the loft once a week in the evening and work with us. Our first night of lessons was last night! I was sooooooo nervous to start. I am not confident with other languages and get uncomfortable when I can't make the proper sounds or pronunciations. I was told by others here that the teacher would just come in the house, start speaking Dutch to us, and never use English...I was terrified!! We decided that we would put Harrison to bed, but keep Cameron up so he could at least hear us talking and working on learning the language. Our instructor, Philipe, arrived at 7:30, planned to stay for and hour and a half, and would cover two lessons. He was so kind. He immediately put us at ease (in English) and told us not to be worried or stressed out. After some administrative info, we jumped right in. Once the lesson started, he spoke in Dutch, unless he was explaining the reason for something. We did a lot of repeating, questions and answers, and naming things on pictures. We learned basic things like how to introduce ourselves, and other basic phrases (thank you, you're welcome, numbers, etc.). It was a lot of information, but our time went so fast! I couldn't believe it when our time was up. After giving us some homework, Philipe was off and will come again next Monday! I have to say, during the course of our first lesson, I went from being completely terrified to very excited to continue learning more. I can't wait for him to come back again next week...hopefully he will be pleased with our homework and progress during this week! :)