Today I was sitting at a sidewalk cafe outside one of Amsterdam's oldest churches
Hey, I was in Amsterdam last weekend! :-)
It sounds like you were near Oude Kerk in the Red Light District. I hope the weather is still as good as it was this past weekend...
Isn't it astonishing just how well almost everybody speaks nearly perfect English in Amsterdam?
Re languages - I agree with you that learning the language is an essential part of getting to understand a culture. I have had the chance to live in various parts of the world, and am thus fluent in several languages including English, French, and several languages of the Middle East, although writing the latter group is a bit tricky...
Granted that Americans living in the US do not care to learn other languages, I am at a loss to explain why Anglophone ex-pats living elsewhere, in general, are notorious for the very same thing. In the Middle East, an English or American who can say a single short sentence in the local language is a rare bird. Usually, after about five years of residence, their command of the language extends to words such as Hi, Bye, Yes, and No.
OK, so those are not exactly the easiest languages to learn, but the same trend continues in central Europe. In Monaco & France, there is quite a large Anglophone community, some living here for ten years or more, most of whom would not be able to scream for help in French to save their lives.
Imho, it comes down to just how interested you are in learning the language of the land you are living in, to understand and savour the culture. I do not really think my becoming fluent in French after about two years of residence here was a superhuman feat - I just made the effort to learn and to speak, frequently at a cost to my pride...
Anyway, enjoy Amsterdam. It is a beautiful place :-) |
