Mulle meeldib keeli õppida, ent kui ma teada sain, et ma Amsterdami elama asun, ei olnud ma esialgu üldse kindel, kas hollandi keel ikka tasub õppimist. Muidugi ei teadnud ma sel hetkel keelest suurt midagi, kuid nii palju, kui ma seda kuulnud olin, tundus ta kole. Kõik need kurguhäälikud ja kuristamised, jube! Mingil hetkel mõtlesin ma siiski, et prooviks. Suureks toetavaks faktoriks oli muidugi ka see, et saksa keelt ma juba oskan ning hollandi keel on sellele äärmiselt sarnane. Lausa nii sarnane, et hollandikeelseid tekste nähes saan ma põhimõtteliselt aru, millest seal räägitakse. Lisaks olen ma ennegi aastaga uue keele selgeks saanud, miks mitte siis nüüd. Ehk on tulevikus vaja?
Lootsin, et saan keeletundidega alustada kohe, kui Amsterdami jõuan, ent siia jõudes pidin tunnistama, et UvA keelekursused on kõik täis ja alustada saaks alles novembris.
Sattusin sellel teemal rääkima ühe Saksa tüdrukuga ning ta soovitas mulle ühte keeltekooli, kus ta ise hollandi keelt õppima pidi hakkama. Kirjutasin siis eelmise nädala lõpus neile kirja ning nad vastasid mulle kohe: jah, meil on sulle koht olemas, saad kohe alustada. Suurepärane.
Seega jalutasin teisipäeva õhtul oma esimesse keeletundi. Leidsin õige nimega tänava ning õige numbriga maja üles ning helistasin kella. Midagi. Sel hetkel hakkas mul veidi kõhe, sest maja tundus kõige tavalisem kortermaja, mitte keeltekool. “Kurat”, mõtlesin ma omaette, “kas mulle on tünga tehtud või mis?” Helistasin keeltekooli numbril ja sattusin kõneposti. No tore, sedasi see Amsterdam mind tervitabki? Kõigepealt saan tünga arvutimehelt ja nüüd keeltekoolilt ka? Õnneks hakkas mu telefon kohe helisema ja teisel pool oli tüüp, kellega ma olin hollandi keele teemalisi e-maile vahetanud. Tuli välja, et ta oli mu telefoni jätta hunniku voicemail'e teatamaks esimese tunni ärajäämisest, kuid kuna ma neile kuidagi ei reageerinud, siis otsustas ta, et ma pole enam huvitatud ning võttis mu kursuste nimekirjast üldse maha. Tõesti, mu telefon oli üritanud mulle muudkui mingeid voicemail'e meelde tuletada, kuid ka peale suurt pusimist ei suutnud ma aru saada, kuidas neid kuulata saab. Igatahes jäi mulle natuke selgusetuks fakt, et kui ma olen mitu korda oma registreerumist e-mailiga kinnitanud ja isegi raha on üle kantud, siis kuidas saab ta mind kursuste nimekirjast maha võtta ainult sel põhjusel, et ma ei reageeri oma voicemail'ile. Peale väikest vaidlust saime kokkuleppele, et ta tõstab mu ühte teise gruppi ning asi oli lahendatud. Hollandlastele omase väikese kaose saatel nagu tavaks.
Järgmisel päeval üritasin ma taas oma esimesse hollandi keele tundi minna ja seekord kroonis mind edu. Uks oli lahti ja tund tõepoolest toimus. Kokku on meid grupis kaheksa: peale minu veel see sama Saksa tüdruk Carola, tüdrukud Ukrainast, Türgist, Iisraelist ja Indiast, poiss Inglismaalt ning keegi Itaaliast, kes ei suvatsenud esimesse tundi tulla. Loomulikult ei ole hollandi keele õppimine kokkuvõttes nii kerge, kui ma lootsin. Ei ole nii, et võtad saksakeelse sõna, hääldad seda hollani keele hääldusreeglite kohaselt ja ongi valmis. Grammatika ning lausete ülesehitus on see-eest peaaegu üks-ühele sama ning peale kogu seda vett ja vilet, mida ma saksa keelega näinud olen, saan ma nüüd ilmselt veidi kergemalt läbi. Lisaks muidugi fakt, et enamus häälikuid on mulle tuttavad, ainsaks erandiks see sama kurguhäälik. Hääldusreeglid kusjuures on naljakad, kohati lausa äärmiselt kummalised. Näiteks on sõna rustig (vaikne) häädusvorm umbes selline: rüstüh ning goedkoop (odav) hääldub kuidagi nii nagu huutkoup (ei tohi unustada kurguhäält h kohal!). Pusimist kui palju ning esialgu olen ma sunnitud kõikide sõnade ligikaudse häälduse üles kirjutama. Lisaks on mina-sina-tema absoluutselt mitte saksapärane. Ik kõlab natuke nagu ich, ent edasi tulevad jij (~jäi, sina mitteformaalne), u (~ü, sina formaalne), hij (~häi, meessoost tema) ning zij (~äi, naissoost tema).
Aga ma endiselt arvan, et hollandi keele õppimine on mu ülikooli kursuste kõrval tühiasi. Mul peab ju siin ka midagi olema, kus ma end targalt tunda saan!
I like learning languages, but when I found out that I'll be moving to Amsterdam, I wasn't sure about learning Dutch at first. Surely, I knew nothing about Dutch (and I still haven't got a clue!), but as much as I had heard it, it seemed ugly. All those throatsounds, uhh! At some point I decided to give it a try. A big supporting factor for this decision was that I already speak German and Dutch is very similar to it. So similar, that I usually get the main idea when I see texts in Dutch. Plus, I have managed to learn a language (more or less) in a year before, so why wouldn't I be able to do it now? Maybe it'll be handy in the future.
I hoped to get started with it straight away after arriving to Amsterdam, but as I got here, I found out that all the courses at UvA were full and I could only start in November. I happened to talk about it with a German girl and she suggested to check out a language school where she'll have her Dutch classes. I e-mailed the school in the end of the last week and they answered me: sure, we have space for you, you can start immediately. Perfect.
So, on Tuesday I walked to my first language class. I found the street with the right name and the building with the right number and rang the doorbell. Nothing. At this point it got a bit spooky as the building seemed like a typical apartment house, not a language school. “Damn,” I said to myself “I have been fooled or what?”. I called the number of the language school and ended up at the voicemail. Great, this is how Amsterdam greets me? First the computerguy and now this? Luckily my phone started to ring at that point and it turned out to be the guy I had exchanged e-mails with. Apparently, he had left some voicemails to my phone to let me know that the first class was cancelled, but as I didn't react, he decided that I wasn't coming and deleted me from the list. Yes, my phone had tried to tell me that I have some voicemails, but even after a lot of hassle I couldn't find out how to listen to them. Nevertheless, it was a bit hard for me to understand that after I had sent a couple of e-mails saying in each of them that I will be coming and even paid the money, he just deletes me from the course list because I don't respond to the voicemails. How about sending an e-mail? After some arguing we agreed that he'll put me to another group and all was settled. With a little chaos, as usual for the Dutch.
The next day I tried to go to my first Dutch lesson again and this time I was successful. The door was open and the class took place. Surely, learning Dutch won't be as easy as I had hoped. It doesn't really work in a way that you'll take a word in German, pronounce it following the rules of Dutch and yay, you're speaking Dutch! But the grammatics and the way the sentences are constructed are basically the same and after all that suffering with German it will be easier for me this time. It's also easier because besides that throatsound, all the other sounds are already familiar to me. The rules for pronounciation are funny and partly quite ridiculous. So, you'll have a word like 'rustig' (quiet) that should be pronounced like this [rüstüh] and 'goedkoop' (cheap) sounds something like [huutkoup] (don't forget the throatsound at h!). So at this point I am forced to mark down the approximate pronounciation for all the words. And this I-you-he-she is nothing like in German! Ik (I) sounds a bit like ich, but after that follow jij (sounds like [jäi], you informal), u ([ü], you formal), hij ([häi], he) and zij [zäi], she).
Nevertheless, I still think that it will be a piece of cake compared to the classes at UvA. I have to have something here where I can feel myself smart as well!
Lootsin, et saan keeletundidega alustada kohe, kui Amsterdami jõuan, ent siia jõudes pidin tunnistama, et UvA keelekursused on kõik täis ja alustada saaks alles novembris.
Sattusin sellel teemal rääkima ühe Saksa tüdrukuga ning ta soovitas mulle ühte keeltekooli, kus ta ise hollandi keelt õppima pidi hakkama. Kirjutasin siis eelmise nädala lõpus neile kirja ning nad vastasid mulle kohe: jah, meil on sulle koht olemas, saad kohe alustada. Suurepärane.
Seega jalutasin teisipäeva õhtul oma esimesse keeletundi. Leidsin õige nimega tänava ning õige numbriga maja üles ning helistasin kella. Midagi. Sel hetkel hakkas mul veidi kõhe, sest maja tundus kõige tavalisem kortermaja, mitte keeltekool. “Kurat”, mõtlesin ma omaette, “kas mulle on tünga tehtud või mis?” Helistasin keeltekooli numbril ja sattusin kõneposti. No tore, sedasi see Amsterdam mind tervitabki? Kõigepealt saan tünga arvutimehelt ja nüüd keeltekoolilt ka? Õnneks hakkas mu telefon kohe helisema ja teisel pool oli tüüp, kellega ma olin hollandi keele teemalisi e-maile vahetanud. Tuli välja, et ta oli mu telefoni jätta hunniku voicemail'e teatamaks esimese tunni ärajäämisest, kuid kuna ma neile kuidagi ei reageerinud, siis otsustas ta, et ma pole enam huvitatud ning võttis mu kursuste nimekirjast üldse maha. Tõesti, mu telefon oli üritanud mulle muudkui mingeid voicemail'e meelde tuletada, kuid ka peale suurt pusimist ei suutnud ma aru saada, kuidas neid kuulata saab. Igatahes jäi mulle natuke selgusetuks fakt, et kui ma olen mitu korda oma registreerumist e-mailiga kinnitanud ja isegi raha on üle kantud, siis kuidas saab ta mind kursuste nimekirjast maha võtta ainult sel põhjusel, et ma ei reageeri oma voicemail'ile. Peale väikest vaidlust saime kokkuleppele, et ta tõstab mu ühte teise gruppi ning asi oli lahendatud. Hollandlastele omase väikese kaose saatel nagu tavaks.
Järgmisel päeval üritasin ma taas oma esimesse hollandi keele tundi minna ja seekord kroonis mind edu. Uks oli lahti ja tund tõepoolest toimus. Kokku on meid grupis kaheksa: peale minu veel see sama Saksa tüdruk Carola, tüdrukud Ukrainast, Türgist, Iisraelist ja Indiast, poiss Inglismaalt ning keegi Itaaliast, kes ei suvatsenud esimesse tundi tulla. Loomulikult ei ole hollandi keele õppimine kokkuvõttes nii kerge, kui ma lootsin. Ei ole nii, et võtad saksakeelse sõna, hääldad seda hollani keele hääldusreeglite kohaselt ja ongi valmis. Grammatika ning lausete ülesehitus on see-eest peaaegu üks-ühele sama ning peale kogu seda vett ja vilet, mida ma saksa keelega näinud olen, saan ma nüüd ilmselt veidi kergemalt läbi. Lisaks muidugi fakt, et enamus häälikuid on mulle tuttavad, ainsaks erandiks see sama kurguhäälik. Hääldusreeglid kusjuures on naljakad, kohati lausa äärmiselt kummalised. Näiteks on sõna rustig (vaikne) häädusvorm umbes selline: rüstüh ning goedkoop (odav) hääldub kuidagi nii nagu huutkoup (ei tohi unustada kurguhäält h kohal!). Pusimist kui palju ning esialgu olen ma sunnitud kõikide sõnade ligikaudse häälduse üles kirjutama. Lisaks on mina-sina-tema absoluutselt mitte saksapärane. Ik kõlab natuke nagu ich, ent edasi tulevad jij (~jäi, sina mitteformaalne), u (~ü, sina formaalne), hij (~häi, meessoost tema) ning zij (~äi, naissoost tema).
Aga ma endiselt arvan, et hollandi keele õppimine on mu ülikooli kursuste kõrval tühiasi. Mul peab ju siin ka midagi olema, kus ma end targalt tunda saan!
I like learning languages, but when I found out that I'll be moving to Amsterdam, I wasn't sure about learning Dutch at first. Surely, I knew nothing about Dutch (and I still haven't got a clue!), but as much as I had heard it, it seemed ugly. All those throatsounds, uhh! At some point I decided to give it a try. A big supporting factor for this decision was that I already speak German and Dutch is very similar to it. So similar, that I usually get the main idea when I see texts in Dutch. Plus, I have managed to learn a language (more or less) in a year before, so why wouldn't I be able to do it now? Maybe it'll be handy in the future.
I hoped to get started with it straight away after arriving to Amsterdam, but as I got here, I found out that all the courses at UvA were full and I could only start in November. I happened to talk about it with a German girl and she suggested to check out a language school where she'll have her Dutch classes. I e-mailed the school in the end of the last week and they answered me: sure, we have space for you, you can start immediately. Perfect.
So, on Tuesday I walked to my first language class. I found the street with the right name and the building with the right number and rang the doorbell. Nothing. At this point it got a bit spooky as the building seemed like a typical apartment house, not a language school. “Damn,” I said to myself “I have been fooled or what?”. I called the number of the language school and ended up at the voicemail. Great, this is how Amsterdam greets me? First the computerguy and now this? Luckily my phone started to ring at that point and it turned out to be the guy I had exchanged e-mails with. Apparently, he had left some voicemails to my phone to let me know that the first class was cancelled, but as I didn't react, he decided that I wasn't coming and deleted me from the list. Yes, my phone had tried to tell me that I have some voicemails, but even after a lot of hassle I couldn't find out how to listen to them. Nevertheless, it was a bit hard for me to understand that after I had sent a couple of e-mails saying in each of them that I will be coming and even paid the money, he just deletes me from the course list because I don't respond to the voicemails. How about sending an e-mail? After some arguing we agreed that he'll put me to another group and all was settled. With a little chaos, as usual for the Dutch.
The next day I tried to go to my first Dutch lesson again and this time I was successful. The door was open and the class took place. Surely, learning Dutch won't be as easy as I had hoped. It doesn't really work in a way that you'll take a word in German, pronounce it following the rules of Dutch and yay, you're speaking Dutch! But the grammatics and the way the sentences are constructed are basically the same and after all that suffering with German it will be easier for me this time. It's also easier because besides that throatsound, all the other sounds are already familiar to me. The rules for pronounciation are funny and partly quite ridiculous. So, you'll have a word like 'rustig' (quiet) that should be pronounced like this [rüstüh] and 'goedkoop' (cheap) sounds something like [huutkoup] (don't forget the throatsound at h!). So at this point I am forced to mark down the approximate pronounciation for all the words. And this I-you-he-she is nothing like in German! Ik (I) sounds a bit like ich, but after that follow jij (sounds like [jäi], you informal), u ([ü], you formal), hij ([häi], he) and zij [zäi], she).
Nevertheless, I still think that it will be a piece of cake compared to the classes at UvA. I have to have something here where I can feel myself smart as well!
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