Why most Dutch people cannot explain Dutch

Have you ever noticed that Dutch people tend to be bad at explaining their language? You want to say something and you are convinced for 100% that what you say is right, but... Dutch people just stare at you. You try to say it again, but.... only confusion and then after a loooong time, it seems that Dutch people finally get what you wanted to say. If you ask them how you should say it instead then often they are friendly enough to tell you, but... if somehow you would like to know why it was wrong what you said, then there is little response. They will tell you that it just is and if somehow you like to know more about certain rules, most Dutch people will tell you that Dutch is very difficult and that there are many exceptions.... 

The first thing that immediately leads to confusion is your pronunciation. Let's assume that you like to talk about a period of 7 days, week in Dutch. That should be easy, right? There is only one catch... if you pronounce it the English way, then a Duth person will think of een wiek, which is a blade of a mill... If you like to pronounce week the correct way, you should pronounce it like wake in English. 

Here is an important detail.... Dutch spelling shows you exactly how you have to pronounce every word that you see.  There are a couple of consistent rules and if you always follow them, then already within a couple of days, your pronunciation should sound pretty much ok.. 

The most important thing is that when you see a Dutch word, you always follow the Dutch rules. Don't think how you would say it in English first.
Here is another example. Heel means whole and you pronounce it as hail. If you pronounce it the English way, then Dutch people will think of hiel, which  is the back part of your foot... 

Another good tip is that you really listen to other people when they speak Dutch. How do they pronounce the words, what is their intonation? Is there a certain melody? If you listen often enough and listen to what people really say - instead of thinking - in English, then soon enough your pronunciation should no longer be an obstacle for smooth conversation. 

O no.... pronunciation! 

But.... pronunciation is just one thing. Although it may take a lot of your focus in the beginning, truth is that for for speaking Dutch, you'll need so much more. For example... why do Dutch people say goede morgen & goed weekend? What is the difference between goede & goed? Most Dutch people have no clue and chances are high that they'll tell you that these things are all exceptions.... Although it may sound logical, it is not true.. 

On top of that, the order in a Dutch sentence is often different from the English sentence construction. Allthough in most cases, you can still get your message across, if asked, Dutch people will tell you that what you say is not correct. But... never ask de waaromvraag, the  why question... Dutch people simply don't know...

Here is a 'popular' misconception that leads to many irritations and frustrations. Many people believe that when you speak a language, then it also means that you can also explain how it  works. But... nothing can be futher from the truth... 

Here is the evidence... If your native language is English, then probably you are not able to explain what you exactly need to do if you like to construct a sentence in English. Sure... you open your mouth and the words are falling out, but explaining what you really did is something different of course... 

That weird state of doing and not knowing....

Uncousciously competent is how you can call this state. You do something with absolute ease, in a natural way, but... you do not know how you did it and explaining the whole process behind it, is virtually impossible. Once again, whole sentences are coming straight  out of your mouth, but you have littlle awareness on what you did precisely in detail... 

Once you understand that often you cannot explain how things work in your language, it is easier to accept that Dutch people cannot help you. There are many things that Dutch people do correctly, although they do knot know why. They know that you have to say wit bier & witte wijn and they know exactly what to do if they want to make long sentences that have a different construction from English.

In some countries children learn at a very young age how their language is built up. In the Netherlands there are many things that children know by nature, so no explanation is given about many different aspects of the language. Yes... we learrn how to spell and how to conjugate verbs, but... most aspects remain a mytstery, even to Dutch people... And here is the irony.... Although Dutch people should learn how to conjugate certain verbs, many  Dutch people still write it wrong :) 

Knowing how your own language works is one thing, but... what happens if you need to explain it to someone that speaks a different language? This is another complication that most people cannot deal with. That is why, even when Dutch people are willing to explain certain things to you, they often struggle. Often they start using grammatical terms that may  make little sense to you.

Yes! There is great and fantastic news!

Fortunately there is lot of good news for you. First of all, Dutch is not that hard, certainly if you compare it to other languages. Dutch is the closest language to English and in a way you can also consider it as German light. Once you know a very limited set of rules, you can come quite far, with relative ease. Now that I have been teaching Dutch for more than 20 years, I am glad that I do not have to teach English pronunciation or German grammar. Once my students have a certain way of thinking, a lot will make sense on a very short term. 

Another good thing is that once your Dutch gets better and better, it will be easier for Dutch people to help  you.  When you learn a new language, then certainly in the beginning things are more critical. Things that you don't understand can quickly stop you. But... once you understand more, you'l l become more resilient and it will be easier to feel confident.

Last but not least... never put yourself down. Allow yourself to make many mistakes and if you can have some fun with it. Learning and speaking can be a great adventure and it can give you great insights about many other things in life. 

Would you be able to explain how your language works? Leave your thougths in the commenbts below...