Of Rabbits and Queens. The Hardship and Bliss of Learning Dutch

To the author, it is impossible to imagine living in the Low Countries without talking Dutch. Deprived of the Dutch teaching he had as a native speaker of English, he would remain baffled by Dutch street names, like Beenhouwersstraat, Handschoenmarkt and Eerste Tuindwarsstraat. He would never have read Dutch-language writers like Adriaan van Dis, Jeroen Brouwers or Erik de Kuyper. Nor would he ever have discovered the gutsy lyrics of the Flemish folk group Lais. And he would probably still be wondering why so many signs in Flanders point to a town called Omleiding – which merely indicates a diversion .