Growing up, my parents decided to move abroad for better job opportunities. Although I was born in the Netherlands, I spent most of my childhood in Hong Kong and Australia. When I was twelve we returned to the Netherlands. My parents enrolled me in a Dutch primary school for my final year before high school, hoping it would accelerate my grasp of the language. While I could speak Dutch conversationally, reading and writing were much harder, not to mention my thick accent and the challenge of mastering numbers like “54,” where the Dutch speak the digits in reverse order compared to English.
Navigating the complexities of Dutch, with its numerous grammatical rules has always been a struggle. Even now, though my spoken Dutch has improved significantly, my writing skills are lacking. This is largely because my academic journey—both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees—has been in English. While I may look and sound very Dutch, there are still moments when I can’t find the right words, resulting in weird translations or a mix of English and Dutch. Therefore, I often feel like people assume I’m less competent than I am because of this, which can be very frustrating.
For years, I relied on my mom/dad or friends to proofread anything I had to write in Dutch, whether emails or casual messages. But since discovering ChatGPT, everything changed. Now, I can simply input my intermediate Dutch, and with a few clicks, I get improved suggestions. It’s not just about having better text but it’s also about seeing how sentences are structured, which has taught me to improve my writing. This tool has given me a new level of independence and made me more confident in my abilities.
Reflecting on this, it’s clear that AI tools like ChatGPT have an incredible potential to empower people. For anyone struggling with a language or feeling insecure about how they express themselves, these tools can break down the barriers that might otherwise hold them back. It’s not just about convenience; it’s about growth and building confidence in areas that once seemed overwhelming. Looking at how far I’ve come in my Dutch writing, I can only imagine how transformative these technologies will be for others navigating similar challenges.
