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.
Moving between countries and languages sounds like a challenging, yet enriching experience. It’s inspiring to see how you’ve embraced both the struggles and growth that came with returning to the Netherlands, especially when it comes to mastering Dutch. I can completely understand how frustrating it must have been to feel less competent because of language, despite your impressive academic background. Your discovery of AI tools like ChatGPT helping to refine your Dutch writing is a great example of how technology can empower us. It’s not just about fixing mistakes but gaining confidence and independence, and I’m glad to hear it’s made such a positive impact on your journey. Lekker bezig!
Hi Evrienne,
What an insightful blog highlighting essential challenges that bilingual speakers face. I believe that the reason why I resonate so much with your blog is that I experience similar challenges daily. Growing up in Curacao, I was taught multiple languages, such as Dutch, Spanish, English, and French. Furthermore, Dutch and English are considered formal languages in academic and corporate settings, while the main language, Papiamentu, is considered informal. Thus, in a way, you are forced to learn these languages and, in some situations, even considered less educated if you do not possess adequate proficiencies in these languages. While possessing adequate proficiency in multiple languages seems to be an advantage and a powerful skill, It also causes significant social challenges and limitations. I do not want to get into the issues and dilemmas that surround the traditional school system. However, people who possess significant academic prowess and cognitive abilities receive more and better opportunities, creating an unfair advantage over people who don’t possess the same academic prowess and cognitive ability. This ultimately causes diversification in the community, resulting in Dutch or English speakers receiving unfair advantages over people who can’t speak these languages. To limit my vent and address the main issue described in your blog, I believe that possessing adequate writing and reading proficiency in a language is a problem from the past. A few months ago, I was working full-time, and to get straight to the point, I can’t remember the last time I spent more than 5 minutes writing an email to a client In English or Dutch. AI technologies such as ChatGPT have made it possible to bridge the gap caused by language barriers. I would argue that a more significant challenge is the ability to converse in a language that is not native to you. In your case, you had no problem conversing efficiently in Dutch. When you are one-on-one in a conversation, you have no ChatGPT to fix your sentences or suggest a better word to use. However, is this true?? A few months ago, Meta announced ORION, an augmented reality glass that can convert text to speech in real time. While the latency of the conversion may not be as quick yet, I am confident that in a few years, language barriers and constraints will be a problem of the past.
Hi Evrienne,
Your blogpost caught my attention, as I find your experience with AI Tools (ChatGPT) an innovative way to tackle language challenges. Your story has made me reflect on my own language experiences. I’ve noticed that I sometimes find myself turning to ChatGPT to improve certain sentence structures, and it can be helpful in this regard. However, I’ve never thought about using it to learn a completely new language, as you have.
It’s fascinating to read about how you’ve adapted this tool to overcome the specific challenges you face with Dutch. As a native speaker, I often take these quirks for granted, but your perspective reminds me of how complex Dutch can be for learners. It’s impressive how you’ve leveraged AI not just for corrections, but as a learning tool to understand sentence structures and improve your writing skills. I think it is exciting to consider how these technologies could transform language learning and support for others facing similar challenges.