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English is my first language, I learnt Dutch (I'm fluent) as an adult. I have the same experience as you: English is extremely context sensitive, it's for "inve

English is my first language, I learnt Dutch (I'm fluent) as an adult. I have the same experience as you: English is extremely context sensitive, it's for "invention" - it's a very natural language. Dutch is more precise; there's less ambiguity. You have to think a little more before you speak (thanks to the differing subject-object-verb order). I've become a better engineer since learning it. We're raising our kids bilingual because the benefits are just so clear; and I figure that if they get English/Dutch for free then German is very cheap so they can learn an east-asian language too..

fnord123 12y ago
>Dutch is more precise; there's less ambiguity. Really? I would suggest that Dutch is plenty of ambiguity as you can omit a lot. e.g. "Ik moet naar de tandarts [gaan/rijden/fietsen/lopen/bellen/kijken/wijzen/zoeken]" ("I must [?] to the dentist").
- EdwardDiego 12y ago
  If Dutch is anything like German, gaan means "go" and rijden/fietsen are along the lines "go by vehicle". In German at least, you tend to use "go by vehicle" where English would just use "go". That is the preciseness English doesn't have. Interesting that the "I must <x> to the Bla" construct exists in Dutch, English has it, but it's antiquated.
  - octatoan 12y ago
    "We must away / We must away / We must away ere break of day / . . ."
- octatoan 12y ago
  Is that something like "Ich muss nach der Zahnarzt . . ."?
- radicalbyte 12y ago
  Isn't that an irregular / shortened form of "naartoe gaan"? Dutch (like most natural languages) has some ambiguity, but nothing like English. For a start spelling is mainly phonetic (unmodified loan-words excluded). From the perspective of an English speaker it's a very clear language which is made slightly complex by making most common verbs irregular (i.e. to make speech flow) and having arbitrary genders (de/het).

fnord123 12y ago

>Dutch is more precise; there's less ambiguity. Really? I would suggest that Dutch is plenty of ambiguity as you can omit a lot. e.g. "Ik moet naar de tandarts [gaan/rijden/fietsen/lopen/bellen/kijken/wijzen/zoeken]" ("I must [?] to the dentist").

EdwardDiego 12y ago
If Dutch is anything like German, gaan means "go" and rijden/fietsen are along the lines "go by vehicle". In German at least, you tend to use "go by vehicle" where English would just use "go". That is the preciseness English doesn't have. Interesting that the "I must <x> to the Bla" construct exists in Dutch, English has it, but it's antiquated.
- octatoan 12y ago
  "We must away / We must away / We must away ere break of day / . . ."
octatoan 12y ago
Is that something like "Ich muss nach der Zahnarzt . . ."?
radicalbyte 12y ago
Isn't that an irregular / shortened form of "naartoe gaan"? Dutch (like most natural languages) has some ambiguity, but nothing like English. For a start spelling is mainly phonetic (unmodified loan-words excluded). From the perspective of an English speaker it's a very clear language which is made slightly complex by making most common verbs irregular (i.e. to make speech flow) and having arbitrary genders (de/het).