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$\"Gravatar\"$ It's only the first class, no? I'm sure they were also nervous.

I have trouble telling my right from my left in English, let alone a foreign language!
ChickyBabe | Homepage | 09.20.07 - 1:52 pm | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ great insight. sorry your cover has been blown. Just jump right back into it and maybe they'll forget all about it.
mom of 3 | 09.20.07 - 4:09 pm | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ Perhaps I can help. Whenever I feel out of place, I sometimes wear a giant \"I'M A LOCAL\" t-shirt. Bright orange is usually a good color for this, and I fit right in. If you need any more pointers, let me know, I'm here to help!
Jarod | Homepage | 09.20.07 - 7:22 pm | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ I have always thought visual markers of insiders/outsiders were an interesting thing to think about. Thankfully, I look \"French,\" so no one automatically assumes that I am a foreigner. (And, to be honest, from my hazy memory, you look \"Dutch.\") Not the case in the US, where Hispanics are often designated as outsiders and non-native English speakers, and people often adjust the way they interact with them.
Andrew | Homepage | 09.20.07 - 10:58 pm | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ ChickyBabe, they actually all know each other from previous classes. And I am determined to learn salsa in Dutch, if I have to trip through 9 more weeks!

mom of 3, that's exactly what I have in mind. $\"\"$

That's a great idea, Jarod! I would blend right in. Maybe I'll try that for the next class.

Andrew, that's exactly what I meant in one of my last sentences - when you look different from the mainstream population, you signal your difference from the get-go, whereas if you blend in, undercover is easier - and sometimes provokes more unease when that cover is blown. Fascinating stuff, I'd agree.
BlondebutBright | Homepage | 09.21.07 - 9:10 am | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ For language acquisition purposes, at least, looking like the population is a big help. Throughout my stay in Mexico - even in the last weeks, when my Spanish was smooth and full of Cuernavaca color (orale) - I would still get English almost automatically from some people, due to my being a red-bearded giant. No matter if you approach them in fluent Spanish - they all know exactly where you're from, and they want to practice their English. It pissed me off to no end at the time, but now that my Spanish is getting rusty, I have to bite my tongue from doing the same thing when I'm around Spanish-speakers.
McB | 09.22.07 - 1:16 am | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ McB, it often is a help - and I think it contributes greatly to the ability to pull off a smooth (in my case, Dutch) conversation every now and then. My problem is being fixated on this very thing - I never want them to switch after I've succeeded for so long. Because when they switch it's not because of how I look, it's because I have failed in some way to pass the native speaker test. It's a conundrum, that's for sure.
BlondebutBright | Homepage | 09.22.07 - 8:45 am | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ I still feel like an outsider... and they speak English here!

So, I'm trying to be like water: it has no shape by itself, but adapts to the container it's in.
keenEddie | Homepage | 09.24.07 - 3:13 am | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ I always make it worse for myself by nodding as if I understand. Then of course there is the moment when they say something that requires a question and I still nod like an idiot.

I had the same first day nervous when I started my inprov course but I was lucky because there were a lot of people from different countries so we had to all speak English.
Invader_Stu | Homepage | 09.25.07 - 2:03 am | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ keenEddie, that sounds like a great strategy! And keep working on changing that accent. $\"\"$

Yes, Invader_Stu, I'm also guilty of the ignorant nod. It earns you some strange looks, that's for sure!
BlondebutBright | Homepage | 09.25.07 - 9:23 am | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ Wow, you are way beyond me. I don't think I've ever been taken as Dutch. I open my mouth and they give me what I have begun to think of as \"the sympathetic smirk.\" But I find most people in Haarlem are patient, and will Dutch with me until I sputter awkwardly to a halt.
Grendel | 10.01.07 - 10:44 am | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ My spouse works in Dutch for a Dutch firm, but as soon as they detect us speaking English with each other (habit from bringing up bilingual kids) they (we?) will start speaking English to him. Usually their English is a lot worse than his Dutch...

But when my aunts, who emigrated to Australia 35 years ago, visted the Netherlands they complained that they even switched to English with *them* - and even though their Dutch is rusty it is still fluent.

I guess that speaking English is just seen as cool $\"\"$
marbel | Homepage | 10.07.07 - 10:58 am | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ I'm not sure about your theory. I look completely un-Italian and I don't particularly enjoy having everyone in Rome see me as \"different\" and \"foreign\" without knowing anything about me - particularly when it comes to sleazeball men.

Luckily for me, very few Italians speak much English so they can't \"switch over\" to English like the Dutch can. I really admire you, though, for persisting and learning the language even though just about everyone in Holland speaks English so well. If I didn't have to speak Italian all the time, I'd be too lazy to bother learning it.

The funniest thing though is when people see my blonde hair and insisting on practicing their 10 words of faltering English on me. Even when I reply in Italian you can see the \"does not compute\" thing going on in their brains and they continue to struggle with their English. I've even had to say to people (in Italian) \"why are you speaking English with me? I speak Italian!\" It's only then that they realise that I'm actually speaking Italian with them!
kataroma | Homepage | 10.17.07 - 10:06 pm | #

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