When I learned how to pronounce Dutch alphabet pairings, it was then very easy for me to understand the language. Huis (nl) doesn't look like it sounds just like Haus (de). Nor does druiven (nl) and Trauben (de). But they do sound almost identical.

I had a Dutch boyfriend a while back. And we would sometimes go to his sister's family house for dinner. They didn't speak English. And we communicated by me speaking in German and they in Dutch. It wasn't perfect. And sometimes my boyfriend would have to interpret. But it worked.