Dutch is the Chinese of European languages, and anglophones would do well not to learn anything beyond ik spraak geen nederlands. Besides, if you're in Holland, pretty much everyone can speak some English as long as you only go to those cities and towns whose names you can pronounce (Groningen, for example, is out of the question). And if you're in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, it's way more fun to speak French, just to create all sorts of socio-political incidents.

[This message has been edited by wideman (edited 08-11-2002).]