I just spent a weekend in Chicago, enjoying a snowstorm and many other delights of the windy city. I visited the Shedd Aquarium and while admiring a particularly frisky turtle, heard the man next to me speaking in a familiar language to his small son. You guessed it: they were Dutch!

The next evening I was at a small birthday party. Coincidentally, one of the girl’s boyfriends was from The Hague. We chatted in Dutch impressing the other guests (I hope) and then I told him that I keep resisting improving my Dutch because it will be useless if I ever leave the country.

This past weekend in Chicago is beginning to make that argument seem rather weak. So those of you struggling through your beginner classes, keep up the good work! Just think of all the Dutch tourists you will meet all over the world for the rest of your lives.