Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1879 — Learning Dutch. [ARTICLE]

Learning Dutch.

The new Queen of Holland is said to have had a good deal ot trouble in learning the language of her adopted country. Before her marriage a learned university don was dispatched to teach her Dutch, and made up his mind that he ought to import the refined language of his native literature rather then the ordinary colloquial Dutch. So he proceeded to teach his pupil the more orthodox but practically obsolete language, and the young lady made such excellent progress that before the day of the wedding she was quite proficient in what she supposed to be the language of her new subjects. What must have been her surprise to find that all her best efforts to converse with burgomasters and humbler folk who came out to do her honor were as complete failures as if they had been addressed to the hearers in high German? The unfortunate lady has had to devote her honeymoon to acquiring a second Dutch language, of which she never suspected the existence.