I learned Dutch so my child could connect with his Belgian roots

When I first matched with my now-husband on a dating app, his profile said he was from Belgium and I assumed he spoke French. I had been studying Spanish for years and briefly entertained the joke that dating a speaker would speed up my learning. Before our first date I realized he was from the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium and remember thinking, "Who would want to learn Dutch?" As our relationship grew more serious I asked if I should learn it; he answered honestly, "It's not very useful." We talked about moving in, marriage, and having a family, and he said it mattered to him that his child speak his native language.

After I moved in with him I began studying Dutch, using a language-learning app while he coached my pronunciation and grammar. I noticed most resources teach Dutch as spoken in the Netherlands, which differs from Belgian Dutch much like British and American English differ; for example, "lopen" means "to walk" in the Netherlands but "to run" in Belgium.

Belgium, Dutch-speaking part of Belgium

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