The majority of the exchange students here are not native English speakers and, although they speak no Dutch, have come to the Netherlands to improve their English. Now, don't get me wrong, they're all great at English, considering it's their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. language, however, it isn't their native tongue. The other native English speakers and I have been trying to describe this strange phenomenon that has been happening to us where, while everybody else's English is improving, ours is deproving (which, not surprisingly, I don't think is actually a word either) and morphing into some hybrid of US English, British English, Australian English and some sort of English as second language. We're saying things that don't actually make sense to us, or phrasing them in ways we would never would before. We started speaking slower in a more rudimentary way, kind of like we're talking to somebody who is not native to the language, but even less clear. We find ourselves searching for words in our head, like we can't think of them in English (but it's not like we have another language that they'd be coming to mind in).
I thought I would have a bit of an advantage in some of my classes here because I am native to the language in which they're taught, but all of these people seem so good at English and can easily transition in and out of their native languages. And here I am struggling to make sense in my one.
I realize this doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and I also realize that I'm not doing a very good job of explaining myself, but that's my whole point! I no longer know what I'm talking about! But I'm serious, ask a native English speaker who's spent some time here and they'll say the same. I have been picking up some Dutch words and phrases that started to come to mind when we were in England, like that would be any help!
I'm all sorts of confused.
But, I swear I'm not crazy.
