spreek je...?

[abitblue]

One of my biggest challenges since moving to the Netherlands has been learning to speak Dutch. After a few years of group lessons and now a private tutor, I guess I speak and read it fairly well. Grammar is a nightmare for me and it is just recently that I have adopted more of an 'I don't care' attitude and am less afraid of what people think about my mistakes. It's pretty common for Dutch people to immediately switch to English if they hear the slightest accent in your Dutch- even if they understand you perfectly well. This is a common annoyance for most people learning the language (because then you get asked a million times, "So do you speak Dutch yet?"). I used to sigh and give up when this happened, now I am a little more confident and just keep speaking Dutch. This usually works like a charm but once in a while the person will continue answering me in English, almost defiantly! A few times I have been irritated enough to sweetly ask if speaking English is easier for them. Or I give them a puzzled look and announce I don't speak English (this ALWAYS works).
Why oh why did I tell my teacher last night that I am ready to take the Staatsexamen? She was very happy to hear this and from now to the end of May our lessons will be hardcore practice for them. This is a good thing, right?