Fearless Asja takes on every combat!
A few years ago, the city of The Hague has gained one stunning and tough lady: Asja Prasljevic from Croatia. She is a final year law student and now working as a legal intern for the International Chamber of Commerce ('KvK'). This beauty and brains has just turned 26 and she absolutely loves living in The Hague! Asja: "I assume something unique about my life would be that I have competed in and trained Martial Arts for several years, as well as working in that field along with the trainings. It definitely makes walking home alone at night not scary at all!"
In short, obviously Halloween fright night or any other night in The Hague does not scare Asja, but she must be afraid of something, right? How about learning a new and strange language, such as Dutch? Asja has no fear there either: "I have to admit that learning a new language can be difficult at first, and even a tad scary, but languages are integral parts of a country’s sovereignty, individuality and culture. Therefore, learning Dutch not only brings me closer to the Dutch culture, but also allows me to have a more fulfilling experience as an international resident in the Netherlands."
What may help, is that Asja has never had a bad experience in the Netherlands when she attempted to speak her ‘crooked and irregular’ Dutch in stores or bakeries. She explains: "Every single person was empathic, understanding, and helpful which accelerates my confidence in speaking and learning Dutch. Being ridiculed or joked about when attempting to speak a foreign language with already lack of confidence in the language, makes the process harder. However, Dutch people in my experience have been extremely welcoming and understanding, even when my Dutch was not good at all. Just the mere attempt to speak and the initiative to learn it was appreciated, which removed my fear of talking in a newly-learnt foreign language altogether."
Even Asja admits that she could use some support 'fighting the language' and that is why she chose the TaalTaal Language Institute in Scheveningen. Asja: "My first course there was already very rich and knowledgeable and I have decided to pursue the course at an A2 level. The teacher in my first course was engaging, invested and dedicated to each individual. Therefore, I haven’t had any second thoughts in my decision to come back and learn more."
Wonder Woman Asja had one final piece of advice for other foreigners: " Conquer that fear of speaking improperly! Rather speak improper Dutch, than no Dutch at all. It helps with gaining confidence and to not care what other people say. Since when has it become lame to try?"
The TaalTaal autumn courses for all languages have started again for 20 languages! TaalTaal also teaches languages like Spanish, Italian, French and Japanese with groups where the explanations are in English.
Check the website for all information: www.taaltaal.nl/en -- free intakes are available at: www.taaltaal.nl/intake