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(nederlands) Dutch translation of various articles e.g by David Tuller on PACE Trial

Jonathan Edwards

"Gibberish"
Messages
5,256
The only thing that puzzles me is that everyone can read English anyway - but maybe there is a deeper meaning to these words with double letters.
 

Dolphin

Senior Member
Messages
17,567
The only thing that puzzles me is that everyone can read English anyway - but maybe there is a deeper meaning to these words with double letters.
I studied French for 11 years and am reasonably proficient in it. But reading in a foreign language with ME/CFS is extra tiring (even reading in English is more tiring than usual) so I can see a value in translations.
 
Messages
15,786
The only thing that puzzles me is that everyone can read English anyway - but maybe there is a deeper meaning to these words with double letters.
I was in the process of learning Dutch when I became ill. I was the least experienced in my first class, having only been in the country for a few months, but excelled even though basic understanding was assumed in the introductory course. Dutch grammar can get pretty complicated, but I was doing very well with it. I passed the first class easily.

ME onset came mostly during the break between the first and second course, and got steadily worse during the second course. I started to struggle with skills I had already mastered, and my ability to learn new things pretty much ground to a halt. I was able to pass the harder in-class written test at the end of the course, because there was plenty of time and I could slowly process everything. But I failed badly at the spoken portion, even though it was much easier. We took the spoken portion in pairs, and both the teacher and the other student who I'd been in the first class were shocked at how poorly I expressed myself during the test.

By then I was really too sick to continue anyhow, so failing was a relief even if it also hit me pretty hard. I've never really failed at something academically, certainly not when I was studying that much. I had a volunteer come to chat with me weekly at home for about a year after that. We'd talk a bit, play scrabble in Dutch, and I'd read a very simple newspaper. But if I tried to do written grammatical exercises from my language books, it was a complete disaster.

Basically ... brains use energy. And for some reason, the bits involved in foreign language seem especially difficult to use and quick to drain those energy reserves. The ability to plan ahead enough to use grammar is very intensive, and usually happens so fast that you don't even notice it. But after ME, it became pretty much impossible. And listening to and speaking Dutch is the easiest and fastest way I know of to trigger a cognitive crash. But there are also times when I can have a normal Dutch conversation, if I'm well-rested and having a good day. Yet the next day it might seem like I can barely understand Dutch at all.

This is probably why most patients strongly prefer forums and articles in their own language, even if they are fluent in English. It's just too draining to process a foreign language, if they can manage it at all. And it can be depressing and embarrassing to see how difficult and flawed it has become.