[catalina_marina]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0]I can think of a lot of languages I've had more problems with than English (German, French, Latin, Greek, and the rest I didn't even bother to try )[/quoteost_uid0]

Please note that English is way closer to Dutch than any of those languages, except German, which is just plane hard to learn.

[quoteost_uid0]... and it seems it's also confusing that verbs ending in 'd's aren't an exception (leading to conjugations ending in 'dt' but pronounced 't' )[/quoteost_uid0]

Now you're not talking about non-speakers anymore, are you?

[quoteost_uid0]The fact we changed our spelling a couple of years back might also cause some problems.[/quoteost_uid0]

It's supposed to be easier because of that. Of course, it's not. It just brings along more rules to follow.

[quoteost_uid0]Your quote also reminds me of the fact that in Dutch-language competitions it usually turns out that the Belgians have a better grasp of Dutch than the Dutch [/quoteost_uid0]

Which can make Dutch people quite angry. [/colorost_uid0]