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Iolanthe’s Dutch Endeavors

  Tags: Dutch
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116 messages over 15 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 1 ... 14 15 Next >>
Iolanthe
Diglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 5645 days ago

410 posts - 482 votes 
Speaks: English*, DutchC1
Studies: Turkish, French

 
 Message 1 of 116
12 August 2009 at 8:08pm | IP Logged 
Hoi, hoi, hoi! I guess I should explain how I got to this point. I never thought about learning Dutch until I met my Dutch boyfriend and then made the move here. My situation is quite unusual because I'm 18 (I think most expats are at least in their mid-twenties, judging from expats I've met and people's reactions to me being here). Anyway, so obviously I'm learning Dutch. I really like the Germanic languages and at school I learnt some German so Dutch is proving not TOO challenging. I'd say I'm at an intermediate level. To get to this point I took two courses in Amsterdam as well as asking the Dutch people in my life for words, practising speaking with them and reading texts in Dutch with a dictionary. I've decided to take my studies more seriously now. I realise that it would be easy to say, well I can by in Dutch now and just cruise along at this level, but no, I want to be fluent. And fluent I will be.

Right now I'm using these methods:
- Studying Assimil Dutch, a few lessons per day. I'm nearing the middle point of the book and rather shockingly to me, I'm finding it quite difficult. O_O Assimil seems to focus on getting you acquainted to the expressions as they are used in practice rather than giving you the grammar that works mostly in theory. The courses I was on taught me the basic grammar but very few expressions so these are all new to me.
- Talking to my boyfriend and/or his parents for about an hour a day in Dutch.
- Watching an hour or so of Dutch tv with the subtitles on.
- Now and then attempting to find some Dutch people to talk to online (difficult because I find a lot of perverts out there xD)

My aim is to take the NT2 II exam next year.
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Iolanthe
Diglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 5645 days ago

410 posts - 482 votes 
Speaks: English*, DutchC1
Studies: Turkish, French

 
 Message 2 of 116
17 August 2009 at 1:46pm | IP Logged 
There was a post here that I was going to reply to now but its been deleted >_>

Learning languages is certainly an education in self discipline. There are fun elements of learning that I don't have to push myself to do like watching something interesting on tv with subtitles and talking to my bf but it's a struggle to keep up with the Assimil as they bring in more expressions that I don't understand and that make my head spin and when I can't find anything to watch on tv that's dutch (quite frequent, there's a lot of news and soaps *snores* boring), I'm tempted to go back to my nice cosy world of English. But I will prevail!!

Agh, mijn 'schoonmoeders' begonia heeft omgevallen, excuseer me een momentje...

Probleem opgelost, het zal leven!

Ja, zo ik vind het niet moeilijk te schrijven. Ik denk dat de moeilijkste ding is luisteren. Het is ok als ik ben thuis en ik hoor mijn dutchies spreken. Ik ken hun storen en patronen van toespraak wel en ik weet misschien 50 procent van wat ze zeggen maar op de tv ik weet gewoon ongeveer 20%. Ze spreek zo snel! Ook moet ik zeg dat ik niet van Nederlands cultuur hou maar ik weet niet als ik zal het leuker vind laater als ik kan Nederlands mensen begrijpen. Misschien ben ik 'judging a book by it's cover'. Ik vind het een beetje verdrietig dat soms ik praat met mijn vriend's vrienden en ze kun niet Engels vlot spreken en ik kan niet Nederlands vlot spreken zo we kunnen niet een diep gesprek hebben. Dat is een motivatie voor Nederlands leren. Ik kan niet Nederland verloven zonder eerst vertrouwelijk met ze taal en cultuur aan het zijn (not sure if that makes sense)

And that's all I have to say. Doeiiiiiii
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Iolanthe
Diglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 5645 days ago

410 posts - 482 votes 
Speaks: English*, DutchC1
Studies: Turkish, French

 
 Message 3 of 116
19 August 2009 at 12:26pm | IP Logged 
I realised that my Dutch is very, like...un-casual. I only realised because my bf has taught me a few slang words/expressions and it got me excited because they're the fun parts of the language, the flexible parts. For example he taught me that urban Rotterdammers have an equivilant of 'innit' that's 'niet dan'. I frickin love that I know that word. I like twisting English for my own purposes and making up words when I can't think of a better word and lately I've been adopting Dutch words. In my world 'knuffel' means snuggle, 'lekker' means yummy and HOTT and 'lets have a lil kijk' means lets go have a look. I have to be careful to not say those things to English speakers now. xD I really can't wait til I can do such linguistic gymnastics with Dutch. I love being able to play with how I say things and the words I use. I'm not one of those people who's like OMG NO ONE'S USING APOSTROPHES PROPERLY ANYMORE! I'm the opposite.
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Stawrberry
Triglot
Newbie
Netherlands
Joined 5951 days ago

16 posts - 20 votes
Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2, Portuguese
Studies: Latin, Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 4 of 116
20 August 2009 at 1:56pm | IP Logged 
-.

Edited by Stawrberry on 25 March 2011 at 10:33pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Iolanthe
Diglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 5645 days ago

410 posts - 482 votes 
Speaks: English*, DutchC1
Studies: Turkish, French

 
 Message 5 of 116
01 September 2009 at 2:02pm | IP Logged 
Ik voel me een beetje dwaas als ik probeer met Nederlanders die ik kent niet te spreken. Vandaag moet ik iets met mijn bankrekening doen in de bank en ik zal het in Nederlands probeer te blijven. Ik vind het zo moeilijk niet te gewoon de Engels vloeiend van mijn mond te laten stromen en in plaats daarvan, zeg mijn gerepeteerd Nederlands uitdrukking.

I've been a bit scattered with my methods lately. Last week I felt very anti studying and went for the immersion method by leaving the tv on dutch channels all day, listening to Dutch music and reading Dutch magazines but this week I feel the opposite. I've picked up on the Assimil again but I'm kind of intimidated by native materials since I've been doubting if I can get to B2/C1 level by the start of next year. I know that I have to believeeeeeee and Assimil helps to instill some confidence in me. I'm on lesson 73/84 now.

In andere nieuws ben ik nu 19 (sinds gisteren) yay!
1 person has voted this message useful



Iolanthe
Diglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 5645 days ago

410 posts - 482 votes 
Speaks: English*, DutchC1
Studies: Turkish, French

 
 Message 6 of 116
03 September 2009 at 9:27pm | IP Logged 
Ik ben nu Iversen's word list methode aan het gebruiken. Het lijkt te werken. Ik heb vandaag ongeveer 30 woorden gestampt en gisteren 30. Nadat ik de woorden heb geleerd vraag ik mijn vriend de woorden uit te spreken en dan kan ik de echte uitspraak horen. Natuurlijk zal de test zijn of ik de woorden over een maand nog ken.

En nu ik weet dat ik veel te leren hebben want mijn vriend heeft de boven zinnen corrigeerde en als je waarschijnlijk kunnen zien ik moet mijn woordvolgorde verbeteren.

I love it when I know what I have to concentrate on. :)
1 person has voted this message useful



Iolanthe
Diglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 5645 days ago

410 posts - 482 votes 
Speaks: English*, DutchC1
Studies: Turkish, French

 
 Message 7 of 116
10 September 2009 at 8:05pm | IP Logged 
Maandag begin ik een nieuwe Nederlands cursus voor B1-B2 studenten. Ik hoop dat ik door zelf studie toegelaten kan worden tot B2-C1 niveau voordat dit cursus eindigt. Ik ben meer bewuster van mijn woordvolgorde. Mijn vriend is zeker mijn beste hulpmiddel voor woordvolgorde te leren. Hij verbetert mij altijd als ik fouten maken in uitspraak of als ik met hem op msn schrijf.

Ook ben ik twee lessen van het einde van Assimil Dutch With Ease en ik zal met de 'second wave' verder gaan. Oh en ik leer dertig of zo woorden elke twee dagen. Het gaat goed :)
1 person has voted this message useful



Iolanthe
Diglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 5645 days ago

410 posts - 482 votes 
Speaks: English*, DutchC1
Studies: Turkish, French

 
 Message 8 of 116
14 September 2009 at 9:11pm | IP Logged 
MILESTONE!

On Saturday I went out with my bf and a friend of his who is Dutch and when we were sat in a bar, my boyfriend suggested they talk in English to each other and I talk in Dutch with them. So I ended up talking to this guy in Dutch and he talked to me slowly and considerately so I could understand what he was saying and it was just so nice. For one because I really like this guy and think he's a friend in the making and also because I love it when I get to speak Dutch to someone who is not aware of my abilities. It feels great to be able to come out as, an albeit shakey, Dutch speaker :)

I started my Dutch course today and this is one of the reasons I'm writing in English today; the teacher only speaks Dutch to us and the other students speak Dutch to each other, agghhh my brain! I didn't understand completely what the teacher was saying and same with the students when they were talking. My listening skills need work but it looks like they're going to get some with all the Dutch I'll be exposed to!

Edited by Iolanthe on 14 September 2009 at 9:13pm



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