Himmel Diglot Newbie Canada Joined 5325 days ago 19 posts - 21 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Norwegian, German, Dutch
| Message 1 of 6 12 July 2011 at 2:34am | IP Logged |
So it looks like I'm going to begin learning Dutch. I've been doing a lot of research
lately, and I just can't seem to commit to a specific program.
Assimil Dutch With Ease seems to be the front runner at this point. However, I'm
concerned about how effective the course is going to be. In the past I have purchased
programs such as Teach Yourself and have been disappointed with the amount of the
language I was exposed to.
My goal is to reach a level of basic fluency in Dutch, and I'm just not 100% sure
Assimil is going to cut it. Has anyone used Assimil Dutch With Ease before? How was
your experience with it? Are there any other materials you would recommend for a
learner searching for fluency in Dutch?
Dank u wel!
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tennisfan Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5359 days ago 130 posts - 247 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish Studies: German
| Message 2 of 6 12 July 2011 at 8:55am | IP Logged |
Himmel wrote:
My goal is to reach a level of basic fluency in Dutch, and I'm just not 100% sure
Assimil is going to cut it.
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What exactly are you basing that on?
can you please tell us what other options you have that make you "100% sure" that you'll reach basic fluency in Dutch?
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Himmel Diglot Newbie Canada Joined 5325 days ago 19 posts - 21 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Norwegian, German, Dutch
| Message 3 of 6 12 July 2011 at 9:17am | IP Logged |
tennisfan wrote:
Himmel wrote:
My goal is to reach a level of basic fluency in Dutch, and I'm just not 100% sure
Assimil is going to cut it.
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What exactly are you basing that on?
can you please tell us what other options you have that make you "100% sure" that you'll reach basic fluency in Dutch? |
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I appologize for my poor choice or words.
I am not saying that any option is necessarily going to bring me to a level of basic fluency, I'm more or less not sure which set of materials is going to give me the best stepping stone towards such a goal.
I am already well aware that fluency cannot come from just one program alone, right now I am more or less looking for the best out there to begin with.
Sorry for any confusion.
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aanhetleren Newbie Australia Joined 5024 days ago 17 posts - 18 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, Swedish
| Message 4 of 6 12 July 2011 at 9:55am | IP Logged |
I have used Assimil Dutch along with a few other programs and materials. It is a really good program and helped me get to the stage of being able to have basic conversations with relatives, translate documents, and understand Dutch tv on the internet, although I am nowhere near fluent.
I found after going through the program that it just felt natural to read and understand Dutch - different to a previous attempt at learning it a few years ago when I was in a class room setting with traditional grammar drills and conjugation homework and nothing really clicked.
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strummer Diglot Newbie Switzerland Joined 4921 days ago 38 posts - 53 votes Speaks: Italian*, English Studies: German, Mandarin, Japanese
| Message 5 of 6 15 July 2011 at 4:55pm | IP Logged |
i've got no experience of Dutch learning, but as an assimil fan( i'm currently learning
english and German with it) i strongly advise you to use it.
But remember you can have the best language methos, but you must know how to use it and
to adapt it to the kind of learner you are.
Everyone have their own little techniques, ex: thinking about a real life situation in
the target language, recite dialogues, making sentences with the new words, mind-
picturing grammar rules, ecc.
I'ts up to you to be successful but of course a godd material is needed.
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watupboy101 Diglot Groupie United States Joined 4902 days ago 65 posts - 81 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French
| Message 6 of 6 18 July 2011 at 5:41am | IP Logged |
I don't have experience with dutch either but I am doing Assimil with French currently, but I don't recommend it
with no experience what so ever. I started it after 2 months I wish I would have started it earlier. I would say use
some other course first then use Assimil, personally I love it, the humor is nice too. As for taking you to "basic
fluency", I realize that after using Assimil for about 2 weeks I've noticed that I am getting a much greater "active"
vocabulary, if you know what I mean. So, yes you will have a basic vocabulary (about 2000 words) which you will be
fairly fluent using. So far, Assimil is the best I've found, there is also a lot of content also, way more than "Teach
Yourself" (which is my 2nd favorite). And the best part is all the audio is in your target language.
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