aanhetleren Newbie Australia Joined 5030 days ago 17 posts - 18 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, Swedish
| Message 1 of 9 21 February 2011 at 2:47am | IP Logged |
I am up to lesson 26 of Assimil Dutch (first wave 75). Am not sure if I'm doing things correctly.
I find that when I am translating dialogs from English to Dutch, it is mostly very easy, because I remember the dialogs word-for-word, apart from a couple of errors switching Het for Dat, etc. Often, I don't actually need to read the English text to translate from, it just comes out as a recitation.
However, when I try to speak Dutch to my pets (I don't have any Dutch speakers to practice with and the pets don't seem to mind as much as my other housemates) I catch myself making grammatical errors often. E.g. "Jullie bent erg lief".
Also, I find that I really enjoy doing the first wave, but the second wave is a chore, and a bit boring, so I often get behind in the second wave.
Am I approaching this in the wrong way? Maybe I should actually be using the exercise sentences for the English to Dutch translation instead of the actual dialogs?
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aanhetleren Newbie Australia Joined 5030 days ago 17 posts - 18 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, Swedish
| Message 2 of 9 21 February 2011 at 2:53am | IP Logged |
Another question: The edition I'm using is published in 1989, reprinted 2007. Does anyone know if they language in this edition is fairly current? Or are there any old-fashioned phrases I should avoid using in the Netherlands?
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Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5570 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin
| Message 3 of 9 21 February 2011 at 9:15am | IP Logged |
Congratulations on having such a perfect memory! Perhaps one strategy would be to finish the first wave
and then put Assimil away for a few months so that you have forgotten the lesson from your recall memory
and then come back to it to continue the second wave later.
Edited by Elexi on 21 February 2011 at 9:16am
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Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6016 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh
| Message 4 of 9 21 February 2011 at 12:40pm | IP Logged |
Are you redoing lessons a lot during the passive wave? I think you've probably listening to each one too often.
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schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5565 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch
| Message 5 of 9 21 February 2011 at 2:18pm | IP Logged |
aanhetleren wrote:
However, when I try to speak Dutch to my pets....
... I catch myself making grammatical errors often |
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Why not dress them up in jacket and tie, and act out some of the office scenes?
aanhetleren wrote:
I really enjoy doing the first wave, but the second wave is a chore, and a bit boring, so I often get behind in the second wave. |
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Me too. But presumably it doesn't take you very long, if you know them all by heart.
aanhetleren wrote:
Maybe I should actually be using the exercise sentences for the English to Dutch translation instead of the actual dialogs? |
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It does mention in the notes in my copy (I'm using "ohne Mühe") that you can translate the exercise sentences in addition to the dialogues if you feel like it.
BTW how long does it take you to do the lessons? Since I hit lesson 50, it seems to be taking me at least a couple of hours to get throught them (that's just for the passive one). And I still make quite a few errors when doing the active one.
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James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5380 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French
| Message 6 of 9 22 February 2011 at 1:12am | IP Logged |
It sounds like you are doing things perfectly well. I have only done Spanish, but I found translating both the dialogues and exercises was very worthwhile. Good luck.
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aanhetleren Newbie Australia Joined 5030 days ago 17 posts - 18 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, Swedish
| Message 7 of 9 27 February 2011 at 9:16am | IP Logged |
Sorry for the delay replying in this thread. I don't have regular internet connection at the moment.
I don't have a super memory or anything, usually my memory is like a sieve, so I think Cainntear is probably right that I have repeated lessons more than neccessary.
I have made a couple of attempts with the Assimil Dutch program, working on it for a few weeks then taking a break (travelling, studies, loss of motivation, etc.) and coming back to it, repeating some of the old lessons again. I used to go for long walks listening to about ten of the assimil mp3s I was currently working on as well.
I guess by the time I get to the active wave for the lessons where I am now in the passive wave, it will be a lot more challenging.
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RogerK Triglot Groupie Austria Joined 5080 days ago 92 posts - 181 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian Studies: Portuguese
| Message 8 of 9 27 February 2011 at 10:51am | IP Logged |
It sounds as though you are doing very well. Most of the advice I have read here recommends listening and reviewing previous lessons, which you are doing. It may seem to you that you are memorising, even passively, the dialogs, but who cares? If you are able to translate from English (native language) into Dutch then congratulations. Aren't we all trying to do accomplish this?
I would say my memory is just average and I need many repetitions to remember anything but I won't complain when I begin speaking some French. I certainly won't demean any accomplishment because I worked harder or listened to the dialogs twice as often as the next person. You question what is necessary. I would say if you need to listen repeat a dialog 10 times before you really know it, then do it. But if you then listen to it another 10 times you are over learning which is even better. When speaking I want things to flow and not have to be searching for words in my brain. I know I achieve this only after lots and lots of practice.
Good lcuck and keep up the good work.
By the way aanhetheren where do you live? I am from Melbourne and lived in South Yarra from 2006 until the beginning of last year, when I returned to Europe for work and for more language practice.
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