B_Hutt Newbie United States Joined 4953 days ago 32 posts - 39 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean
| Message 1 of 15 29 December 2011 at 3:36am | IP Logged |
Hi, all :]. This is my first ever TAC and I'm all excited to be a part of Team 德. I have flirted with various languages over the years without much success, and I have now committed myself solely to Dutch. I have always suffered from a bit of wanderlust but realized I can't focus on more than one language or nothing will ever get done. I love Dutch. I've been with my half Dutch half Spanish boyfriend for a year and I love listening to him and his family talk. I love the way the language sounds, and I love that if I could learn it, it could be something I could share with him that not a lot of other people know.
Now, for some more specific info:
NEDERLANDS:
Background: For the last few months I've been unsuccessfully trying to learn Dutch. I think that maybe participating in a team will help me keep some focus.
Current Level: Oh god. Nothingness. Like A negative. Haha.
Goal: I'd like to be able to carry on at the very least a basic conversation with my boyfriend. I have a hard time with the hard "g's", still, and find some words impossibly hard to pronounce- "huis"? Really? I can't say "huis"?! So I definitely want to work on that. Ideally, I'd like to be able to read somewhat decently too. Nothing profound, but it would be nice to be able to understand news articles and things like that.
Resources: My boyfriend is kind of a terrible teacher- not really his fault, it's his first language- I'd have a hard time explaining English to someone- but he helps with pronunciation and answers questions if I have them, so that's something. I have the Michael Thomas discs, a grammar book, and a children's book, so I'm going to start forcing myself to do that as often as possible. No excuses.
So...that all being said, Hallo! :) Hoe gaat het met je, team mates and all fellow TAC participants?
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Luna Moonsilver Diglot Groupie Germany lunaslanglog.wordpreRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5075 days ago 77 posts - 99 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Mandarin, Korean
| Message 2 of 15 29 December 2011 at 9:42pm | IP Logged |
Hello, fellow teammate!
I'm studying German, so hopefully I'll be able to get some of the gist of what you're
talking about with Dutch ;]. It's something I've looked at for future study, since the
similarities between the two shouldn't make picking it up a ridiculous task.
(Hopefully!) It certainly sounds interesting though - and I hope you achieve your goals
this year! :D
Veel geluck/Viel Glück! :]
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jae Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5661 days ago 206 posts - 239 votes Speaks: English*, German, Latin Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, French
| Message 3 of 15 29 December 2011 at 10:59pm | IP Logged |
Hi teammate! Although I have never studied Dutch, I can certainly appreciate the language - I think it sounds so cool!! (sort of like German and sort of like English...but really unique!). I wish you the best in your endeavors!
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silverpolyglot Diglot Groupie Canada silverchallanges.wor Joined 4911 days ago 42 posts - 72 votes Speaks: English*, Somali Studies: French, Swedish, Mandarin
| Message 4 of 15 31 December 2011 at 6:55am | IP Logged |
B_Hutt I wish you luck on your studies and on the challenge! Hope to pick up a little
Dutch here and there from your log :)!
¬Silver
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NickJS Senior Member United Kingdom flickr.com/photos/sg Joined 4956 days ago 264 posts - 334 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese
| Message 5 of 15 01 January 2012 at 7:19pm | IP Logged |
Just dropping by to post you the list of team logs so that you can find it easily:
Team Logs Here
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B_Hutt Newbie United States Joined 4953 days ago 32 posts - 39 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean
| Message 6 of 15 08 January 2012 at 3:42pm | IP Logged |
Welp, 8 days into the New Year and so far I am off to a TERRIBLE start. The good news is, I don't seem to be the only one. Its been a busy few weeks with the holidays- so I'm hoping to crack down. I'm going to start listening to the Michael Thomas cd's in my car on my way to work again tomorrow.
Today I have to go to a baby shower and see some old friends, which will take a few hours, but tonight I plan on reading a little in one of my books. I forgot to mention in my resources that I have two version of a Roald Dahl book- one Dutch, one English, so I am able to read them and compare. I might try to do some of that since it's a pretty "easy" book.
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B_Hutt Newbie United States Joined 4953 days ago 32 posts - 39 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean
| Message 7 of 15 18 January 2012 at 1:15am | IP Logged |
Wooow, sucking at this so far. Apologies! Work has been a little hectic and I'm also trying to quit smoking, so I've been a little frazzled. (Any encouragement with this in addition to the Dutch would be lovely :P)
I have been doing a lot of what I consider to be fairly 'passive' learning- I did put my Michael Thomas cds back in my car and have been re-listening to those ( I think I'm on the second, maybe third- don't remember) but I only have a ten minute drive to and from work, so I don't consider listening and repeating a particularly useful exercise, especially since I can't remember much of it when I try. :(
I also ordered Hugo's "Dutch in Three Months" just to try to mix up my approach- I think it's supposed to be here on Monday and I'm going to force myself to do some livemocha exercises here in a bit.
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silverpolyglot Diglot Groupie Canada silverchallanges.wor Joined 4911 days ago 42 posts - 72 votes Speaks: English*, Somali Studies: French, Swedish, Mandarin
| Message 8 of 15 18 January 2012 at 1:41am | IP Logged |
Good Luck on trying to quit smoking! I understand how hard it is to quit. When my
mother was trying to quit smoking, a method she used was keeping a water bottle filled
with water with her and when she had a craving she would take a drink from it. This way
you can substitute the craving for nicotine for the craving of water, which is
a healthier habit to develop! If you don't like water, perhaps you could use gum
instead!
Good Luck on your studies!!
~silverpolyglot
Edited by silverpolyglot on 18 January 2012 at 1:42am
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