How to learn a new language

oli356

oli356

oli356

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Been thinking of learning Dutch for the last few months. Can't think of a better time to do it then now, while I'm on my summer holidays and while im still young as apparently its easier then.

I want to learn enough, so I can have a conversation as best as I can with a Dutch person.

So my question is:

For those who have learnt an extra language in the past how did you go around it?
How did you try to learn the words and sentences etc?
And suggestions of the best way to start off?

Obviously different people learn better by different techniques but yeh :p.

Thanks
Oli :)
 
oli356 said:
Been thinking of learning Dutch for the last few months. Can't think of a better time to do it then now, while I'm on my summer holidays and while im still young as apparently its easier then.

I want to learn enough, so I can have a conversation as best as I can with a Dutch person.

So my question is:

For those who have learnt an extra language in the past how did you go around it?
How did you try to learn the words and sentences etc?
And suggestions of the best way to start off?

Obviously different people learn better by different techniques but yeh :p.

Thanks
Oli :)
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Ah Oli me and you are the same age ;). I'm also interested in this albeit German instead of dutch.
 
Milkybk said:
I'd find a coffee shop near your work. Find an attractive lass who works behind the counter, making sure she speaks french... I mean dutch. Get a major crush on her and then **** your pants and act like a beta male in general as you skulk off to a forum...
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:D
 
It's very hard to do, you need to tune your ear into the language so you can tell the individual words spoken at native speed. You can learn a few simple sentences so at least you feel like you are learning something useful. I'd then suggest diving into full on grammar, verb conjugation etc. if you really want to learn it. Another tip is to read the language and write down the words you don't understand, then memorise these words, but you'll really need to recognise the verbs and tenses, regular/irregular.

If you just want a few sentences and make quick progress then Michel Thomas is quite good.
 
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I've heard rumours that the foreign legion can teach you french quicker than a quick thing in quicksville .... I think they do this with the help of a big stick :D
 
Why do you want to learn dutch?

Just learn German first, then you'll be able to understand a fair bit of dutch from there , everyone in Holland speaks english anyway :p
 
I would pick a different language. I lived in Amsterdam for 9 years and I can speak Dutch. Before I say this I really like the Dutch. The problem you have speaking Dutch is unless you pronounce words precisely as a Dutch person would pronounce it they refuse to aknowledge what you have said. Most Dutch people actively tried to discourage me learning Dutch. They would just say why bother when we all speak english?

I would got for Spanish as you can use that in many countries.
 
ennogs said:
I would pick a different language. I lived in Amsterdam for 9 years and I can speak Dutch. Before I say this I really like the Dutch. The problem you have speaking Dutch is unless you pronounce words precisely as a Dutch person would pronounce it they refuse to aknowledge what you have said. Most Dutch people actively tried to discourage me learning Dutch. They would just say why bother when we all speak english?

I would got for Spanish as you can use that in many countries.
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Czechs and Russians are similar to that, they refuse to understand and just look confused if you pronounce something even slightly different. I don't understand as in English we often have to put up with foreigners absolutely butchering English but we still manage to understand.

As for learning, I've found that self learning isn't very good and doesn't get you far. I learnt more in 2 months of classes than 3 years living here and learning from books and audio CDs. The 3 years weren't wasted though as I've picked up a pretty big vocabulary of everyday items :)
 
A very good teacher of mine swears by pimsleur tapes, check them out. they make you feel guilty if you can answer the question because the answer was told to you only 20 seconds ago, then it throws in stuff randomly that was done at the start of the lesson, but it trains your mind to react to it and you will surprise yourself.
 
While you could learn some basic gammar and volcab from books, web couirces, software etc. You can only really learn the language by living in that country AND forcing yourslef into an environment where the only way to live is to speak the langauge.You will also need to allocate lots of time, and when your brain is fresh not tired.

I have lived in French speaking Switzerland for nearly 4 years now and only speak very basic French. The problem is where I work everyone speaks English or German, at home i live with some French speakers but they prefer English. I have little time to further my ability, and what spare time I do have I am usually exhausted (working 70-80 hour weeks at the moment).
In my experience, once you know enough to survive (buy stuff, ask for directions, read the main news stories, follow basic instruction, and some light chit-chat with flatmate). the need to earn more rapidly drops and then you quickly level out.

In fact my French has got worse in the last year as I am simply too busy to utter a word most days - at the same time my English has definitely got worse as well, something to be careful about if you plunge yourself into non-anglophones.
 
ennogs said:
I would pick a different language. I lived in Amsterdam for 9 years and I can speak Dutch. Before I say this I really like the Dutch. The problem you have speaking Dutch is unless you pronounce words precisely as a Dutch person would pronounce it they refuse to aknowledge what you have said. Most Dutch people actively tried to discourage me learning Dutch. They would just say why bother when we all speak english?

I would got for Spanish as you can use that in many countries.
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I would agree that dutch is pretty useless. German would be much more useful, and all Dutch know fluent German. But something like French or Spanish would be the most useful.
 
D.P. said:
I would agree that dutch is pretty useless. German would be much more useful, and all Dutch know fluent German. But something like French or Spanish would be the most useful.
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Tish and pish I say! All you have to do is look at a table to work out the most useful languages to learn, but if everyone only spoke those top few languages...

I say its more impressive for someone to speak a lesser known language, if you do learn and go to holland people will be more surprised than say en englishman speaking french/german/spanish.
 
Impressive maybe, but I don't see dutch as a useful language - learn German then you can communicate with those dutch that don't speak English :p

I might be a bit biased as I'm half Dtuch/German but only speak German. Whenever I'm in Holland, get by perfectly with only speaking English!
 
Well i see what you all mean by Dutch is rather pointless as Dutch people speak English extremely well. But as i want to spend a fair bit of time in Holland when I'm older i wouldn't mind knowing some sort of Dutch.

Do most Dutch people speak German as well then or is the language just similar? Like my sister when she was learning Spanish she said as she new French it was easier.
 
Start off with some introduction tapes, to get a feel for it. Then get a teacher/class. Work through textbooks. Get some dutch speaking friends/find some language exchange partners (internet sites for these, have a search).

You'll also want to heavily use an automatic scheduling flashcards program in your study, such as Anki. That last bit is very important if you're to retain any of it. You can use it for both vocab, and sentences.

Good luck!
 
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