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advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

Old Sep 1st 2015, 3:06 pm
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Default advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

Hi All


I have recently come back from a holiday in NL where I met with the HR manager for the NL subsidiary of my current employer.
They have told me that If I can get an adequate level of Dutch they would like me to relocate as I have the required experience they are looking for in my field.


I have literally 8-10 months to learn Dutch whilst here in the UK.


I have purchased Assimil Dutch language system, and have an online Dutch teacher that I speak to once a month, but for those of you have come from zero Dutch to adequate/fluent Dutch how did you do it?


what worked best for you? how long did it take ?


Thanks
SN
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Old Sep 2nd 2015, 10:10 am
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Default Re: advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

Depends on your age, your aptitude for languages (and possibly how many you already speak?), and your learning style. I'm still not fluent after years but my children are

Never heard of Assimil before so can't comment. Once a month doesn't sound promising for real practice though. This means you'll be able to read and write far quicker than you'll be able to listen and understand (that was my issue too). There are lots of online resources, including language exchange Skype groups. Or perhaps advertise locally to see if there are any Dutch speakers willing to practice with you?

I went to evening classes to get myself up to A2 in the first year I was here (Volksuniversiteit). A free resource I used: Lees en Schrijf! This went hand in hand with a TV series, so I guess your equivalent of BBC education programmes. Good for cramming vocabulary, free registration. There is a second series that is more related to the workplace, but you'd need to already have a basic vocabulary before starting that one.
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Old Sep 2nd 2015, 11:42 am
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Default Re: advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

Thanks. I only have English and have never really tried to learn a language before. I got a lot of work to do.
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Old Sep 2nd 2015, 6:01 pm
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Default Re: advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

Hi SuperNova It took me three years to learn Dutch to the point of perhaps being mistaken for a 5yr old.(the following 30 yrs to become fluent).I took a 10 week course of daily lessons from 9 am to 1.00pm with set homework every day..Exhausting!!!.My REAL progress began however with weekly coffee mornings with my Dutch (teacher) neighbour.I also made sure I spoke Dutch in the shops etc at every opportunity. This was as a 'Trailing Spouse' i.e. none working partner.My OH was thrown into the language within two weeks of arriving when the companies American partners pulled out and they reverted to speaking Dutch-His business language skills took a year to develop.despite intensive courses and speaking every day.However whether his colleagues took him seriously at that time is a mute point.Like any skill it's all about practice and determination.You have to fight to speak Dutch in many parts of NL.(It's less hassle for them to switch to English) If your serious? Find any source possible to practice on.Local Dutch in your town? Babbel (online school) Once a month is useless frankly.You will need to immerse yourself if you intend to make any real progress in such a short time .
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Old Sep 3rd 2015, 8:37 am
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Default Re: advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

For me the way was a Dutch Linguaphone course and total submersion in the language. Meeting a Dutch girl who spoke five languages (and better English than myself) certainly helped. Now after 44 years I think and speak in Dutch although my 9 year old Dutch grandson sometimes makes fun at some of my pronouciations. A few years ago a British workmate was visiting with his Dutch wife. While we were talking I realised that I was talking in Dutch to him and our wives were talking in English. In time anything is possible!!
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Old Sep 3rd 2015, 9:44 am
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Default Re: advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

I've obviously been set a hard task! But hopefully not impossible.
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Old Sep 3rd 2015, 12:33 pm
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Default Re: advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

Learning a foreign language is definitely easier if you have already achieved competence in at least one foreign language. This is THE big argument for teaching foreign languages in school.

You are going to find yourself asking questions like, "What do you mean, it's an adjective ?"
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Old Sep 3rd 2015, 2:54 pm
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Default Re: advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

Originally Posted by SuperNova
Hi All


I have recently come back from a holiday in NL where I met with the HR manager for the NL subsidiary of my current employer.
They have told me that If I can get an adequate level of Dutch they would like me to relocate as I have the required experience they are looking for in my field.


I have literally 8-10 months to learn Dutch whilst here in the UK.


I have purchased Assimil Dutch language system, and have an online Dutch teacher that I speak to once a month, but for those of you have come from zero Dutch to adequate/fluent Dutch how did you do it?


what worked best for you? how long did it take ?


Thanks
SN
I learnt a lot from watching the weather every day. The topic was the same so the words became known to me and I soon started noticing the sentence construction.

If I was you, I would learn business Dutch. It's your employer you need to impress, not somebody you ask for help in the supermarket.

I would also have Nos1 on the radio in the background at home (NPO Radio 1 - Popup Luister Live) and watch the Dutch news (NOS Journaal | NOS).
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Old Sep 3rd 2015, 2:58 pm
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Default Re: advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

Originally Posted by old wanderer
Now after 44 years I think and speak in Dutch although my 9 year old Dutch grandson sometimes makes fun at some of my pronouciations.
My kids like me to say "groene brug". But I'm still searching for a couch that they sat on the other day when watching something on the TV called "A Movie".
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Old Sep 3rd 2015, 3:05 pm
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Default Re: advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

Originally Posted by Fugee
I learnt a lot from watching the weather every day. The topic was the same so the words became known to me and I soon started noticing the sentence construction.

If I was you, I would learn business Dutch. It's your employer you need to impress, not somebody you ask for help in the supermarket.

I would also have Nos1 on the radio in the background at home (NPO Radio 1 - Popup Luister Live) and watch the Dutch news (NOS Journaal | NOS).
Dankje wel
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Old Sep 3rd 2015, 4:46 pm
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Default Re: advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

Kids TV is good. Simple language with frequent repetition. I mean the sort of programme aimed at very young kids.
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Old Sep 3rd 2015, 6:23 pm
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Default Re: advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

Originally Posted by Fugee
My kids like me to say "groene brug". But I'm still searching for a couch that they sat on the other day when watching something on the TV called "A Movie".
Way back in 1975 when I was doing my best to get to grips with speaking the language, one of the Dutch guys in my office laughed at the way I had said something, and a Liverpool lad in the office said "say Smith's Crisps". No matter how he tried he could not say it. It's all about the "s" sound. Most Dutch people have diffculty combining the two words!!
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Old Sep 5th 2015, 8:46 am
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Default Re: advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

Originally Posted by old wanderer
Way back in 1975 when I was doing my best to get to grips with speaking the language, one of the Dutch guys in my office laughed at the way I had said something, and a Liverpool lad in the office said "say Smith's Crisps". No matter how he tried he could not say it. It's all about the "s" sound. Most Dutch people have diffculty combining the two words!!
It always used to kill me when I got pulled up on the pronunciation.(and boy do the Dutch do that,ad infinitum.) I would be asked to say snow a million times and get it wrong.However if I suggested that they couldn't pronounce anything with a w in it,or call the rear of anything incorrectly the 'Backside' My OH was once called to task about something he said and then told by the (Dutch) person that he (dp)had taken the Oxford English course (online) and therefore knew what he was talking about..such confidence.My daughter was once marked down in a class for stating that there was a Lady Mayoress in her town. Teacher said no such thing exists.
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Old Sep 5th 2015, 8:52 am
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Default Re: advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

Originally Posted by Fugee
I learnt a lot from watching the weather every day. The topic was the same so the words became known to me and I soon started noticing the sentence construction.

If I was you, I would learn business Dutch. It's your employer you need to impress, not somebody you ask for help in the supermarket.

I would also have Nos1 on the radio in the background at home (NPO Radio 1 - Popup Luister Live) and watch the Dutch news (NOS Journaal | NOS).
can't agree on the 'only business ' Dutch fugee you still have to ask for coffee or food in the canteen etc.plus when it comes to social moments talking about spread sheets doesn't usually work. The OP is also living in the UK
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Old Sep 5th 2015, 11:17 am
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Default Re: advice from expats on their experience learning Dutch

I've found out over the years that not being able to speak the local language was certainly a disadvantage. Before moving to Holland I was working and living in Montreal, in a completly French area. In a supposedly Bilingual city the amount of people who could not understand English was truly amazing. Moving to the Netherlands was a completly different experience. Many years ago i worked with a Brit who had lived in the country for 19 years and could not speak one word of the language. English is used so much here like the large offshore engineering company, where I worked before retirement, all e-mails and even meetings were held in English. It is possible to live here without learning the language but one certainly misses out on a lot of the culture.
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