snowbunny

I would love to hear your experiences in learning Dutch by using a book or self-study course (I'm outside the Netherlands so cannot take the inburgeringcurses). The cost of many of the self-study courses is about 90 Euros, so I'd like to get a good one the first time round!

Thanks,
Amy.

engelsman

psssst... not that i am suggesting that you should download free software or anything, BUT.....

if you download azureus bit torrent.. then go to isohunt.com and download teh audio file named pimsleur dutch audio...
it has 12 units and is really helpful

Starseed

I'm using "HUGO - Dutch in Three Months", and after about twenty months I'm already on chapter four!..

But seriously, it's my kind of tutor. Plenty of colloquial Dutch, but a thouroghly grammatical approach. Since I went to school when English grammar was taken seriously, and I learned French, German, & Spanish grammatically, I appreciate the rigour of the grammatical approach. You need good solid concrete foundations when you build a house.

rayburke

Snowbunny,
just read "The Undutchables" and you will understand quite a bit of the native culture; in truth I think that speaking the language is unnecessary...

Facecious? Yes a bit, but with more than a hint of truth. I am Irish and can speak the language but have met many foreign folks (European and N. American) who have a deep appreciation of the mixed bag of gifts that come with that particular cultural affinity.

I like the Dutch a lot (and the girls are extraordinarily beautiful - and fiesty!) but you do not need to speak the language to understand the culture.

Hope this helps (I lived in Den Haag for 4 years, played rugby worked and got drunk with many Dutch folks - people are people regardless of all the rest).

Ray

snowbunny

I've read The Undutchables, and most Dutch people beg for me to speak English instead of Dutch (including my husband), but my mother-in-law's English is not fluent, and if I wish to become a citizen (and I do) I have to learn to speak, understand, read, and write Dutch.

My husband can't bear my accent in Dutch so we don't get very far if I try to practise with him. It'd be easier to learn while living there, which is still at least 10 years off.

rayburke

Oh I see, the whole 100% committment strategy - that is a challenge then. I am sure you are aware that there are a range of accents and dialects depending on where your mother-in-law is from? I am told that folks in the North of Holland, near Groningen, can communicate quite clearly in their dialect with folks from Hamburg in Germany! It may be worth identifying this also.

Perhaps you could make a link via the Shell Outpost group in Houston - there will be 100's of Shell Dutch employees working here, and their partners will already have a regular social event/coffee morning or evening which you could "pop along" to - or instigate a language event? I imagine they would welcome the chance to educate you in Dutch conversation - even once a month, I think this would be far more beneficial than books and CD's.

Good Luck!!

snowbunny

My husband and MIL speak Brabants and yes, there's a different accent AND vocabulary to go with. Interesting idea re: Shell spouses in Houston... it's funny that we live in the state capital which has the flagship university and truly a lot of people from all over the world yet we still have to go to Houston or Dallas to find real "special interest" groups.

rayburke

It's the money honey, we all follow it...

PS You are up early!