Learning experiences so far . . .

[rog]

Hi everybody,

I have only just found this forum and this is my first post, so I thought tell you about my experiences of learning so far.

I have been learning Dutch on and off for quite a few years but if I am honest not that seriously and with great lapses of time in between periods of study. This was not really a problem as I live in the UK and my only reason for learning was having Dutch friends and a love of Holland.

About four months ago a friend loaned me the Rosetta Stone Dutch course (all three parts), this awakened my interest and I thought I would make a real serious attempt to learn. Rosetta Stone is very expensive and I expected great things of it, it is very user friendly and fun to use and over the past few months I have been working my way through it. I am now on part three and over half way though, so now not that far from the finish of the course. My scores for the lessons have been consistently high ranging from 85% to 100%, which greatly encouraged me. My thinking was if I am getting high scores I must be doing really well and learning a lot, sadly I don’t think this is true. I have increased my vocabulary somewhat but I don’t think I am any the wiser about grammar whatsoever, I will finish the course but I am quite disappointed with Rosetta Stone I have to say.

When my Dutch friends heard about my serious attempts to learn Dutch, they found and sent me a second-hand copy of the Ijsbreker 1 course (book and CD rom). I have only just started using this but I already have a much better feeling about this than Rosetta Stone, in as much as I do feel I am actually learning something, anyway time will tell I guess. I am also watching Dutch TV on satellite as much as I can, particularly the children’s TV early in the morning, which worryingly is getting quite addictive

Really enjoying reading the posts in this and the other forums, - comments and any suggestions on my experiences all very welcome.

[Shazzy]

Hallo Rog
Welcom op het forum!

Waar woon je? (Where do you live)
I notice you live in the UK. I live on the Isle of Wight and your story sounds a bit similar to mine in many ways. My mother was Dutch but she never brought us up speaking Dutch and I always wanted to learn Dutch and over the years did lots of beginner courses but never got any further with it. It was always hard to find courses higher than beginners in Dutch. When my mother died 3 years ago I wanted to improve my Dutch. I had a reasonable basic knowledge but knew very little grammer so I signed up with the Dutch Language school for a good grammer beginners course and that's where my learning really started. I did rosetta stone in the past but never got that far with it. It is good for vocab but nothing else. After I finished the beginners course I could make conversations so was well impressed. I then went on to elementary and then GCSE which I took this year and results are due out in just over a week Now I have registerd with NTI in Leiden and doing a Dutch NT2 course and I am using Ijsbreker Deel 3 which is hard in places but very good. I really love the DVD / multi media side to the course. I don't know what Deel 1 is like but if its anything like Deel three I am sure it is teaching you so much.

I also have an excellent speaking teacher who teaches me via skype and she has helped me so much. I am willing to be in regular contact with you if you would like it as we can all help each other. This forum will help you too. Get in touch if you would like any futher information.

Shazzy

[rog]

Hi Shazzy,

I live in Northamptonshire, but I know IOW quite well, spent a lot of holidays there as a child and also more recently.

Interested to hear of your experiences . . . must admit I was really surprised by Rosetta Stone, I guess I should have realised the fact that I was finding it pretty easy and not very challenging was a sign that I was not learning that much, I would have been even more unhappy if I had actually purchased it at the price it sells for!

At the moment I am only about half way through Ijsbreker deel 1, while it is going well I notice even deel 1 requires a lot more concentration and effort than RS, but this I think is a really good sign.

If you are on Ijsbreker deel 3 I think you are a lot more advanced than me, so much appreciate your offer of help. My learning is a bit sporadic due to lack of time and commitments but I am trying to make a serious effort and stick with it. I listen to Dutch radio a lot and get a real kick when I realise I understand what is being said and discussed, that does not happen all the time but when it does it’s a real encouragement.

Good luck with the GCSE results

[Shazzy]

Hi Rog

You may not beleive this but I used to live in Northamptonshire. I loved for 4 years in Kettering and 12 years in Northampton before we finally moved here in 2006.

Yes I am more advanced than you and would be happy to help you in any way I can. I don't know what Ijsbreker 1 is like. What kind of vocaubulary are you learning? I love the CD work that comes with Ijsbreker but it is a lot of work but its great how it grades how good you are. I love the sentences where you have to fit the words in the right places. Perhaps you can send me some sample of what you have done. When I do these exercises I always type them up so I can read through them later.

What have you learnt so far? How good is your talking?

Are you on skype? Perhaps we chat on skype sometime either in word chat or by webcam. You are welcome to contact me by email. I will give you my details by personal chat. I don't like to give my details on the open forum.

We will chat by email..... as its more personal
The forum has taught me so much. If you do some work put it on here and the guys will correct it for you.

Groetjes

Shazzy

Shazzy

[grizzler]

Sorry to interrupt, but seeing how both of you miss the peculiarities of the capitalised version of the ij ligature, I just can't resist...

In most cases the ij represents one single character, even though it is usually written using an i and a j. So both 'parts' are capitalised. What you have been referring to would be IJsbreker.

I realise this must look a bit strange if you're not used to it, because to me IJ written as Ij looks really weird...