Learn Dutch

Pretty much have stopped working on the language right now. I was doing it every day and then just drifted out of practice. Now I barely think about it.

Guess I need to go back to Holland to get inspired, eh?

I still want to make flashcards dor Tallklas and Woordwijzer. This is what I wrote about that:

Well, this obtuse goal means I need to extract all of the word lists from each Woordwijzer class – no mean feat. Then I need to type them in to the BYKI program. Do I risk recording sound files for a language I am learning? I could probably pull them off the website one at a time and record them but that seems tedious and geeky.

Anyway, I actually tried the print file card function in BYKI and it took me like 5 tires to get backs to print on the correct fronts. That is truly annoying, but now I know how.

I was waiting for Dr K in the car the other day and ran through vocabulary I had stuck on my PDA. I was quite encouraged to know that I could name maybe 80 – 85% of the words.

Also taking my Bijbel to church and at least reading the scripture passages in Nederlands.

Maybe I am just on a plateau and will start another burst of mega-learning soon.

I was going like gangbusters for 2 months after I got back from Holland. Now I am barely reading a word a day with comprehension. I think this moves to the top of the list for the weekend.

I have got to find strategy and inspiration.

The second half of Taalklas.nl is soooo frustrating. The oefeningen are not very clear. Hence the “aaagghh.” I did finish a lesson, but it is not nearly so entertaining nor edifying as the first half.

Now I am working on Language Now’s Most Common Words in Dutch. My goal is to sit through the entire spiel and do at least one exercise before I go to bed in hour.

Finally did another Taalklas.nl and am through 16. Also worked on vocab for woordwijzer.

I am disappointed in the second half of taalklas.nl. It is neither as entertaining nor as technically well presented as the first half. Still at it but not with as much enthusiasm.

I signed up for a year of margoo:http://www.margoo.be/ and am pleased to get between 80 and 95% on the first exercises I tried on level one.

So there is still hope that I will learn another language and sooner rather than later.

I can say useful things like “Ik paak mijn sluetels uit mijn zak.” (I take my keys out of my pocket.)

I can compose new sentences based on what I have already learned.

Key to success: practice at least 30 minutes every day. I actually look forward to it. tallklas.nl rocks!

Last night I finished the first 12 lessons fo Taalklas NL. I think I need to review the scripts and enter any words I am not confident about into BYKI. My positive experience with Taalklas has helped me use BYKI better.

I should make an overall plan on how to use all of the Dutch materials I have and start doing some written work too, probably in Colloquial Dutch.

I am trying to study every day for 30 minutes and most days I do, even if it means taking my laptop to bed and doing it last thing. In fact, that may be helping since I go to sleep thinking, “Kees pakt de zeep,” or whatever.

I am using the online taalklas.nl which seems to be overloaded during my mornings, so nights are better

I need to start doing written exercises from Colloquial Dutch, though I understand a lot pretty close to the end of the CD.