Ana Miranda
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Language Learning Tools 

27/11/2013

8 Comments

 
Despite living in Flanders and being surrounded by Flemings, I couldn’t just flip a switch and start speaking. I’m not a natural and I get really self-conscious of my mistakes and shortcomings. Every time I hear “We moeten Nederlands spreken, eh, Ana?!” I shy out because the things I actually can say are so basic I feel stupid. I wish I could, from the moment we decree that I must speak Dutch only, chat your ears off or at least speak my mind before it gets lost in translation and the conversation moves on. Frustrating.

I doubt that I’ll stop speaking English with the people I’ve already been doing so for years. It’s our default communication. But I’m sure I’ll improve enough to be a functional and fully integrated member of the Flemish community.

Anyway, I digress.

As a beginner learner of any language, you’ll need to learn a lot of new words and it might be hard to remember all of them or know how to use them properly.

Before I started the intensive course I took advantage of the resources around me, tried them out and decided which ones were the most helpful for me.

These classes have been crucial in my case because even though I learned a lot of words in the last few months, I wasn’t able to maintain a conversation. I like following a structure, learning each situation/vocabulary/grammar on their own and doing homework and exams. Maybe it's a teacher thing. I now use the following tools as extra learning support:

1. Television: I love cooking shows (Hellooo, Jamie Oliver!) so imagine my delight in discovering a Flemish cooking channel that would teach me not only their culinary secrets but vital food vocabulary. Njam! Now and then I also watch Komen Eten, Thuis, series like Salamander and Eigen Kweek (hilarious!) and cartoons. Cartoons are especially good because their speech is clearer and easy to understand (Don’t you dare bother me when I’m watching The Penguins of Madagascar. I’m actually studying.)

2. Music: Gers Pardoel’s songs are modern and catchy. I like to read the lyrics and try to sing along – it helps a lot with pronunciation.
Children’s songs are awesome and I think it’s the right time for this: 
3. Word of the day: You can subscribe and receive a new word and sentence every.single.day. What I like to do is to write down the sentence on my study notebook, listen to the native sound (on the website) and say it out loud a couple of times. Vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation practice right there. Daily. And free. Unlike booze. 

4. Wablief: You can find it on Fans of Flanders website or watch it when the show is on tv. Chris explains a Flemish word or expression (in English).

5. Comic Books: Belgians are suckers for (oops, pardon me), fans of comic books. There’s even a Museum in Brussels. My boyfriend owns a decent stash that I’ve been slowly exploring. Kufje (Tintin), Suske en Wiske, Jommeke, Urbanus, you name it!

Just look around and see what you can use to learn the language you want (or need to). Read everything: labels, flyers, posters, magazines, brochures, etc. Listen to the radio, look for websites or YouTube channels. Languages are all around you, happy learning! 



8 Comments
El
27/11/2013 08:55:06 am

http://www.wablieft.be/ - with a newspaper in basis dutch. Also there books are good if you don't want to read kids books and can't tackle an adult book yet. (available in some libraries)

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Ana Elisa
27/11/2013 12:02:51 pm

Great tip! Thanks! I'm checking it out now :)

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Leah@OppositeOcean link
27/11/2013 12:38:52 pm

I can relate to your frustrations. Some days it all goes better than other days but the important thing is to keep at it.

I thought I'd share this forum with you, too. http://www.dutchgrammar.com/forum/index.php It's really useful if you have a question. There are a lot of native speakers who are usually pretty prompt in answering questions. You can also browse some of the older topics and learn some things. Additionally there are a lot of links to language-learning resources there as well.

For me, the one thing that helps me learn the most is to read books in the target language. I pick up a lot of vocabulary and I notice that forming the sentence structure becomes easier and more natural after a day of reading. You can also rent movies at the public library if you're interested in watching movies.

Het Huis van het Nederlands is also a good place to find useful information for learning Dutch. http://www.hvngent.be/ They organize some social activities to help keep up the conversation skills. I wish I had more time to do things like this -- University is consuming all my time now.

I can relate to that dreadful feeling when hearing "Vanaf nu is het Nederlands". It might be a consolation to know that it's much easier to speak in Dutch with others who are also learning it as a second language. It's a good place to start building up your confidence to later be able to try and keep up with the natives.

I wish you the best of luck with the learning and offer you all my support, I know how difficult it can be! :) Stick with it! :)

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Ana Elisa
28/11/2013 08:07:02 am

Thank you SO much, Leah. Your advice is fantastic!

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Stephen
27/11/2013 12:47:59 pm

Ana & Leah, I enjoy both your blogs and have had similar experiences. After 2,5 years and 8 niveaus at HvhNL I am finally enjoying reading the entire Harry Potter series again - this time in Dutch. It's good to go back to old favourites.

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Ana Elisa
28/11/2013 08:09:05 am

Hi Stephen! I am also a fan and I can't wait to be able to read the series in Dutch. I read Eat Pray Love in French as soon as I came to Belgium and it helped a lot in learning new words and sentence construction.

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liz
8/12/2013 07:36:03 am

Very helpful, especially the kids song part.
I am still learning to speak in dutch and I also do the listening to kids song :")

<a href="http://pintaliztiirene.blogspot.be/">Liz Secret Rendezvous</a>

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Ana Elisa
9/12/2013 09:12:54 am

Hi Liz, I'm so glad you like the tips.
I LOVE kids songs - they are fun and cute and they help us learn so much :)

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