Learning another language (book help?)

[Ladder23]

Hi all,

I've been keen to learn Dutch for a while, with friends and family I've managed to pick up a few bits but to seriously learn I'd like a book or some online guidance as to what's the best source to learn from?

I get so much down time at work, I'm very fortunate to say I could put a lot of time in to learn.

Any advice appreciated

 

[Hadlow Road]

Duolingo?

I hold no brief for them, but they offer free online courses.

 

[Ladder23]

Duolingo?

I hold no brief for them, but they offer free online courses.

Never heard! Will check those out

Thank you

 

[Amos]

Mango languages do free online training.It is fairly basic, but will get you started.

 

[DarloRich]

there are on line systems like Duolingo that seem to come recommended by everyone i have heard mention them.

Of course, being English I have no need to learn the local lingo.

 

[westv]

I've been learning Spanish on and off (more off than on LOL!) and I use Linguaphone.

 

[Gloster]

I can’t give any recommendations as to which option to choose as all my languages were learnt by what is now, so I understand, called ‘immersion technique’, but was then called ‘living there’. The one thing I will say is get your basic grammar and pronunciation done first: it is very much a case of starting with these foundations before you start building the rest on top of them. If you start with all sorts of odd bits and pieces before getting down to the solid stuff, you can end up with a lot of bad habits: mispronunciation, using one easily learnt basic word in the wrong situation, etc.

 

[Yew]

As a general rule, I would recommend the "Learning <language> with Paul Noble" series of Audiobooks. I find he complements Duolingo well, as he focuses on speaking, listening, pronunciation, and "being understood" over perfect written grammar.

It looks like Paul doesn't have a Dutch book, but apparently there is one from a chap called "Michael Thomas" that has some good reviews online.

 

[oldman]

It depends on what you are trying to achieve - speaking, reading, writing? - and of course where you start!

In general immersion is the best way - if you have Dutch-speakers who are willing to help, that's great for speaking.

For reading find things online about subjects that you know about. For example, this sentence about HS2, from railtech.be:

De TBM met de naam Emily en een gewicht van ongeveer 1700 ton is begonnen aan zijn graafreis en graaft nu 5440 meter onder de noordwestelijke buitenwijken van de stad.

You can probably get the general sense of it, some words to check - graaft, buitenwijken, and you absorb a lot of the structure and grammar as well. It's like doing a jigsaw which has already been started for you. Don't get hung up on grammar, the important thing is you understand which builds confidence.

 

[Ladder23]

Mango languages do free online training.It is fairly basic, but will get you started.

Thank you

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Nov 2024 ==

It depends on what you are trying to achieve - speaking, reading, writing? - and of course where you start!

In general immersion is the best way - if you have Dutch-speakers who are willing to help, that's great for speaking.

For reading find things online about subjects that you know about. For example, this sentence about HS2, from railtech.be:



You can probably get the general sense of it, some words to check - graaft, buitenwijken, and you absorb a lot of the structure and grammar as well. It's like doing a jigsaw which has already been started for you. Don't get hung up on grammar, the important thing is you understand which builds confidence.

That's a great point..

For me it's just speaking in person, i have some plans to visit often and maybe stay often for work, so learning the language is vital

 

[najaB]

Duolingo?

The general consensus is that DuoLingo is good for learning useful phrases, but not so great for learning the language (e.g. grammar rules). I'm currently using Babbel to learn Spanish and, while it's slow going thanks to Spanish verb conjugation being a pain, I'd agree that it definitely goes in-depth on grammar and pronunciation.

 

[Adrian Barr]

There's a lot of material on YouTube in addition to things like Duolingo / Babbel, but it's always nice to have a physical book to refer to...

Some years back I used a book in the "Teach Yourself" series to learn a bit of Spanish. I learnt quite a bit from going through the exercises and thought it was well structured. "Teach Yourself Dutch" is out of print but you can get a 2nd hand copy cheaply: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teach-Yourself-Dutch-Complete-Courses/dp/0340858281
They were sold as either a standalone book, or book + CD, but I found the book was fine on its own - it's useful to have something on paper where you can easily refer back to previous sections.

I've got "Essential Dutch Grammar" by Henry R. Stern but it doesn't seem that useful for beginners. There's a Dutch grammar for beginners book for 77p on kindle that might be better (you can see a preview on Amazon):
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dutch-Grammar-Beginners-Alain-Raymond-ebook/dp/B0BB2H2J7G

 

[Gloster]

If speaking the language is the main aim, learn to translate what you read on the page into the sound it should be in Dutch, not what it looks like in English. Many letters or letter combinations in foreign languages are pronounced in a very different way to the way they are in English: if you get stuck in the habit of pronouncing ‘the English way’ you are likely to have a lot of difficulty with conversing.

 

[dangie]

My language skills extend to ordering two large beers in whatever country I’m in, and saying thank you when they arrive. As an extra, asking the whereabouts of the toilets is often useful as well.