Road to B1 in Dutch

[Ug_Caveman]

Completed chapter 4 of Basic Dutch and chapter 2 of Spoken World Dutch. Have had to slow down a bit as new job has been quite hectic.

Still no sign of the TY Dutch book though.

[Ug_Caveman]

Found my TY Dutch book finally, so will be tackling that as part of my make sure your A2-skills are fully up to scratch period of the next few weeks.

Also, am currently trying to find a copy of Praat en skryf Afrikaans: hulpboek vir Engelssprekende leerlinge by PWJ Groenewald (a follow-up book to the same author's Learn to Speak Afrikaans):

afrikaans2.jpeg

If anyone has a copy they no longer want or know where I could acquire one I'd be most happy for you to get in touch (image taken from the Amazon UK page for the book, no ISBN seems to be available...)

[DaveAgain]

Also, am currently trying to find a copy of Praat en skryf Afrikaans: hulpboek vir Engelssprekende leerlinge by PWJ Groenewald (a follow-up book to the same author's Learn to Speak Afrikaans):

If anyone has a copy they no longer want or know where I could acquire one I'd be most happy for you to get in touch

Archive.org have a scanned copy for loan.

[Ug_Caveman]

Not done much writing the last week, but I'm slowly getting my way back through a second pass of MT Foundation Dutch - up to disc four now.

Will definitely be making a trip to The Netherlands before the end of the year too, so looking forward to it (will finally be able to get my hands on a copy of "Een Korte Geschiedenis van De Tijd"...)

[Ug_Caveman]

Completed the first half of disc 4 of MT Dutch and the first 40 or so pages of TY Dutch (amazingly, even for a beginner level course I still pickup new words - for example "zogenaamd" was a new one today.)

Now I'm approximately at the same place in TY, Living Language and Basic Grammar, I'm going to try and get through them all at an even pace before New Year, then move on to Intermediate Grammar and Colloquial 2 (and maybe a redo of Hugo Advanced but probably not needed.)

[Ug_Caveman]

Up to MTF-CD5 - pace has been a bit slower these last few days, I may have let the rugby World Cup get in the way a bit too much...

(And it seems rugby fans will need to add Portuguese to the list of important languages for the sport now...)

[Ug_Caveman]

Finished the first half of MTF-CD5 and also the first half of chapter 4 of TY Dutch.

Finding a bit more of a groove bit still need to get a bit more motivation.

[Ug_Caveman]

Had a recent trip to Amsterdam and whilst I was a bit rusty on day one had more Dutch-speaking interactions on the following days.

I didn't get switched-to-English until it was clearly necessary for the conversation/people began using too much slang for me (so maybe I really do have quite a solid accent?)

Interestingly, this included more than commercial transactions. IE: Someone asking me if I could speak Dutch and then asking for directions. I didn't hide the fact I was a non-native speaker but they kept going in Dutch so *shrug*...

Think I'll visit again (and some parts of Flanders) soon to keep going with more exposure/practice.

[Le Baron]

Exciting! I normally tell people to carry a Dutch newspaper with the headline visible to ward off the English switch. However you might look more Dutch than the average visitor? If you're tall it tends to help. If you put too much gel in your hair they'll also think you're Dutch.

In Amsterdam there might also be something else at play: a goodly number there speak Dutch with an accent, but some people don't want to insult anyone by immediately insinuating they are 'allochtone'. So in that scenario the conversation has to break down for English to be used. Also depends how old/young the interlocutor is, if they are actually Dutch themselves! and just the type of person. In general though if one isn't fairly quickly switched to English minutes after opening their mouth, they're doing well. So congrats.

[Ug_Caveman]

Exciting! I normally tell people to carry a Dutch newspaper with the headline visible to ward off the English switch. However you might look more Dutch than the average visitor? If you're tall it tends to help. If you put too much gel in your hair they'll also think you're Dutch.

Hmmm, taller than the UK average but dead on the Dutch average - I do gel my hair but nowhere near the levels you'd see from a stereotypical Dutchman...

In Amsterdam there might also be something else at play: a goodly number there speak Dutch with an accent, but some people don't want to insult anyone by immediately insinuating they are 'allochtone'. So in that scenario the conversation has to break down for English to be used. Also depends how old/young the interlocutor is, if they are actually Dutch themselves! and just the type of person. In general though if one isn't fairly quickly switched to English minutes after opening their mouth, they're doing well. So congrats.

If I was a bit less rusty in practice (my master's degree took an extreme toll on me over the last few months) I'd probably have done even better (I'd definitely have finished that check-out better, because I realised what the person had said just after I gave them a confused look my processing was just a bit slow)

Two things my recent travels have made clear to me:
1. I need to travel more. I absolutely loved my short stays in the Netherlands and Sweden. I'm currently lining up plans for at least two-three trips next year (Antwerp to try some new accents and the 'gij' pronoun and maybe Stockholm?)
2. I was absolutely right to pick Dutch as my primary language and Swedish as my secondary. I love both countries so much. When I'm done with my Dutch B1 I will go back to Swedish more regularly and try to find a way to sit Swedex. (French in third, purely to make travelling through Brussels less painful )