Road to B1 in Dutch

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Ug_Caveman
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Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby Ug_Caveman » Fri Jul 29, 2022 11:02 am

Decided to try my way through lesson one of Hugo Dutch Advanced and WOW, OK, difficulty has definitely jumped. Had a flick through the pages of Colloquial and it looks similarly hard.

Gonna need to work much more methodically through these ones, but should be able to finish by next year and be ready to enter the B1 exam.
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Languages: English (N), Dutch (passed A2 exam in May 2021, failed B1 in May 2023 - never sit an exam when you have food poisoning!)

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Ug_Caveman
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Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby Ug_Caveman » Tue Aug 02, 2022 2:02 pm

Only about 3/4 of the way of lesson one of Hugo Advanced Dutch - it really is a hell of a leap but I think I'm keeping up so far, and if I make it through this I think I'll be able to tackle the B1 exam.
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Languages: English (N), Dutch (passed A2 exam in May 2021, failed B1 in May 2023 - never sit an exam when you have food poisoning!)

Seeking: Linguaphone Polish and Linguaphone Afrikaans

Ug_Caveman
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Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby Ug_Caveman » Wed Aug 03, 2022 2:25 pm

Finished the first lesson of Hugo Advanced Dutch.

Having a bit of an issue assimilating some new vocab so gonna have to do some old school route learning.

Gonna be a bit of a slog, but I definitely see the benefit of the book, even if some of it is a bit dated.

Annoyingly there doesn't seem there's a CD version of the audio and I don't own a cassette player, so I'm not able to properly engage with some of the exercises, but what I can do is really useful.
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Languages: English (N), Dutch (passed A2 exam in May 2021, failed B1 in May 2023 - never sit an exam when you have food poisoning!)

Seeking: Linguaphone Polish and Linguaphone Afrikaans

Ug_Caveman
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Posts: 460
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Languages: English (N), Dutch (A2 - July 2021), working towards B1
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Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby Ug_Caveman » Fri Aug 05, 2022 12:07 am

Started lesson 2, slightly worried that my comprehension of the first reading passage isn't great, but will continue to go over the written notes and the vocab lists.
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Languages: English (N), Dutch (passed A2 exam in May 2021, failed B1 in May 2023 - never sit an exam when you have food poisoning!)

Seeking: Linguaphone Polish and Linguaphone Afrikaans

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PeterMollenburg
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Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby PeterMollenburg » Fri Aug 05, 2022 3:26 am

Ug_Caveman wrote:Started lesson 2, slightly worried that my comprehension of the first reading passage isn't great, but will continue to go over the written notes and the vocab lists.


Hugo Dutch in 3 months is a good overview of Dutch for a beginner, but no beginner's course that small will provide you with enough Dutch (particularly vocabulary) to make the leap to Hugo's Advanced Dutch without a shock. If it continues to give you that worried feeling, I recommend doing one or two other beginner courses first.

Colloquial Dutch and/or Teach Yourself Dutch are two you could try. With reinforcement (and sometimes expansion) of already learned grammar from Hugo, plus vocabulary you haven't come across before, you're likely to transition smoother.

I've seen (but not used) Hugo Advanced Dutch and feel it is indeed a big leap from only having used Hugo Dutch in 3 months prior. Either way, keep up the good work!
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Le Baron
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Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby Le Baron » Fri Aug 05, 2022 12:12 pm

PeterMollenburg wrote:Hugo Dutch in 3 months is a good overview of Dutch for a beginner, but no beginner's course that small will provide you with enough Dutch (particularly vocabulary) to make the leap to Hugo's Advanced Dutch without a shock. If it continues to give you that worried feeling, I recommend doing one or two other beginner courses first.

I went from Hugo 3 Months directly to the Hugo Advanced Dutch. It's not a huge leap really. It might be that Ug_Caveman has only just ended the 3 Months book (quite rapidly too) and the material from that hasn't had time to stew?
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Ug_Caveman
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Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby Ug_Caveman » Fri Aug 05, 2022 1:14 pm

PeterMollenburg wrote:Colloquial Dutch and/or Teach Yourself Dutch are two you could try. With reinforcement (and sometimes expansion) of already learned grammar from Hugo, plus vocabulary you haven't come across before, you're likely to transition smoother.


I'll keep going with Hugo Advanced for now - I've actually done Colloquial already, but if I keep struggling I think I'll go to Teach Yourself Dutch for a while to reinforce skills (but also so I don't keep repeating the same course!)

PeterMollenburg wrote:I've seen (but not used) Hugo Advanced Dutch and feel it is indeed a big leap from only having used Hugo Dutch in 3 months prior. Either way, keep up the good work!


It's pretty brutal, but the one thing I know is that if I can get through this, I'll be in great shape for the B1 exam!
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Languages: English (N), Dutch (passed A2 exam in May 2021, failed B1 in May 2023 - never sit an exam when you have food poisoning!)

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PeterMollenburg
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Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby PeterMollenburg » Fri Aug 05, 2022 1:56 pm

Le Baron wrote:
PeterMollenburg wrote:Hugo Dutch in 3 months is a good overview of Dutch for a beginner, but no beginner's course that small will provide you with enough Dutch (particularly vocabulary) to make the leap to Hugo's Advanced Dutch without a shock. If it continues to give you that worried feeling, I recommend doing one or two other beginner courses first.

I went from Hugo 3 Months directly to the Hugo Advanced Dutch. It's not a huge leap really. It might be that Ug_Caveman has only just ended the 3 Months book (quite rapidly too) and the material from that hasn't had time to stew?


Well that's a relief. My memory of it is a little rusty, but it seems my Dutch perhaps leaves a lot to be desired too, as there was plenty of vocab in there I didn't know when I last glanced at it. One of these days I'll aim to do some serious Dutch study and use it myself.
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PeterMollenburg
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Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby PeterMollenburg » Fri Aug 05, 2022 1:57 pm

Ug_Caveman wrote:
PeterMollenburg wrote:Colloquial Dutch and/or Teach Yourself Dutch are two you could try. With reinforcement (and sometimes expansion) of already learned grammar from Hugo, plus vocabulary you haven't come across before, you're likely to transition smoother.


I'll keep going with Hugo Advanced for now - I've actually done Colloquial already, but if I keep struggling I think I'll go to Teach Yourself Dutch for a while to reinforce skills (but also so I don't keep repeating the same course!)

PeterMollenburg wrote:I've seen (but not used) Hugo Advanced Dutch and feel it is indeed a big leap from only having used Hugo Dutch in 3 months prior. Either way, keep up the good work!


It's pretty brutal, but the one thing I know is that if I can get through this, I'll be in great shape for the B1 exam!


Ah, apologies. I didn't realise you'd used the Colloquial course. Good luck with reaching B1 and working your way through the advanced course!
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Ug_Caveman
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Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby Ug_Caveman » Sun Aug 07, 2022 1:14 am

PeterMollenburg wrote:Ah, apologies. I didn't realise you'd used the Colloquial course. Good luck with reaching B1 and working your way through the advanced course!


I think I might switch back to Linguaphone as my main course and treat Hugo Advanced as a supplementary material to work through at a slower pace. Assuming I get through both at roughly the same time, it should put me in good stead to start Colloquial 2 (the most modern of the three so I can learn some more up to date vocab :lol: )

Finding lesson two a bit easier than lesson one was, but it's still a pretty solid challenge to get my head around everything contained.
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Languages: English (N), Dutch (passed A2 exam in May 2021, failed B1 in May 2023 - never sit an exam when you have food poisoning!)

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