Road to B1 in Dutch

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Ug_Caveman
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Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby Ug_Caveman » Mon Aug 29, 2022 12:19 am

Back on the main course - completed lesson 11 today, and wow, what a massive vocab list to go through :shock:

But it's all part of the grind.

Had a peruse through the example B1 exams while I was eating dinner tonight, was pleasantly surprised at how much of the content I could already understand in the reading/writing papers (will have a listen to the listening section tomorrow.) Just need to make sure I complete everything and leave no stone unturned over the next few months.
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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 » Tue Aug 30, 2022 11:35 pm

Up to lesson 13 now. First time any of the dialogues have really challenged my listening skills, but mainly due to unfamiliar vocab (and the fact I was almost falling asleep while I was doing it - been a tiring day...)

Had a listen to some of the B1 exam luisteren sections and again was pleasantly surprised at my level of understanding. No doubt there's gaps, but given how much time I've got to fill aforementioned gaps I'm really optimistic for my chances of passing the Maatschappelijk Formeel exam next year.
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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 » Thu Sep 01, 2022 11:11 pm

Finished lesson 15 which marks the end of 'part one' of the course. Next in the book is a test, but there's also three supplementary lessons that can be completed first, which I intend to do so along with an evening dedicated to revision, before taking the test.

Very tired working through tonight as back to school now, made a few is/zijn slips.
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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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Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby Ug_Caveman » Sat Sep 03, 2022 9:34 am

Last night was a really off one for me.

Worked through lesson four of the supplementary material and made so many basic errors I just had to stop. I was too tired and just went to bed - think I'll redo the exercises.

Decided to do something a bit different this morning and listened through Michel Thomas Foundation French - my brain just needed to do something else.

I was really surprised as to how much I could remember off hand since I'd last made a serious attempt to study French... Which was 10 years ago while I was at school. I guess studying *any* foreign language really does help your brain get better at others.

Interestingly had no vocab interference issues, but wow, the number of times I tried to put French verbs at the end of sentences just on instinct from Dutch was a bit embarrassing :shock:
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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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Le Baron
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Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby Le Baron » Sat Sep 03, 2022 3:09 pm

Ug_Caveman wrote:Interestingly had no vocab interference issues, but wow, the number of times I tried to put French verbs at the end of sentences just on instinct from Dutch was a bit embarrassing :shock:

Which at least demonstrates that it's taken a firm hold in your brain!
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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 » Sat Sep 03, 2022 11:36 pm

Had a much more relaxed session where I only repeated exercises I'd failed in the previous session which much more success. One issue did highlight itself to me though (quoting myself from the Dutch Study Group thread:)

Ug_Caveman wrote:Working through the supplementary materials for the Linguaphone course has thrown this particular confusion at me:

Person A - Wat wil je er kopen?
Person B - O, een jurk en een blosje.
Person A - Heb je ook en trui nodig?
Person B - Nee, die zijn nu te duur.

I don't understand why the form of 'zijn' in the last sentence is as if 'een trui' is plural? Am I missing something obvious :?:


Anyone else able to offer any insight?

(FWIW also completed Michel Thomas French up to the end of CD-2 to keep my brain a bit less bored but without massively overburdening it to the point of losing sight of the main goal.)
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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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Languages: English (N), Dutch (A2 - July 2021), working towards B1
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Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby Ug_Caveman » Tue Sep 06, 2022 12:22 am

Have finished the three Supplementary Lessons; will now spend two evenings on some revision and take test one.

Struggled a bit with some of the written production exercises from today, which is frustrating because when I hear the correct answer read out on the audio track I understand everything perfectly -_-

It's not so much a content issue, but rather I don't put things in the format the answer key would like (although there was one particularly tricky bit which involved describing a traffic incident that required longer sentences.)
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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
Green Belt
Posts: 460
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2018 2:58 am
Location: England
Languages: English (N), Dutch (A2 - July 2021), working towards B1
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Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby Ug_Caveman » Tue Sep 13, 2022 10:35 am

So long story short my 'two evenings' of revision have become a whole week -_- but I'll definitively take the test sometime before the end of this week.

I've also decided to keep going with some low level French (managed to get further through Michel Thomas than I ever have before...) If I pass my Dutch B1 next summer, I might try for a French A2 next winter as well. Would like to have that for my CV ;)
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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
Green Belt
Posts: 460
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2018 2:58 am
Location: England
Languages: English (N), Dutch (A2 - July 2021), working towards B1
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Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby Ug_Caveman » Sat Sep 17, 2022 10:34 pm

Being back in the classroom (as a teacher) has absolutely brought me to my knees this week, I've not been able to do much, if any, meaningful study.

A few bilingual text stories and revising the difference between subordinating and coordinating conjunctions has been about it (plus helping my mum navigate French Amazon to send a gift to a friend of hers.)

I might go back and do a few chapters from Colloquial on those topics before moving onto the next stage of Linguaphone. Feel like my production skills would benefit.

One thing that has happened is I've rediscovered my love of Nordic crime dramas - I never got round to Season 3 of 'The Killing' and finally started it this week. Managed to get up to episode 8 and it always makes me smile when I understand the small bit of dialogue here or there thanks to studying Dutch and the small amount of Swedish I covered a few years back. It's a shame that it's so hard to take Danish language exams, wouldn't mind giving it a crack in the near future.
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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
Green Belt
Posts: 460
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2018 2:58 am
Location: England
Languages: English (N), Dutch (A2 - July 2021), working towards B1
x 1075

Re: Road to B1 in Dutch

Postby Ug_Caveman » Tue Sep 20, 2022 7:26 pm

Been feeling *very* unwell these last few days, suspect I may have caught something from a younger relative.

Decided to spend some time reviewing Michel Thomas Dutch as it's something I can do in a more restful setting. Glad I did, as I realised I made some mistakes in conjugations that I'm now hyper-aware of and can rectify.
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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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