Road to B1 in Dutch

[tungemål]

What do you like about The Netherlands and Sweden?

[Ug_Caveman]

What do you like about The Netherlands and Sweden?

I can't really explain it well - but compared to other countries I've visited (France and Spain in particular) there's something about the Netherlands and Sweden (and also Belgium) that just seems to click better for me.

I suspect having friends in those places does play a part, but I spent quite a bit of time exploring and doing things by myself too. The look, the feel? (Ironically my least favourite thing about Amsterdam was other British tourists - I saw god knows how many Stag Dos this weekend...)

[Ug_Caveman]

Had my first session back studying today - didn't do much, finished off some work I'd left unfinished from before I took a break prior to my Amsterdam trip.

Will try to be more productive in the coming months (given I really want that B1...)

[Ug_Caveman]

After a bit of looking around, found something new (per recommendation of Le Baron...)

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[Ug_Caveman]

Have managed to get back on track these last few weeks, attempting to complete five pages of Teach Yourself Dutch and Basic Dutch: A Grammar and Workbook per day.

I suspect that I'll be able to complete these before mid-February and start Colloquial Dutch 2 and Intermediate Dutch: A Grammar and Workbook in good time before CNaVT season.

I've also been using various A2-B1 graded readers for extensive reading study and have tried to watch more (ideally one each per day) Easy Dutch and RTL Nieuws videos (doing two run throughs - one without subtitles then one with subtitles.) Really hoping I manage enough to finally cross that B1 barrier formally in May.

I'm also planning to start working with Speak Dutch by Walter Lagerwey to try and improve my spoken response and confidence, but not so sure how to fit it all in...

[Ug_Caveman]

Am a little burnt out today, so only did some passive listening work from YouTube videos (basically listening to a video at A1-A2 level with my eyes shut and trying to visualise what's going on from the speech.)

I've done a lot of news clips these last few days, I definitely find the reporters easier to understand than the people their interview (politicians being a notable exception.) Easy Dutch can be a little hit and miss too depending on who they interview (interestingly they've interviewed Mark Rutte on his way to work and there was also a chap who was clearly a native Englander speaking very good Dutch in one of their videos.) I'm not really sure if my level of understanding from all this is enough for B1, but here's hoping...

Still think I'm well on track to my targets of finishing TY Dutch and starting Colloquial Dutch 2 before mid-Feb.

[Ug_Caveman]

So I've really plodded along to the end, BUT I've only got one more page of exercises left to finish TY Dutch (which I have to say, is a much stronger course than I thought it would be before I tackled it. I'd argue I got more from it than I did from Hugo and put it on a par with Colloquial 1.)

Decided to put the Basic (and Intermediate) Grammars on the back burner. Will focus heavily on Colloquial Dutch 2 over the next few months, plus native inputs (readers/short YouTube clips/etc.) I'm tempted to start Speak Dutch just to get more spoken production work too.

Am also at a bit of a dilemma - once I've sat my B1 exam, should I just push full steam ahead with Dutch, or maybe slow up a bit and start a second language to avoid boredom (say Swedish or French or Russian?)

[Ug_Caveman]

And TY Dutch is officially finished (maybe a week or so later than I'd planned.)

I've had some fun watching Dutch language news broadcasts and I'd say I'm getting better at understanding the gist of the videos (unless there's lots of specialist vocabulary.) Watched an interesting clip on the history of Limburgish but my brain wasn't quite able to decipher it all:



I understood the general idea, but when they went into the history of it all my brain began to draw blanks...

Colloquial 2 here we go... Have about 10-11 weeks to sure things up and make sure I'm ready for a B1 exam.

[Ug_Caveman]

The first five pages of Colloquial Dutch 2 completed today - I suspect I should be able to finish the whole course before the end of March.

With regards to Speak Dutch - I've never used an audio-lingual method course, so will need to formulate a plan of attack...

Also continuing general input from readers and short news clips.

[Ug_Caveman]

A rare mid-day update:

Finished off chapter 1 of Colloquial Dutch 2 and oh boyyyyy the oral exercises are much tougher than Colloquial 1. Have to do them maybe 2-3 times before I'm happy with the results. But I feel if I can make it through this, I'll be ready to pass the Maatschappelijk Formeel exam.