A Journey through Dutch and German (and Hebrew?)

[aokoye]

A short update before bed.
I finished the Dutch course this afternoon. I think it was a good course though I'm excited for that set of deadlines to not be in my life for the time being. Of course I say this while also thinking about signing up for lessons via italki. But yea, I think the course went well. The only thing I would really change is that I wish there was more reading involved and I wish it was easier to find people to chat with. That said, I really enjoyed the textbook that we used, Nederland in gang. I was also pleased with the writing assignments and feel so-so about the speaking assignments. I think the main thing with those is that by the end of the course I had a lot going on and so it felt like a bit of a burden.

Immediate steps in terms of Dutch include figuring out if I want to study from the Intensive Dutch Course or Nederlands in actie, making sure that I keep up with the vocabulary I'm studying on Learn with Oliver, and reading things in Dutch.

[aokoye]

I got this in an email today,

De cursus Online Dutch A1>A2 is afgelopen. Van harte gefeliciteerd met het behaalde resultaat! Op basis van de schrijf- en spreekopdrachten en je inzet heb je het eindniveau van deze cursus, niveau A2 van het Europees Referentiekader, gehaald.

That is on the basis of three professors listening and reading my work as well as the two tests that we had. From what was implied in the conversation session yesterday, I had the second highest score with the highest coming from the one L1 German speaker (she was also on the Skype session).

Having skimmed the Intensive Dutch Course book and looked at the first chapter of Nederlands in actie I think that I'm going with the latter book. I am also going to pay for online lessons. There aren't as many grammar exercises but there is more reading. I'm pretty sure the vocab list is better, and if I take other Dutch courses from the University of Groningen they are going to assume I know the vocab from that book.

[aokoye]

I had my first (recent) Dutch lesson on iTalki this morning and it went really well! It was a 45 minute lesson and I felt very relaxed. It was a nice change from the Skype sessions in my online classes which felt a bit more stressful. Not because the instructors were any more or less nice, but because there felt like there was more at stake (which is totally incorrect - there was next to nothing at stake). She asked me some background information (how I learned Dutch, why I want to study Dutch, what I'm studying, etc), gave me some background information about herself, and then we did a little diagnostic test thing where I described a comic strip so she could better assess my level. We then talked about her observations, some next steps sorts of things, and eventually our 45 minutes were over.

As she and everyone else who has heard me speaks has said, she could definitely hear that I speak German. Apparently I have a bit of a German accent when speaking Dutch (I hadn't heard that before but I can't say I'm surprised) and then if I don't know a word I'll sometimes substitute the German. That said, she said I spoke very clearly and it was very easy to understand me, which is honestly the most important thing to me in relation to speaking. I don't care about having an accent in any language I speak, I care about being understood. All and all it was really nice. I have another lesson scheduled for next week and she'll be giving me written homework as well which I appreciate.

So yea - so far so good with that. This week isn't super busy in terms of my thesis writing schedule but I'm hoping to finish the first draft my Fulbright application which is daunting. I also have a fair amount of reading that I need to start on so I can really shore up my lit review. Outside of that I think I'm going to apply to the MA in Linguistics program at Aarhus University. I'm feeling a bit tentative about it but it looks like it'd be a good program for me.

[Elsa Maria]

I really appreciate the details about the U of Groningen courses. I am pretty sure that I will start the paid course after the free version. I expect that I will have to take the A0 to A1 then the A1 to A2. My goal is to take the A2 exam, and I found out that I can take it at the Dutch embassy here in the USA.

[aokoye]

I really appreciate the details about the U of Groningen courses. I am pretty sure that I will start the paid course after the free version. I expect that I will have to take the A0 to A1 then the A1 to A2. My goal is to take the A2 exam, and I found out that I can take it at the Dutch embassy here in the USA.

I highly suggest going that route, the free course on FutureLearn and then the A1 -> A2 course. The assumption will be that you've take the earlier course, but that, quite clearly, didn't hinder me. My other suggestion would be to find people who you can talk to in Dutch outside of the class.

[aokoye]

A quick update by virtue of the fact that I'm on my phone.

I decided to take Manderin this term which was an interesting and ultimately bad plan. The primary issue is how it's being taught. I'll pass the class, but I'm taking French next term (I need the credits for logistical reasons).

I'm currently also splitting part of my focus between German and Biblical Hebrew. I am watching a lot of ZDF and reading a bit more as well. For Hebrew I'm using a book titled Prayerbook Hebrew the Easy Way which, when I actually keep up with it, is really effective. Or at least it is for my purposes. That is to say, it makes understanding and saying prayers in the Siddur easier without the use of an English translation or transliteration of the Hebrew. It's also laid out really well. I stopped using it once school started, because Chinese has taken up way too much of my time, but I'm trying to get back in the habit of studying with it. I will say, I could see marked improvement during the high holidays in my ability to go through the Machzor.

Per usual, I need to figure out how to improve my German vocab without overwhelming myself. I suspect if I wasn't at around a C1 level and the vocab wasn't as advanced it would be a little easier, but who knows. My comprehension, especially aural, is good. My ability to use the words in a sentence is where I run into issues.

[MamaPata]

Good to hear from you and very sorry about the Mandarin classes.

[Elenia]

Seconding MamaPata: it's good to hear from you. For some strange reason, I wasn't notified of your log updates when I finally got back to the forum after my hiatus, but received the notification from the latest posts. Curious.