Writing/ spelling/ pronounciation

So far I have mostly listened to the tapes. Now I opened my grammar book for the first time. It's time to find out, how Dutch is written.


The book (Dutch Essential Grammar).  seems quite good, it has all the basic stuff, couple of exercises + answer key. It uses the correct grammatical tems, but doesn't go too deep into the linquistics. Some study books tend to avoid grammar, claiming that they teach grammar "naturally", but for anyone who knows what "a verb" or "definite article" is, it's always faster to learn using the proper terminology. Essential grammar deliver what it promises, so if you are studying Dutch, I can warmly recommend this book.

At glance, Dutch grammar doesn't look difficult. It has more declinations and conjugations than English, but less than French.


I like Dutch spelling, since it seems to be quite regular. Only some vowels trick me, for example "e" seems to be sometimes very frontal, like [ø]. For example the word "het" (it) sounded like [øt] to me.

I also like the long vowels, "word" in Dutch is spelled "woord", because the vowel is long. This is very characteristic of Dutch, and I noticed before I was able to read anything in Dutch. It's very familiar to me, because Finnish has the same system (and of course, this system is the most logical).

This was also a great help:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObPq9xu6srs

I've been lazy

My enthusiastic start calmed down a bit, since I have been busy with other things (such as translating my website Venla.info into Russian). I wished I could have reached a notable level in couple of months, but I haven't really studied anything for a month.

I have now listened trough the first 6 lessons if Pimsleur and first 2 cd's of Michel Thomas. I must say, that there's a big difference between those 2, and I strongly prefer Michel Thomas over Pimsleur. Pimsleur has lot's of basic vocabulary and phrases, but it's very mechanical. MT explains things more and gives you simple rules to understand things. For example, that the infinitive and plural are similar (for example "helpen" -> "Wij helpen"). I also had problems in the beginning, because Pimsleur used the formal "you" (u) and Michel Thomas the informal (je). I think the informal "je" here is more justified, since it's more widely used ( I think Dutch people are quite informal, just like Finn and Swede, and unlike French and German).

Pimsleur has this one formula developed by the inventor Paul Pimsleur. It was first used to teach French, and now it has been replicated to create identical study material for ~50 other languages. The method itself is quite ok, but like I said, it's very mechanical and it doesn't pay attention to the differences between languages (also, it haven't been culturally adjusted; I haven't listened the Arabic tapes, but suppose it doesn't have phrases like how to ask an Arabic woman if she want's to have beer or wine). I think Pimsleur is at it's best, when you use it as a drill. You can listen to the tapes when you wash the dishes.

I also tried Livemochas material. It's even more mechanical, and has many problems, since it's mostly user generated content. But's it's free and still a good way to practice vocabulary.

Days 1 and 2

I started on Saturday by listening the first 3 episodes from Pimsleur. The problem with audio tapes is that you never know how words are actually written (my written French is horrible, I think I make mistakes in basic verb conjugations).  So I needed to check out from websites how the words are actually written (most of these came from here or from Google translator). Anyhow, from Pimsleur I learned following expressions:

-Goedemorgen, hoe gaat het met jou?
-Ik ben goet

-Spreekt u Nederlands / Engels?
-Ja, ik spreek Nederlands. / Nei, ik spreek geen Nederlands

-Ben u Nederlands
-Nei, ik ben Amerikaanse.

-Tot ziens!

Then I listened the first 5 chapters from Michel Thomas recording. After listening those, Pimsleur appeared much more monotonous. Michel Thomas starts from very simple sentences and builds up from that. That seemed almost too easy.

From Michel Thomas I learned:

Het is niet warm hier.
Het is heel goed hier
Ik doe dat nu 
Ik wil dit. 
Ik wil niet werken, ik wil nu bier trinken! (I modified that a bit).

Starting point

Yesterday I didn't know a single word in Dutch. Of course, if I read anything in Dutch, I was able to guess some words, but I couldn't have named one. And I don't come across with Dutch texts in my daily life, so I have never really tested how much I'm able to understand.

That was until yesterday. Then I learned my first words in Dutch. Maybe I shouldn't have started to learn a new language, since my French is still far away from perfect (I'd say I'm on  B1). Maybe I'll keep the French on the background and concentrate on Dutch for at least 5 months. My aim is somewhere on B2 level, because it's useless to study a language, if you are not going to learn it enough to be able to use it in real situations.

I will use all the best methods available:

- Pimsleur audio material. There is the basic Dutch I course available, and it includes 30 lessons.
- Michel Thomas audio material. This is based on Michel Thomas - method, and Dutch version is made by Cobie Adkins-De Jong and Els Van Geyte.
-Routledge Dutch, An essential grammar.
-Livemocha community.

I have already used those self study materials to learn other languages. I started my French with Pimsleur, and I found it quite efective. I also have listened Michel Thomas French course, but I already knew some French when I listened the beginners tape, do I never fully concentrated on the method like I should have.

This is a good opportunity to compare all the methods, so I'll report everything here on detail. I hope other language learners can benefit from this. I also hope, that I can develope my skills as a teacher by examining different methods and learning styles.