Learning to Speak Dutch

[Jin]

My Mrs is Dutch Id like to eventually speak the language.

Where to start? Anyone else come across any good tutor sites on the net?

I would prefer to start with something free :P

[lektronimo]

Watch Austin Powers 3?

[dead goon]

Start with her. the best thing to do when learning a new language is to surround yourself in it from the get-go. She will be able to teach you a hell of a lot more than books can in the long run, and a lot quicker. Start off with learning basic words and a base understanding of how the language works. Get her to say words in Dutch in normal conversation to you, make sort of like a game out of it, and you'll slowly pick up on things and develop an understanding of sentences. Also make sure she's OK with you asking a million questions.

Other than that, check out ebay or amazon for some books. Dutch isn't one of the main languages in the world, so I can imagine learning content is a little harder to come back than say German or Spanish.

[fobski]

I would suggest stuff

but i value our friendship jin

[{m}]

As with most languages it's almost impossible without living there, and dutch especially since

a) no-one really speaks it anywhere else
b) dutch people all have pretty decent english and
c) will make fun of you if you try to speak it

Plus good luck finding a teacher, I don't think there are any in NZ. Also, it's almost useless for the reasons above. Oh AND it's a famously ugly language.

My advice: if you're gonna spend all that effort on a language, go for Spanish or French, and stick with "neuken in de keuken" for Nederlands

[dead goon]

don't listen to him Jin. Do whatever you want

[Lightspeed]

Listen to good, do whatever you want. Don't bother learning it.

[Heresy]

Rosetta Stone is great language learning software, and they have Dutch

http://www.rosettastone.com/

much better than reading a book about the language

[Bahamut]

Originally Posted by lektronimo

Watch Austin Powers 3?

Worst. Suggestion. Ever.

Any Dutch person who watched this movie cringed in horror as this supposedly Dutch character used words like Scheiße and other Deutsch words.

[dead goon]

people who keep saying shizer instead of schiesse

[Waldo]

Originally Posted by Heresy

Rosetta Stone is great language learning software, and they have Dutch

http://www.rosettastone.com/

much better than reading a book about the language

looks interesting, might pull down some files to check it out myself....only so I dont have to wait for subs in future

[OY636]

See if she knows about the Dutch market out west. Held monthly at Ons Dorp - that might be a good place to find a teacher, if not try the local library for audio tapes.

[OoKiE]

Originally Posted by Jin

My Mrs is Dutch...

You have my sympathy.

Check your University and schools... e.g. Canterbury has beginners course.

Does your Mrs have family still living below sea level? If so see if you can get them interested in chatting on MSN/Skype. It shouldn't be too hard to get them talking.
Most my wife's family is keen to practice their English as well.

Speaking of English, as said before their English is way better than ours and so there is little to gain by learning Dutch. You may get more credit by learning the culture rather than the language. Maybe with the exception of a few of stereotype dutch male traits.

If nothing else this phrase is handy...

"Mijn Nederlands is niet zo goed."

[caffiend]

Originally Posted by dead goon

people who keep saying shizer instead of schiesse

Are you meaning 'shizer' instead of 'shy-ser' (same assonance, but with an 's')? Or 'shizer' instead of 'shise' (only one syllable, but with an 's').

One of the above is very wrong...

[CCS]

Fuck the Dutch. Whose side were they on in the War? If you're not with us, you're against us.

[Fx.]

that rosetta stone looks awesome


*tests*

[Rince]

Originally Posted by Bahamut

Worst. Suggestion. Ever.

Any Dutch person who watched this movie cringed in horror as this supposedly Dutch character used words like Scheiße and other Deutsch words.

I think he was taking the piss
"I must say, you look toit. Toit, like a tiger. I can tell by your toit pants"

[madmaxii]

You could try these guys:

www.byki.com

[FireStorm]

Originally Posted by CCS

Fuck the Dutch. Whose side were they on in the War? If you're not with us, you're against us.

By the war, you mean World War 2? Holland was conquered by the Germans, they weren't "allies". My Grandparents who live here in NZ, were alive in Amsterdam during the time of the occupation of the Nazis. My Opa (Granddad), who was quite young at that time, got an ear infection and couldn't get any medicine to fight it, which left him partially deaf.

[BaM]

Originally Posted by Heresy

Rosetta Stone is great language learning software, and they have Dutch

http://www.rosettastone.com/

much better than reading a book about the language

Rosetta Stone FTW.

[CCS]

Originally Posted by FireStorm

By the war, you mean World War 2? Holland was conquered by the Germans, they weren't "allies". My Grandparents who live here in NZ, were alive in Amsterdam during the time of the occupation of the Nazis. My Opa (Granddad), who was quite young at that time, got an ear infection and couldn't get any medicine to fight it, which left him partially deaf.

What about those Dutch sluts that gave it up to Nazi soldiers and had halfbred Aryan Nazi/Dutchese spawn? I think they call that 'conspiring with the enemy'.

[FireStorm]

True, but sluts are sluts, they're in every country. I mean, you don't base NZ's reputation on Liz alone right?

[CCS]

Liz hasn't given birth to any Nazi scum

[A Corpse]

My wife did a Dutch course a few years ago as night classes at Unitech in Mt Albert, though I don't know if they still have them.