Bon Journal

Learning Dutch

Why learn Dutch when the Dutch are so proficient at languages? Their English is impeccable.

Because not everyone speaks English. And the Dutch have a sense of humour that makes it worthwhile to understand and engage in conversation.

Here's my new plan:

Build a web site that helps me learn Dutch, helps my friend learn Chinese, and helps the Dutch and the Chinese to learn English

Step one: find out what's available online and offline

Step two: build web pages while I learn

Step three: get feedback from visitors

Must-learns for the beginner:

How much - how to count, which order, how to shop

When - days of the week, month, date, year, time

Who - am I? are you?

What - what is it, how to say it in Dutch, what does it mean

Where - how to get from one place to another, where do I live, buying train tickets

Which - colour, size, shape,

Greetings - hello, how are you, goodbye, thank you, you're welcome, apologies

Restaurants - how to order and what to get

9 October 2003 Thursday

Recommended links:

Double Dutch - hilarious! confusing words in English and Dutch, and more

If you know German and English, learning Dutch shouldn't be that hard. Here's a site that discusses how to learn a new language.

A Yahoo-group language learning group newsletter recommends the following two books - I have to check them out and give a book review:

Donaldson, Bruce. **Beyond the Dictionary in Dutch: A Guide to Correct Word Usage for the English-Speaking Student.** 2nd ed. Bussum, The Netherlands: Coutinho, 1995 (ISBN: 90-6283-814-6). ______.

**Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar.** London and New York: Routledge, 1997 (ISBN: 0-415-15418-9 [hbk], 0-415-15419-7 [pbk]).