abadideaingeburgerd status: snipped in proper Dutch at some kids throwing their trash in the canal: “boys, next time, there is a public trash can over there”
Victoria Walberg@0xabad1dea Any tips on learning Dutch? Courses, apps etc. I do have books and a willing native speaker.
@vickyjo the Duolingo Dutch course is okay (assuming they haven’t utterly destroyed it with AI) as long as you understand a drilling app cannot, on its own, get you fluent
I took a Dutch edition of a novel I knew well and copied it by hand. Like, with a pen, on paper. The whole thing. This is what got me from “I want to learn Dutch but I always get stuck after a week” to having a working understanding of core vocabulary and grammar.
Doug Binks@0xabad1dea @vickyjo I read Jip and Janneke when I was learning Dutch, borrowed from a friend who's kid no longer needed them before moving on to other more complex books. This was back before the internets but you might be able to get them online as they're quite old so may be out of copyright. Be aware that knowing German can throw a bit of a spanner in the works for Dutch as much as it can be helpful.
@dougbinks @0xabad1dea Sadly I wasn't taught German (despite the citizenship/family). I have been warned by Germans in NL about "false friends".
tkissing@dougbinks @0xabad1dea @vickyjo I'm doing Dutch on Duolingo (with English as base language) and so far (level 14) I'd say speaking German helps more than it hinders. But when I actually speak Dutch I have to be super careful not to just fill gaps in vocabulary with German or worse "dutchified" German.