Bon Journal

A plan of action for learning Dutch

I have procrastinated learning Dutch for three years now. Initially I didn't want to know the Dutch language because I didn't want to be responsible for knowing what people said. As long as I didn't understand or speak it, I was not committed to a life in this country.

Then I became frightened that I would fail. Another reason not to learn it.

I've sadly run out of excuses.

My plan for learning Dutch is as follows:

1- create a web page on analyticalQ with links (such as those on the right) to dictionaries, Dutch phrases, etc

2- create tables of useful Dutch words - such as colours, days of the week, numbers, seasons, etc.

3- practise speaking it everyday for at least one year

4- do not speak English when I go grocery shopping

5- translate the lyrics to a Dutch song and make a piano arrangement for it so I can sing to it

I discovered that Dutch songs can sound pretty sexy.

Now, if I can only get the multi-lingual Dutch people to stop speaking English to me!

24 March 2004 Wednesday

Related journal entries:

12 March 2004
Dutch immersion course

13 March 2004
Running in Dutch

Related links:

Expatica - expatriate community in the Netherlands

Online Dutch-English dictionary

John and Grayson's Dutch dictionary

Quia activities (games) to help you learn Dutch quickly

Dutch songs and links

Top 20 Dutch songs (free mp3 downloads)