maandag 2 november 2009

Lesson 4-6: Starting to read simple words and sentences

During the following lessons, we are starting to read a basic book that is designed to learn to read and write Dutch. It starts of with just some basic words starting with oo, aa, ee.
If you are able to read those, you can read very simple sentences, like:
oom eet aal.

This means: uncle eats eal.
We are reading the lessons as follows:
the first time a lesson is read, every word is spelled with the Dutch alphabet letters. After spelling a line, the entire line is read without spelling.

To give you an example:









After the first time a lesson is always read. Only when a word gives trouble, it has to be spelled again.


The things we come across when reading this book together is that the vowels are very difficult. We have to keep practising these.





While reading, we of course always give the translation of a word that is new. To help us translate, we often use www.vertalen.nu.


Even in the very simple sentences we are reading now, we sometimes come across the situation that the sequence of words in Dutch is different from that in English.


For instance, the sentence:


oom eet ook aal


would be translated as:


uncle eats eal too.

At this point it is good for you to realize that there is a difference, but don't pay too much attention to it. We will cover that in later lessons.

The most important thing when learning a new language, is that you practise every day (even if it is for only 10 minutes)!





woensdag 14 oktober 2009

Lesson 3: ui and eu

In every lesson we start of with the alfabet (which you can find in lesson 1). My student has been practising this a lot, so it goes quite well. After the alfabet, we do the long vowels. Some of them are quite easy, but some of them are very difficult.
Especially the sounds of ui and eu are very difficult to distinguish. I had already noticed that with students from other countries.
These two sounds are apparently quite unique. So again, I created a small video to show a lot of Dutch words, each time opposing a word containing ui to one containing eu.
I have included a list of pictures/translations of the words being used after the video.



Beuk - type of tree, see: http://images.google.nl/images?gbv=2&hl=nl&sa=1&q=beuk&aq=f&oq=&start=0
Buik - belly, see: http://images.google.nl/images?gbv=2&hl=nl&sa=1&q=buik&aq=f&oq=&start=0
Leuk - nice (no picture)
Luik - blind, shutter, or a place in Belgium, see
http://images.google.nl/images?gbv=2&hl=nl&q=luik&sa=N&start=40&ndsp=20
Reuk - smell (noun), see: http://images.google.nl/images?gbv=2&hl=nl&sa=1&q=reuk&aq=f&oq=&start=0
Ruik - smell (verb) (more or less the same pictures)
Reus - giant, see:
http://images.google.nl/images?gbv=2&hl=nl&sa=1&q=reus&aq=f&oq=&start=0
Ruis - noise
Heus - really
Huis - house, see:
http://images.google.nl/images?gbv=2&hl=nl&sa=1&q=huis&aq=f&oq=&start=0
Deuk - indentation, see: http://images.google.nl/images?gbv=2&hl=nl&sa=1&q=deuk&aq=f&oq=&start=0
Duik - dive (either noun or verb), see: http://images.google.nl/images?gbv=2&hl=nl&sa=1&q=duik&aq=f&oq=&start=0
Zeul - lug (verb) = Carry a heavy bag, see: http://images.google.nl/images?gbv=2&hl=nl&sa=1&q=zeulen&aq=f&oq=&start=0
Zuil - column, pillar, see: http://images.google.nl/images?gbv=2&hl=nl&sa=1&q=zuil&aq=f&oq=&start=0
Beul - executioner, torturer, see: http://images.google.nl/images?gbv=2&hl=nl&sa=1&q=beul&aq=f&oq=&start=0
Buil - bump, bruise, see: http://images.google.nl/images?gbv=2&hl=nl&q=buil&sa=N&start=0&ndsp=20
Teun - name of a boy
Tuin - garden, see
http://images.google.nl/images?gbv=2&hl=nl&sa=1&q=tuin&aq=f&oq=&start=0


dinsdag 6 oktober 2009

Lesson 2: Vowels

After practising the alphabet, we started of with the vowels in Dutch. This is always very challenging, as the Dutch language contains vowels you will find in no other language. Again I created a small movie containing all vowels.



This movie can help to hear the different sounds of the letters and to practise them.
After practising the vowel, we continued with basic spelling of the words we used in the first lesson, but adding the three letter words containing double a:

Aaf, Aag, aak, aal, aan, aap, aar, aas.

Aaf and Aag are names of a girl
aak = a type of boat
aan = to or on
aap = ape
aar = ear (of corn)
aas = ace (in a card game) or bait

maandag 28 september 2009

The first lesson

The first lesson is always difficult: you are eager to learn as much as you can, but you have to start with the basics. One of the most basic things in any language is the alphabet. So that is what we started of with. Look at the following movie to see and hear the names of the letters in Dutch (note that the position of my mouth might not be perfect, but it gives a pretty good idea):



When you practice the alphabet, you will notice that some letters are easy to pronounce, because they are similar to letters or sounds in your own language. Others are really difficult, because they are totally new to you. In our lesson, the "g" posed the most problems, so we had to practice that a lot. To give you a hint: your tongue and lips have to be in the same position as for the English "g" (like in good), but instead of stopping the air coming through your throat, you have to really exhale.

After practicing the alphabet, we start to learn to read the first words. We always do this by spelling the letters first and then reading out the whole word. The first words we use are:

o, o, m ----- oom ----- uncle
o, o, k ----- ook ----- too
o, o, g ----- oog ----- eye

The last bit of the lesson we used for some Dutch phrases and words that are generally used:

Goedemorgen ----- Good morning
Goedemiddag ----- Good afternoon
Goedenavond ----- Good evening
Hallo -------------- Hello