the ability to speak Dutch--or understand it spoken--is another matter entirely.
Oh god yes. I'm becoming slowly aware that when I try to speak Dutch I manage to sound recognisably Ehglish and German, and most of all like a textbook, while about half the people I meet sound like they're gargling gravel. Every so often I have to go back to the books to console myself that, in fact, I do know some Dutch after all.
BTW: the new Taal Totaal course materials from Intertaal have Real Native Speakers and should have prepared me for the rapidity and apparent garbling of what I hear, but I was all focused on 17th c orthography, so I didn't pay enough attention. That'll learn me.
http://www.europeanbookshop.com/languagebooks/series/DUT/TATO Short review: very expensive, good listening materials; otherwise quite basic, untheoretical, annoyingly fixated on renting an apartment/buying stuff at the grocer's, but without sufficient vocabulary to cover. It's very clearly aimed at immigrants who need to get up & running quickly and imprecisely. If your library has it, it might be worth checking out.
no subject
Oh god yes. I'm becoming slowly aware that when I try to speak Dutch I manage to sound recognisably Ehglish and German, and most of all like a textbook, while about half the people I meet sound like they're gargling gravel. Every so often I have to go back to the books to console myself that, in fact, I do know some Dutch after all.
BTW: the new Taal Totaal course materials from Intertaal have Real Native Speakers and should have prepared me for the rapidity and apparent garbling of what I hear, but I was all focused on 17th c orthography, so I didn't pay enough attention. That'll learn me.
http://www.europeanbookshop.com/languagebooks/series/DUT/TATO
Short review: very expensive, good listening materials; otherwise quite basic, untheoretical, annoyingly fixated on renting an apartment/buying stuff at the grocer's, but without sufficient vocabulary to cover. It's very clearly aimed at immigrants who need to get up & running quickly and imprecisely. If your library has it, it might be worth checking out.