Learn DutchWould you like to learn Dutch? Maybe Dutch isn't as minor a language as you think. Dutch is spoken by about 21 million people. The first place you might think of Dutch being spoken is in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, or Holland. If you could speak Dutch, you wouldn't depend on your tour guide as heavily for the basics of life while you see the tulips blooming in Holland in the spring?If you're travelling to Flanders, the northern half of Belgium, you'll find they also speak Dutch (Wallonia, the southern half, speaks French.) Are you heading for Suriname on the northeast coast of South America? Suriname is a former Dutch colony, and Dutch is the official language there. Do you like island travel? Dutch is an official language on the island of Aruba and the five islands of the Dutch Antilles, in the Caribbean. You'll also find people who speak Dutch who have
emigrated to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, and South Africa.
Free Online Resources to Learn DutchMy favourite free resource is Before You Know It Lite - Learn Dutch. It's actually a free language learning program that teaches you vocabulary from 13 different topics or lists. It is a great help for practicing pronunciation and memorizing new vocabulary words. The audio and graphics are very clear, and the program is very easy to use.The program does not time out, it's yours forever. You could copy it to a disk, and load it on a computer that is not online. Just choose "Dutch", or one of the other languages you want, and the link will be sent to you by email. I have to admit, I asked for all the languages, since I am language greedy. In fact, if you're not sure which language you want to learn, this is a great free way to test the water, and pick your favourite language, or let your children tell you which language is their favourite. It's also great if you want to learn basic conversation from more than one language.
The Dutch beginner's course includes: short monologues or dialogues, (connected to wave audio files), new word or phrase lists, grammar lessons, and a self-grading test to check your vocabulary, grammar, reading and listening skills. The intermediate course offers a Dutch text - telling you something about life in the Netherlands and includes a RealAudio soundfile with the same text, so you can listen to it while looking at the Dutch text, the English translation or both. It also has exercises on grammar/vocabulary, and a self grading test.
Free Online English-Dutch DictionaryIf you want to translate words, phrases, sentences or paragraphs from English to Dutch or Dutch to English, my favourite online dictionary is http://www.freetranslation.com/Another good free online dictionary that also translates, words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs and websites is http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/ Site NavigationBack to - Learn a Foreign LanguageBack to - Course Ideas |
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