Those Michel Thomas CDs really helped although it took me a while to get through most of them. The listening and speaking part is easy, I’ve just been lazy in “finding the time”.

But what has also really helped me is to try to watch everything on TV (English language programs) but with Dutch subtitles. Unfortunately, most DVDs do not contain them (they often have French, Spanish and German though) so the best way to find them is by downloading TV series that contain “Dutch subs” or “ondertitels”.

Anyway, this technique will work for all languages, not just Dutch. I find that by reading the subtitles and listening to what I obviously understand, I am able to pick up easily new vocabulary and in context too.

This is totally different to the way most people learn languages using subtitles. Usually, you have Americans or British watching the occasional foreign movie with English subtitles. But often, it is really difficult to clearly hear what is being spoken because it is spoken quickly, colloquially and often with slang. But listening to your own native language being spoken instead is very easy. Also, foreigners learning English also read subtitles in their own language. Clearly this works, but I think there are great advantages to my technique.

Also, you quickly assemble vocab for many commonly used phrases that are repeated over and over during the course of the movie or TV series which really helps to reinforce the learning. There is no rote learning or assembling wordlists required at all. And because 70% of any conversation is formed with the 1,000 most common words, you can quickly be well on your way to getting the gist of almost any conversation.

As I now live in The Netherlands, I can tell you that this has really helped. I advise you to combine it with Michel Thomas like I have. Sure, I can’t do the usual school routine of talking about my hobbies but I am capable of going shopping, asking for help etc. with reasonable confidence. Not bad considering I’ve never had a single formal Dutch lesson.

I already had some language materials but I recently acquired the new Michel Thomas foundation level Dutch series.

I’m not sure if you’ve heard of Michel Thomas before but he is reverred for his language teaching methods. Actually, I don’t think he’s a god or anything but his methods are pretty good.

As you listen to the tapes, it is like sitting in a classroom with a teacher and two other students. The method of gradually introducing pieces of the language is great – as they say, you truly do not need to write anything down at all. This is a great method for my lazy approach

Anyway, there are 8 CDs lasting approximately 12 hours. I’ve completed the first CD and I want to try and do one CD a day – that’s a little over an hour a day. After that, I’m going to do Pimsleur Dutch and then read a textbook I have called Colloquial Dutch. Then I’ll try the L-R method I spoke about earlier.

Michel Thomas Method: Dutch Foundation Course (Michel Thomas Method)

Phew! I don’t want to get ahead of myself as this is just the start but I hope I can keep this up!

btw below is the first part of a documentary that followed Michel Thomas before he produced the CDs – you can see for yourself his teaching methods which are the same on the CDs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ3xvL22hLE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGtCmFsKRk4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g56SViDNQI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skaVVZDVFT4

First part below:

Learning a new language is more than being able to communicate in another country. After all, a few smittens of English will normally get you very far in most countries of the world.

No, learning a language gives you access to the culture of a country in a way that only the locals can do.

The only problem is that learning a language is a hell of a steep learning curve. Many people throw the towel in early. It seems that you can only learn if you are forced to at school or out of necessity if you are already living in another country. Even then, your progress can be severely limited.

Do you remember that movie, Splash, with Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah? I was always amazed at how Daryl Hannah’s character was able to learn English by watching TV for a day! Can it really be done?

Actually, there is a method called the Listening-Reading Method (L-R method) that some people have used successfully to learn a language within days!

What you need to go is grab yourself a novel in your own language, the target language plus an audio of the novel in the target language.

So, let’s take a real example: I want to learn Dutch so I’ve obtained an English copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I’ve also obtained a text and audio of the Dutch language version: Harry Potter en de Geheime Kamer.

- First read the English language book so that I can internalise the story. This way when I read or listen to the Dutch version, I will immediately recognise some things because I already have a knowledge of the story.

- Second, listen to the Dutch audio and read the Dutch text at the same time. You know how a foreign language just sounds like gibberish at first and whilst you might be able to separate out the syllables, you really have no clue how to separate out the words. This technique will help you to do that and by the end of the novel, people won’t feel like they are talking “too fast” anymore.

- Third, listen to the Dutch audio but read the English text at the same time. Apparently, this is when the majority of the learning happens. It is recommended that you read the text like this 3 times.

- Lastly, translate the Dutch novel into English yourself. By now, you should be able to do this.

You can read the original description of the L-R method here:
Language Learning Forum – Listening-Reading system.

Basically, you need to commit around 3 full days to this technique. Maybe you could try an entire weekend or even take the Monday or Friday off work for best results.

However, you cannot simply do an hour a day of this method. You really do need to commit uninterrupted time to obtain the greatest benefit. However, the advantages in return for your commitment are simply incredible.

They say that to be able to converse easily in a language then you need around 2000 words. With this technique, you should be able to get close to that figure within 3 days. Quite remarkable isn’t it?