Trellum

Oh no!!! Why is it taking so long? Where are you taking your exam? So sorry about the late reply I didn't see this until now! I'll tell you about my experience. You see, right after paying the fees they sent us both an e-mail letting us know we had to e-mail the embassy and ask what dates were available. I did, he told me whole December was available. So I picked December 3. If I recall right I did this one month ahead. I was called by an embassy employee one day before the exam, to confirm my appointment and to let me know they'd not be able to see me at the time we had agreed. Long story short: the day of the exam came. They made me wait one hour or so But ok, I used that time to study. I remember it was a Friday when I finally got my results. It was December 18, a cold evening. They let us know through e-mail, then they told us we could proceed with the MVV application. It took me and my fiance a while to gather all the papers we needed, but we did. He mailed the application (feb 17), then made the payment (feb 29). It was until march 26 we got a letter from the IND letting us know my MVV had been approved, all I had to do was going to Mexico city to pick it up. I son't know if in your country they do it the same way... but traveling to the embassy to get my MVV wasn't easy. I had to get my passport picture taken there, because I couldn't find a decent photographer who could comply with all the requisites the IND was asking. So yeah... make sure to get your passport picture taken at the photo studio they recommend in the embassy's web site, otherwise they will not accept your application. In my case I had to leave my passport at the embassy, I have heard it's like this for everyone. I got it back 8 days later... with my visa in one of its pages It looks like a stamp A very fancy one Valid for only 3 months. By the way, if you come from another part of the country, you will have to buy a shipping label so you can get your passport back. Take copies of everything you want to keep, otherwise they will keep the originals. If you want to know more about the exam... let me know. And yes, it's true what I heard about those exercises being removed. Be careful though... they use words that you are not even taught in the course... that is the reason I got a 9 in the reading exam

It was It was really expensive, but I see that as some sort of test too Another way to prove we really love each other and we want to be together. Specially him being dutch Because I don't know if you have heard it, but Dutch are known to be real penny pinchers. We both helped paid the expenses, but I think he was the one who paid the biggest part. Even now my mom says: ''Wow, he must really love you''. LOL

I don't mind people being open and honest, but it's also how you say things. I'm open myself, but the things my future mother in law said were kind of shocking. Same with my fiance I think there are things you just don't need to say, and that includes racist jokes as well as some really odd comments. Cultural shock But luckily now very few things they say can shock me...

This is truly brilliant, but I truly hope the translations are very accurate? I truly hope so, because I am quite sure this is not going to be cheap at all... If I got it right it will be available by 2017, if this is accurate enough and not so pricey, who knows, I might actually buy it Useful when traveling abroad.

Don't worry It has been pretty clear to me I won't be making friends with Dutch people since last year, but it's ok, I've already told my guy that I preferred the company of other foreigners. Mostly because making friends with other people born in Latin america is easier (they know the dynamics), and also because we will have something to bond and connect over: being as foreigner in a country with a society that seems to have a really odd collective take on friendships and social matters. G-d, help me D: I hope most dutch people I met at work aren't as rude as my guy first was when we first met -_-'

It's great if you have the money to buy it But if you ask me... there are better option out there, they might take a bit more effort, but in the end the results will be as good as they would be with any Rosetta Stone software. Specially if you consider how pricey this software is D: But I guess buying such a pricey software can be a great motivation to actually use it

Looool! Amazing, so you gained so many points in a short time, and they went straight to accuse you of cheating. I laughed a bit at how the guy was first like: '' There is a problem, I'm not saying it was you, but...'' and then he switched to: ''I know it was you! You cheater! You better explain yourself!''. What happened in the end? Did you tell them the truth? Did they believe you? Ever heard back from them? Not cool they accuse people like that... specially if the guy sending the mail is at first beating around the bush, and then openly accusing you. If they are going to accuse someone... either take the diplomatic route or the direct one, not both.

That is true, I have noticed the result vary greatly depending on the language you are trying to translate. I can imagine Google translate not being very successful translating languages like Russian though I'm lucky Google Translate works great translating from and to Dutch to/from English. It's mean to be used as a help though, if you want a serious translation you need to pay for it, which is not bad considering we have sites like Fiverr.

Sending many hugs right back to you!! Yes, actually we had to go through this 3 times (the waiting for someone to decide our faith), first: when I was waiting for the results of my Inburgering examen (they sent my results to the Netherlands so native Dutch people would examine it and yada yada). The second time was when he hadto gather (as well as me) a bunch of papers... I sent mine through FedEX. He gathered his own too, sent them to the IND (immigration) then we waited... I think it was two months or so. They could have just rejected it. It's ridiculous, because just when we thought we were done we had to wait again after I had to travel to Mexico city to submit the rest of the papers (when will this all end? LOL) and again we had to wait. Only 8 days though Looking back... no wonder I was so grumpy, lol. I feel so much relief... now I just want to live my life, not thinking about tomorrow and treasure every second. I think you know the feeling so well! I wish you a lot happiness to you and your husband! We deserve it after ALLL those hardships! We really do! This kind of relationships are not for everyone I mean, look at all the ''trials'' we have gone through, and I'm not talking only about visas and paperwork, but things like the cultural differences and dealing with our husband's families. But real love conquers it all!

When I wrote ''script'' I didn't mean to be very specific I mean it as a generalization, ie: their script is very different to the one I am used to. Kind of lazy, I know, but that is the main reason I haven't even tried. Thanks for the info, it's good to have that in mind, if I ever decide to go for it. I've a friend who lives in Japan... 10 years or so, and her Japanese is good, but not fluent D: She recently started taking private classes, because her grammar is not perfect yet. I'm not so sure i'll ever go for it, but thanks for the info

You are very welcome Stay tuned for more updates, I'm not done with this thread yet (I plan to add more resources) and be done adding all those missing lessons once I have more time (hopefully in the Netherlands). This is a project I take seriously, because well, it's very close to my heart and very very personal I hope you find it very useful!

The problem I have with Dutch is mostly with the word order and the grammar in general, but once I learn enough words I will be fine. I think my next issue would be the pronunciation, my lack of confidence when speaking the language with natives and non natives and such, I think I will have some issues with that at first Specially now that I am moving to the Netherlands.

I already got my MVV I got it last Friday I am just happy this is over, no more trips alone to Mexico city and such. I think that is why we had so many arguments, I was so stressed about going there alone, making sure all papers were in order, and I was forgetting nothing. While my fiance was not doing so much, at least not as much as I did (he sent the application via post in his country - while I had to go personally to submit mine ). I think I resent him a lot, unconsciously of course because now I can tell the difference I am glad to hear you are your husband are doing better! I hope to reach that stage soon, because the idea of moving to another country so soon really scares me.

Practice. That is all it takes... I learnt English on my own (I feel like a broken record repeating this oooooover and ooooover) when I was 16 years old... Well, let's say that what they say ''If you don't use it you lose it'' it's very true. At least when it comes to languages. I use English daily... but I do feel at times my grammar is not as sharp as before. Sadly the posts i read in forums (from natives and non natives) don't help much... most natives seem to make a lot terrible grammar mistakes, like for example using ''their'' instead of ''they're'' and so on.

I think it could work for some people But everyone is different, so if you have been learning language for a while... you surely know by now what works for you and what doesn't. In my case I think it would work, because I've done something very similar in the past, and copying things (by actually wring them down) does seem to help me memorize things better. This method could definitely work for me. I might actually try it with a children's book... one I am familiar with, but in Dutch!