Trellum

On 5/10/2016 at 7:23 AM, YesPecan said:

Hi Trellum,

Congratulations on passing your Inburgering exam! 

I'll be taking the same exam too, but I'm so disappointed that it takes 2 months to wait for an exam date... So many things were delayed on my side and we have no choice now but to wait and wait. How long did it take for the exam results to come in for you? And did it take long for the mvv to be approved?

Wishing you best of luck on your Dutch lessons!

 

PS: Thanks for the tips! Will check out that link shortly.

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 

On 5/31/2016 at 9:29 AM, lushlala said:

Wow, Trellum...you guys really went through the wringer compared to us!!! So you really do deserve it, my friend; so you better enjoy every moment of it LOL I can't even begin to imagine the expenses that went into it all! 

But you're absolutely right on all counts, and thanks so much for the good wishes, which I'm sure you know are reciprocated  These relationships are certainly not for the weak of heart hehe But in the end, if you really love each other, you do triumph,  -like we both did!!

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 

On 5/31/2016 at 1:08 PM, Blaveloper said:

Oh, that well known issue again.
The Dutch don't mean it to be rude, we're just more direct compared to most other cultures.
In fact, being honest with other people is our way to show respect to other people, if we sugarcoat, it either means we don't respect you or we're simply doing business with you.

Being a half-foreigner myself and having studied with foreigners before, I try to accustom myself to the other culture where possible.
I know most of the world gets offended if I tell them they're smelly.
But don't worry, we will never say "you're a total retard", we have our limits too. xD

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. 

On 4/19/2016 at 10:18 PM, Blaveloper said:

And yet I find the following quite ironic:

Back when I was studying ICT at a university, almost all the Dutch went to the Dutch version of the course while all foreigners + a few Dutch people with at least a bit of foreign blood went to the English version of the course.

I did the English one, but I did notice it was the right choice. I felt more at home there than I ever did in a class with just Dutch people.

Not trying to dismotivate you, it's just the way it goes sadly.

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 -_-'  

On 12/8/2015 at 7:02 PM, KimmyMarkks said:

If you are unable to take a class or get a tutor I think Rosetta stone is the best teaching tool out there.  However, I am a firm believer in having a teacher to help with pronunciation.  I haven't used Rosetta store but have heard so many great things about it from my friends who have used it.  It is written by native speakers and from what I have heard it really focuses on learning how to speak the language more so then write or read it.

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 

On 5/20/2016 at 10:52 AM, Blaveloper said:

One tip: don't use Memrise too much, full commitment is apparently not acceptable:

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. 

On 5/25/2016 at 4:47 PM, potoloklol said:

My experience with Google translate has not been so good. It may work for some languages like Spanish,but it is almost never 100% accurate. It is especially terrible with Russian because of the sentence structures and grammar and changing endings. Google translate can give you a good idea of what the sentence may mean, but not the exact meaning or a natural translation. I wouldn't rely on it too heavily, maybe just for a word or two. 

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. 

5 hours ago, lushlala said:

OMG OMG Trellum...Congratulations!!! What did I say, have a little faith and it'll happen!! Oh I'm so happy for you I tell you, people who have never gone through this just don't realise how difficult and nerve wracking it can be, waiting for someone to decide your fate. Now you and your husband-to-be can relax and just get on with your lives. Enjoy it, you've earned it and fully deserve it. 

I'm glad to say my husband also got his a few months ago and the relief is just immeasurable  I mean, people were being rejected left, right and centre. So it was a bit of a miracle, really. We can now relax for a few years, too. Sending you many hugs

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! 

4 hours ago, Blaveloper said:

One little note: Japanese doesn't have a script, it has 3 scripts.
Although 2 of the 3 (Hiragana and Katakana) can easily be taught in a weekend, the 3rd one (Kanji) would require at least 1.5 years to learn.
But the good news about Kanji is, once you master all the Jouyou Kanji (most commonly used Kanji), you'll automatically know over 6000 vocabulary words for free.

So if I were you, I would be rather worried about the grammar, Japanese grammar can be a real bitch to master.
I'll be taking the JLPT N4 test next month, and I still have trouble with the grammar part, I have no problems with the Kanji and vocabulary parts at 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. 

29 minutes ago, lushlala said:

Oh absolutely, Trellum....keep the faith and I can assure you, you'll be just fine  The stress of it can definitely result in a lot of heated arguments, but it soon blows over. We went through it, and most people in the same situation do. It's weird because once we got here, it wasn't as stressful. I guess maybe because we'd done it for many years in England, we kind of knew the level of stress it can bring on. I guess you could say we're now wiser, too LOL I'm glad that things calmed down for you in the end. Fingers crossed for your MVV  

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! 

On 4/19/2016 at 2:52 PM, FenWoFon said:

When it comes to learning a language, asian ones are somehow last on my list, no offense but it seems to bee too hard for me, I do not really think about myself getting into it, however nice topic you made there, thanks for sharing.

Same here :/  I really like the Japanese culture, but the script is what puts the language on the very last spot on the list.   I'd love to earn it, but I know that learning all those characters  would be very hard for me.  But the desire to learn Japanese is there   Maybe I will learn it once I have more time off, like when I retire  

That is right, I am moving to the Netherlands pretty soon, and I need to practice the little dutch I have learnt so far.  I am willing to help you practice English or Spanish.  I can also help with any doubts you might have regarding the Spanish or English language, like for example some grammar or orthography issues.   I'm just looking for someone to practice Dutch with, I don't expect you to plan whole lessons for me or anything like that,  I only need someone to practice with  and clear grammar doubts as they come.  I expect you to want the same thing from me.  Send me a PM here if you want my Skype id. 

On 7/24/2015 at 1:01 PM, lingose said:

I think it's a great way to expand your knowledge of a language, but I personally wouldn't rely on it alone. I would definitely take formal classes as well, simply because that's the way I learn best, by having a structured approach and the ability to ask even the most complex questions concerning grammar that most native speakers simply don't know becuase it's natural to them. Of course, there are people who find this approach terrible for them because of how formal it is, and I think language sharing is a great alternative, as well as a great supplement to formal teaching where a student is able to practice in a real world situation what they've learned.

Yes, of course.  Language exchange is supposed to be used as a mere aid    Not something to use instead of following a language course,  but sadly most of the people I've found online (to be my language exchange buddies) thought  I'd be responsible for their learning.  And that is one of the things I've disliked most about language exchange so far.  I have only found one person serious enough to practice dutch with me   Only one... but there were a lot who didn't  even reply, and those who did wanted me to play the role of their teacher. 

I totally get you, in the last months I have been so busy and stressed I just couldn't practice Dutch as much as I wanted to, and I don't even have a kid! I don't even want to imagine what it will be like when I have one.  But this morning I woke up telling myself: You are moving to the Netherlands, you better start working on Dutch again!''.  Have you tried Memrise   You could practice with it at least 5 minutes at a time.  I  will try that. 

There are several favorites   I have a high preference for oldies:

On 7/28/2015 at 4:12 AM, The.Distant.Viewer said:

Hi there!

I think one of the ways you could learn Spanish is to make friends with people whose native language is Spanish. You could try and search online websites which allow you to interact with people whose mother tongue is Spanish or someone who is fluent with the language. You can also make friends with people near you, who are also good in speaking the said language. You may try scheduling a "Spanish-talk day" where you communicate with them in Spanish for that particular day so they may correct you and also teach you new words and expressions. You may also opt for watching Spanish shows with subtitles in your own language and try to take notes from their conversation, then search those sentences later on.

 

I hope this helps you because it did help me in learning one of the languages I favor in learning.

Actually tat is how i learnt English when I was 16 years old, nothing like interacting with natives... because there is no bigger motivation and satisfaction than being able to communicate your thoughts to someone you never thought you'd ever talk  to.  I felt so motivated when I started writing to pen pals, and tried to do my best to  help them understand me I never hesitated to make questions either   I made a lot mistakes but I learnt from them, that is the key. 

Hi there, if you still want to test your Spanish, you could also try these tests:

http://www.cervantes.to/test_inicial.html

http://www.transparent.com/learn-spanish/proficiency-test.html

They are very short, but I think they serve to give you an approximate idea of what your level actually is. 

Maybe this one:

But you have to skip to the minute 2:40 or so to get to the actual song.  It's a great song for the children. 

This one is also good:

I am definitely going to Paris if we decide to travel across Europe during our honeymoon   I will definitely visit this museum, and not only because I love languages, but because  I love museums in general  I never miss a chance to go to a nice museum and learn something new   Thanks for sharing! 

On 4/30/2016 at 0:20 AM, Miya said:

My biggest problem is actually speaking the language. I can usually grasp the other parts like reading, writing, comprehending, and listening quite fast, but I can't speak the language to save my life. It's the hardest part for me. I guess it's because I can't think on the spot. It's also partly my fault because I lack confidence so I didn't get a good foundation on speaking when I first started learning the language. 

Hahahaha, same here!  Just a couple weeks ago I thought my Dutch was much better, but when I tried to actually speak it (instead of writing it) I realized I just can't to do it right now.  Maybe we are getting too nervous to remember the meaning of the words we can use?  I know I do   I guess subconsciously I feel a bit concerned about saying things wrong, or sound too funny... I feel I sound so weird when I speak dutch.  I guess I must get used to it! Moving to the Netherlands soon, so it better be soon...