Trellum

@Cave Bear At least they are eager to correct  That way you learn faster   I actually wish the dutch speakers around me were more eager to correct me, bac in the day I made a lot mistakes (while learning English) because no one dare to correct me, lol.  It's better to be corrected, turst me. I don't mind it at all, even in written form.  I keep asking my fiance to help me more by correcting me when I write something wrong in dutch, but he is so lazy. 

Hi guys!  Take a look at this info graph before replying to this thread please.  I think the 1.69 years estimate for the hardest languages is too generous, don't you think?   Specially for a native English or Spanish speaker... D:    Looking forward to hearing about your own personal experiences   I know every student is different and some languages might be harder than others depending on your mother language.  So our experiences might vary a lot. 

I found something interesting the other day   It made me kind of sad though:

I was told that my sister-in-law's husband learnt dutch this way. Her parents wrote the names of a each thing in their house on post-it notes.  They said that helped him greatly.  His dutch is good now (not sure he has mastered though - his accent is still quite strong).  He is been there more than 10 years though, so I'm not sure if we  can say the post-it method was so helpful, but I an imagine this method is perfect for beginners with a realistic expectation: learning a small amount of vocabulary in a short time. 

Another variation someone told me about was placing words and their meaning on the ceiling   A guy told me a friend of his learnt English that way. Go figure. 

Hehehe, good I will never learn Turkish     And yes, I learnt English on my own that way when I was 16,  but it was much easier back then because I was so young.   Now I don't have as much free time as I did back then.    I still wonder how this guy does it?  I mean, finding time to do all that. He seems to spend so much time online, but he also has to go to school,  do homework, have a girlfriend, etc.  He must have a hell of motivation and some trick under his sleeve  

Oh and if you need any help with Spanish let me know    Maybe we could do a language exchange later in time, if you feel like it.  Skype has become such an amazing tool for language students, back when I was 16 we had MSN Messenger, but sound quality was crap. 

Hi there, Jorge!!  I just noticed you said you are Mexican!  I am Mexican as well    From what part of mexico are you from exactly?    I'm so curious, how come you ended up studying in France?  I've met so many Mexican students in the Netherlands and Norway    Most of them in the process to complete their masters degree.   I've made a lot friends there as a result (specially Norway).  I'm always so happy when I met a Mexican person in Europe!  

@Chris_A   My partner is dutch, so if I think about it... there is a huge chance your kids speak 3 languages almost by default    And yes, you are right   The younger they start the better,  I noticed that with myself. When I was 16 it was much easier for me to intuitively learn a language, now I am having a hard time with Dutch because I can no longer do the same.  Young children definitely have an advantage over us adults, a lot studies have proven that.  But we can still try out best  

@litnax  Nice to see you back, long time no see!  Glad you liked the joke, you might also like this: http://theoatmeal.com/  Lots of funny and informative comics in english. I love it, because they make you laugh and think       But be careful, I have spent a lot time on that site without even realizing it very often    By the way, his sense of humor can be a bit crude sometimes. 

I know what you mean, some people in my country don't seem to be interested in using their own language right.  Most of the time it's the young people who do that though text, but I see this very often in forums as well.  As for my friend, I admire his motivation to learn all those languages!  They are so many, and he is always looking for people he can talk with via Skype, he also goes to school and has a girlfriend, I've always wondered how he does all that o_O 

Food or the thought indeed   Lol, it's so true!!  It feels so good to just do something ''mindless'' after a long day at work or school,  rather than doing something that requires mental effort and concentration  I'm so guilty of this! I tend to procrastinate a lot!   I will think about what you say... happiness is never easy. I do need to make an effort, after all this exam is very important and I don't want to let anyone down. Thanks for the food for the thought  

I agree, I think for must of us it's hard to imagine learning 5 languages at once or more. I know someone who does, sadly this boy hasn't found  good balance yet. He doesn't seem to care about mastering the languages he already knows well :/  He keeps making a lot beginner mistakes in English and really needs to expand his vocabulary.  He is incredibly motivated though, so I really admire that.  I used to be that motivated when I was much younger (15-16 or so). 

@anna3101  I think what really matters is that you found something that works for you    This thread is inspired on those who are studying a minimum of 5 languages at one... but most likely more,  even 10. People who can't manage a deeper knowledge due that reason.  I know someone like that and he inspired this thread.   You sound like a serious student who has found her own balance, I'm sure you are looking to master all those languages, right?  I'm guessing you are not looking for superficial knowledge in all of them, you don't sound like that type of person at all   You sound like a serious one who wants to master them all.  Kudos to you for that. 

Hehehe, I loved your story about the cheese in the Netherlands     I could almost picture the face of that woman in my mind   Looking all confused and wondering what you were trying to say (it's so funny she didn't even get it despite you draw the whole thing for her).   To be honest I haven't had any fun experiences yet, but I am sure I will once I move to the Netherlands and I start speaking dutch.  My level is A1,  so you won't see me talking a lot dutch with the locals anytime soon.  I can imagine how you felt not knowing how to say your cheese was in the fridge, I still get that nowadays: not knowing how to say seemingly simple things in dutch D: 

I know what you mean, but I was reading an article some days ago about how languages like klingon and even elvish are considered real languages by some.  If I am not mistaken elvish comes with its own grammar and its writing system. I actually checked a web site on this subjects years ago, it was so interesting!  Each little dot and line do mean something. It think elvish is specially clever, same goes to klingon, they both look like legit languages, but they are all constructed. Then again... we could say the same about Esperanto  

Well, technically I am sure some think of it as a real language, specially because there are some active speakers out there   Yes, this is not the first time I hear about this    I think it really depends who you ask this to, some people will tell you there is no way they could ever consider klingon a real language and others will say it technically is. Of course I am no hardcore linguist of any kind... just someone who enjoys learning languages for fun (excepting dutch, I never liked that one language, but here I am...)

Yes, I am form Latin america   Mexico to be more exact    Born and raised there, but spent a while in Europe (working) and now I am going back.   Have you ever been to Norway?  I love that place and let me tell you I had never seen in my entire life such an efficient public transport system. I was very impressed.  I love that place, wish I felt the same way about the Netherlands, lol.  It's no secret I love Norway 

Isn't it easier to do that by car?    I also have that OV-chipkaart   I'm so glad I didn't lose it (my fiance would kill me, lol).  But seriously... don't you think the it's so expensive?  I still need to get my driver's licence, so meanwhile I might have to get to places using a bike :'(    I know the Netherlands is tiny, but gosh... it feels so huge without a car D:!!!!  It's desperation!   I'll not lie to you... not excited about this one bit!   First months will be so interesting... I hope I don't break something while learning to ride a bike *blush* 

I was just thinking the other day about this... I've been feeling that my biggest enemy right now (while learning dutch) specially in the last few weeks is me.  Well, it's no secret I have a serious neurological problem that actually affects my memory, but that's not the reason I say I am my own worst enemy right now. I say it because I tend to get distracted so easily    I find it hard to focus in just only one thing for a long time.  And yes, since i do most of my study online I often end up doing something else 

Another obstacle I've found while learning dutch it's the fact my partner is not really good at explaining things, he doesn't correct me when needed and his English is not good. So I avoid asking him anything, because I know he will end up confusing me more. Another thing that annoys me is the fact that when I try to study and ask him for help he takes it as a joke or some sort of silly game   

Now obstacles regarding the language:  It's nothing like English... many phrases can't be translated word by word into English and i basically need to stop thinking in English so much while learning this language.  I need to get this into my head: Dutch is not English and I need to stop that nasty habit... always trying to translate everything to English in my head.

So guys, what's your biggest problem or obstacle right now?

That is quite nice, do you go to Antwerp often?  Everything seems so close in the Netherlands, my fiance took me by car to Luxembourg (he said it was just a normal holiday) but it turned out to be the place where he asked me to marry him just last year    I must for me it's so odd to feel like I can vacation anywhere in Europe, because everything seems to be so close D: 

Thank you   Yeah, I guess it's better to keep it this way, otherwise it would be too crowded. I hadn't stopped to think about that :/   But I am just so glad Norwegian is up   Same goes to Finnish and Swedish!  Might go after those once I am done with dutch, french and German.  

Thanks for the recommendations, I will surely be watching a lot Dutch TV  in a couple months.   Sadly my favorite channels in the Netherlands are American, but I like the fact most TV shows come with dutch subtitles. I will definitely check Horizon TV, we are getting a ziggo sub    By the way,  there is something that is still not very clear in my head... I'm talking about the sound of ''ij''.  Does it sound more like an american ''A'' or an ''I''?? Sometimes I swear some words make it sound like an american ''I'' but most of the times it seems to sound like an American ''A''. 

You are lucky, I have an appointment at my local Dutch embassy... just 6 weeks away!   I need to go there and take the exam, I was told this exam is now done on a computer and no longer done with a phone.  The exam was totally revamped back in December 2014, so now it's supposed to be easier. The exams consist of 3 different parts: 1) Dutch society knowledge.  2) Reading. 3) Speaking.  I heard you only have 60 seconds to answer.  I might not be seen on here at all during November, because I will go hardcore on this 

OMG, I'm so glad you are reviving this section   I'll no longer feel like I am talking to myself while posting here    I was starting to lose hope someone would ever join in the discussion.  And thanks for the explanations, so clear and easy to understand. Do you have any kind of experience teaching?  I don't know, but this and your other posts tell me you might have some experience in this field or you are just a natural. 

Oh I wish I had the time to study Norwegian right now, I will try to contribute in the future (once I start learning Norwegian - because I do plan to do that just for fun and because I genuinely love Norwegian culture and language).   Adding a section for people trying to learn Kurdish would also be quite nice   Kurdish is another language I might be interested to learn, specially the sorani dialect. If you ever do that please split it by dialects. 

Hoorn    I was talking about the city in my native country, I'm moving to the Netherlands in 3-4 months, are you from Leiden?

Lingua Franca, there is a language school with the very same name in my city    I think language classes are definitely not for everyone, they were never my thing, but then again learning online is not for everyone either. I think everyone is different, and we must all find what works best for us specially when it comes to learning languages.