Learning languages costs money, right? Not always, but it definitely helps. Let’s take a look at what your options are – according to the amount of money you can spend.
For free What can you do for free? Many apps are for free, such as Duolingo. Using Google Translate to learn all the basic phrases can be an option too. Ask your friends, colleagues and family to teach you a little every day. Also ask if you can borrow their language learning books. Talking to people on the street is also for free.
0-200 € per year Evening classes by the government are relatively cheap. Many apps have paid options, which are better than the free ones. There are plenty of second hand books of high quality to find on sites like Amazon or in your local second-hand bookshop. Looking for an online teacher? Some might have lower rates on Italki.
200-1000 € per year Group classes in smaller groups are more efficient, so check out if there’s a language school in your neighbourhood. Private tutors might also help, online or offline. A good, high-quality book might be offered by the language school. But you can always buy one for yourself.
1000+ € per year The fastest and most expensive way? Individual language classes. If you own a company, don’t forget to put them in your costs and check if there is public funding.
Want to learn over 1000 words and expressions with a book? You’re in luck, I’ve just published this new book for students at A2-B1 level. The stories are about foreigners getting to know Dutch and Belgian culture. So you’ll not only learn Dutch, but also learn about the Netherlands and Belgium.
All difficult words are translated into English, the literal translation of the expressions are also given as well as the articles and plurals of nouns. Verbs’ past tenses are also given.
The book is available as an ebook as well as paperback. Enjoy!
After long hours of filming, drawing up exercises and recording MP3 files, I’m happy to announce my fifth course to learn Dutch is ready.
Using total immersion and a practical approach, the course focuses on those topics intermediate students find challenging, like the word ‘door’ or ‘het hangt ervan af.’
Every video lesson is about 10 minutes and contains new words, expressions and grammar. Most of the words taught are among the most common words used in Dutch. After the video lesson, the words are written down and read in an MP3 file.
Each lesson also contains a text in which the new words are included, which is also read in a downloadable audio file. Lessons finish with a quiz to test the knowledge. At the end of the series of lessons, there’s an exam.
This method is also used in my other courses you can find here.
Many language students sometimes lose their motivation. Or they’re out of ideas. As a fellow language student, I’ve faced the same issues over and over again. To help you getting back on track, I made this course with plenty of advice and tips based on my experience both as a teacher and a student.
The course tackles the issues students usually face and provides a solution to these issues. How do you motivate yourself. What do you do during your language lessons. What should be your priorities while learning. The course is full of tips for all levels as well as resources to learn faster.
One tip to start with: immerse yourself. If you don’t see or hear the language you’re learning, you won’t learn. It’s as simple as that. Go to places where they speak the language. Subscribe to your favourite musician in that language. Switch your computer settings. Listen to music in that language. Read newsletters about the things you find interesting. Find language exchange partners. Read interesting articles. Listen to podcasts. Read books.
Want more tips? See you in the course or subscribe to my newsletter.
When learning a language, you need motivation and methods. If you don’t have a goal, there’s no point learning. If you don’t have a method, you won’t advance. Ask yourself: why do I learn and how will I learn? I’ll share mine to learn Turkish in this post, in an effort to inspire you.
It’s good to list your motivations, so you can read them again when feeling demotivated. I have three main motivations to learn Turkish. First, it’s good as a language teacher to put yourself in the position of a student. What seems evident to a teacher may not be so to a student. Second, I wanted to offer my online courses in Turkish as well, so I’d earn some extra sales. More about that later. And third, I was invited in Turkey for an event. I may add that I love learning and languages.
So how did I learn Turkish? And did those methods help? I ranked them (excellent – good – maybe later – just ok) based on how effective they were for me.
Good: Duolingo seems an obvious choice to start learning. It’s for free, easy and repetitive. It doesn’t take that much time and you can do it anywhere and anytime. The repetitiveness was especially useful since Turkish doesn’t have many words in common with my other languages. However, after a month or two, the typical ‘app-problem’ comes up: you learned many things but you can’t write one everyday sentence. Below are more tips to learn with Duolingo.
Excellent: Time for some online Skype lessons. Many platforms like Italki match students and teachers. With the help of a lovely Turkish teacher, I focused at first on one thing: talking. It’s amazing how fast you learn ‘again, please.’ Tips: make many mistakes, use humour and switch to another teacher if needed. Also: you can write texts in between lessons and go over them with your teacher. One thing I regret: not paying enough attention to grammar. Turkish grammar is hard at first, but easier once you know the rules. Get $10 extra on Italki here (*)
Good: Google Translate is the most extensive and performing free translator for many languages. Use it in your online lessons when you can’t find a word. Also let Google read the words out loud if need be. However, it isn’t always accurate, especially while translating sentences or ‘smaller’ languages. A brilliant alternative is Reverso Context, putting words in context. Use it for more difficult conjugations, idioms or single words. There are fewer languages though.
Just ok: Language learning books are always a good idea. So I went to a local second-hand bookshop and bought myself this book (*). Use language learning books with your private teachers. Even if I did learn a bit with the book, I didn’t spend enough time with it. I’d also recommend using books with many exercises when learning a ‘harder’ language. And always try to find second-hand books, it’s good for both your wallet and the environment.
Excellent: Writing new words is an enormous help. Some students, including myself, can’t memorise without writing them down. So use a notebook to write down all the words you can’t memorise, both during and in between classes. I reviewed the words of the last class just before starting a new one. I also tried Cram.com to create flashcards, but I lacked discipline to use them. May work for you though, check out other people’s sets.
Maybe later: In the meantime, I found an interesting free course (*) on Udemy to learn Turkish. Online courses can greatly complement your language learning. However, again, I should go back to it because it’s excellently taught. A bit quick, but because you can review the videos over and over again, it can be incredibly handy. You do need to be disciplined though. Find your online language course on Udemy. (*)
Maybe later: As my departure to Turkey was approaching, time had come to go to a conversation table. These kind of meetings can easily be found on social media or via Google and are usually free. You go there to talk with other people studying a foreign language in that language you’re learning, assisted by a native speaker. What I learned: it was way too early and couldn’t understand enough. So be sure to be fluent enough to attend these kind of meetings. But don’t wait too long out of shyness.
Just ok: I joined a Facebook group with other Turkish learners. I asked a few questions (in broken Turkish, but still in Turkish) and got good replies. I should ask more often and pay more attention on the other questions.
Good: Time to hit YouTube too. I found a good Turkish language channel. Don’t forget to write the materials down. It’s fun to watch these videos, especially with a good teacher. Especially if you’re having trouble with one particular issue: type it in the search bar, for example ‘past tense Turkish’. Listening or reading exercises are also something useful on YouTube. You can also watch online news channels, like CNN for Turkey. The level was still too high. Feel free to check out mine for Dutch. More tips on learning with YouTube here.
Excellent: In an effort to immerse myself further into Turkish, I switched my social media account’s languages into Turkish. I also switched my Google products like Google Translate to Turkish. This was a good move: I learned words like ‘discuss’, ‘like’, and ‘share’ very quickly, even though it took me a while to use Google products. The repetitiveness helped me memorise key words. Here’s how to switch languages on Facebook.
Just ok: I downloaded some MP3 podcasts from a news site for while driving in the car, but it didn’t help a lot. I did learn some things with the language learning podcast ‘Turkish Tea Time’, which also helped me loosen up during traffic jams. Combining fun with learning is very important. Here’s a list of an immense amount of language learning podcasts.
Just ok: on social media, I subscribed to some news pages. Every time I see them, I try to decipher the meaning of the titles but I don’t click through though.
Maybe later: I spent a few days inTurkey but my level was still too low to have long conversations. I could express what I wanted but lacked a lot of vocabulary. I looked around as much as possible, asked the way in the middle of the night (‘there or there’ isn’t that difficult), talked with a few people in the restaurant and bought some sunscreen in a shop.
Maybe later: back home, I took a break from Turkish but bought some novels. Their level was too high. In the ideal scenario, you should understand about 90% of the words you’re reading. But definitely worth trying when you’re more advanced.
Excellent: attending group classes can be too slow for many students. True, it’s not enough: you need to apply what you learn. However, the teacher will typically explain challenging parts of the language at your level. And you get a lot of exercises. Social pressure also helps. I always try to get through the first year on my own tempo, because the first year is usually the most tedious. And don’t forget to send emails in the foreign language to your teacher. Here are more tips for group classes.
Good: to complement my language classes, I continued following Skype lessons and put Turkish subtitles under English films. Netflix offers this feature, for example. I started writing the little words I didn’t know. Especially if the film I saw was boring, I could still learn a bit. Watching Turkish films was still too difficult, even with English subtitles. Learn more with films here.
Good: I’ve asked language learning materials as presents for the end of the year celebrations. I received a language learning book (*) a bit above my level, which will be highly useful in half a year or so. So don’t forget to give your level while asking.
So where did it get me, after 9 months? I can definitely express what I want. I can make the main tenses, but with hesitations. And I made videos in Turkish to promote my own courses, feel free to check the results for my French and my Dutch course. It was fun because I didn’t have to write out the full sentences, a few keywords were enough, even though I made a few mistakes. But making mistakes is part of the effort.
So what did my learning confirm? -Only few materials were too simple, as I was an absolute beginner. I’ll be happy if I find one! -Expensive doesn’t mean good. -If you can’t use a word in a sentence, you don’t know the word. -Writing is essential for me. -Immersion is key. -Rely on different learning resources. -Some resources you found too difficult in the past may be useful now.
And in the future? I’ll continue attending my group classes and watching films with Turkish subtitles for sure. And I’ll continue with the ‘maybe laters’ in the list above, and test a tool one of my students suggested…
(*) If you buy something through links marked with an (*), I might get a small reward.
Enjoy watching films and series? You’ll love learning while watching. So here’s how it goes.
As a beginner, you have two choices. For example, you’re learning French. You can either watch French films with English subtitles. Or you can watch English ones with French subtitles. Depends on whether you learn best while hearing or while reading.
Quickly, you’ll pick up new words. Start with the easiest ones. Or those you see or hear most frequently. Write them down if it helps you. As you’ll start to understand more and more, this will motivate you to continue.
When you’re ready, watch French films with French subtitles. This is the fastest way to learn. But you’ll need to understand a lot, so don’t frustrate yourself if you haven’t reached that level.
So where do you find films and series with subtitles? If you’re renting, check on the back of the box which subtitles there are. Also, popular platform Netflix doesn’t only feature many multi-language series, but also offers plenty of subtitles.
An alternative is YouTube. Translate ‘films with subtitles’ in the language you’re learning, and put this in the search box in YouTube.
Enjoy your films and series! Or even documentaries…
While I was teaching Dutch and my student was talking about her week, she said she went shopping for food. In Dutch, that’s ‘boodschappen doen’. However, she had to buy lots of things, so she added: ‘ik heb grote boodschappen gedaan’. Which means literally ‘I have done a big shopping.’ I started laughing.
Why? Literally, it was a good guess – it was a good student. But figuratively, it means going to the ‘big’ bathroom in Dutch… So I taught her the expression and we both laughed.
Humor is one of the reasons students forget they’re in a classroom. Which is why as a student, I also use it when I’m following classes. It’s so much more fun!
Even as a teacher, it’s important to laugh during classes. It makes it so much more fun! You’ll look forward to your next class, time will fly and you’ll enjoy your lessons.
How to laugh more in class There are some jokes that always work. For example, if the teacher is asking for a volunteer, just say the name of another student. Or when your teachers asks you a difficult question, say ‘too difficult. Next question please.’
Another riskier one, is to give the wrong answer to a question that’s too simple. Make sure to smile at your teacher when he/she looks at you. Or when the teacher gives you the solution to a question, and you reply ‘correct!’
Humor outside of class Don’t limit yourself to your lessons. When a native speaker gives you a compliment about your language skills, reply their skills are also good. Laughter guaranteed!
A trickier one is to tell something very rude, and say someone taught you it was something very nice to say… Beware to choose the right context for this…
And one last trick: don’t overdo it. Lessons are meant to be nice, but don’t think everyone should laugh all the time, it’s a language lesson, not a comedy lesson.
Twenty years ago, podcasts didn’t exist. Nowadays, they can be a valuable tool to learn any languages. New to podcasts? Here are a few tips to make the most out of them.
Podcasts?
What’s a podcast? It’s like a programme or a show on the radio. But it has one major difference: you can listen to it whenever you like. As a language learner, podcasts can be incredibly useful.
Advantages for language learners
There are only few non-natives starting a podcast. So chances are high you’ll be listening to a native speaker, inviting native speakers. They’ll make few language mistakes.
YouTube is an excellent and free source to learn many languages. Let’s see how you can make the most out of it.
Language channels
The most obvious way to start is to look for teachers making videos to explain the language you’re learning. Look for those that teach at your level. Some will include numbers, like ‘lesson number 1.’ Here’s a list of channels to start with.
One of the biggest parts of YouTube is about music. Why wouldn’t you combine the pleasure of listening to a genre you like with language learning? Make sure to look up the lyrics. Some people make videos with the lyrics in the videos, others put the lyrics in the description.
Comments
Whether you’re on a language learning channel or just enjoying a song, why not put a comment at the end of the video? Some teachers or others might correct you. For free.
News
Journalists try to use simple language to reach a wide audience. So tune in to the latest news. Plus, you’ll see images so you can relate the words you hear to the things you see. Also check if there’s a kid’s section.
Subtitles
Check in the videos if there are subtitles. Put them in the language you’re learning. Also watch videos in another language you don’t understand, and put the subtitles in the language you’re learning.
Language settings
Change your language settings in the language you’re learning. This will force you to use the language. Also, change your location (here’s how). By changing the language settings and your location, you’ll increase chances the ads will appear in the language you’re learning.
Learning Dutch? Good choice! Dutch is one of the languages closest to English. Even if they’re pretty close, here are some typical mistakes foreigners make while learning the language.
In Dutch, ‘ik wil‘ means I want. Yes, that’s confusing. Especially since Dutch uses ‘ik ga’ or ‘ik zal’ for the future tense.
If you want to put a sentence in the negative, you’ll soon learn about niet and geen. So when do you use niet, and when geen? Simple: if you can replace the not by no, it’s geen. As in: -He doesn’t have a phone (can be ‘he has no phone’, so geen).
When you’re using the comparative in English, you’re sometimes forced to use the word more. As in: more dangerous. However, in Dutch, you’ll always add -er. -Gevaarlijker ( = more dangerous)
Talking about g’s: the pronunciation of the G is so difficult, there’s even a wikihow page dedicated to it!
Since we’re reviewing pronunciation, the ij, the uu, the eu and many other diphtongs can be tough to pronounce too.
Another tricky one is the translation of who. In a question, it’s wie. But if you use it as a replacement of ‘that’, it’s die. -De man, die studeert, is mijn vader. ( = the man, who studies, is my father)
How do you say ‘to like‘ in Dutch? Whenever my students ask the question, I prepare for a sigh. Yes, you can use to love, which is less strong in Dutch. But it’s better to use ‘graag’, which you add to a verb. -Ik werk graag. ( = I like to work) -Hij heeft graag kinderen. ( = he likes kids)
The order of the different parts of a sentence is… well. Dutch. Subsentences have their own way of putting words and using words as while or because complicates matters. Here’s one little rule: when starting with time or place, use inversion. -Hier werk ik. ( = here I work) -Soms werk ik. ( = sometimes I work)
Another disturbance in the order of the sentence: separable verbs. Some verbs have a part that occasionally splits with the main part. Fun, huh? Oh yes, if you forget that little part, it can change the whole meaning of the sentence. -Ik werk af. ( = I finish) -Ik werk. ( = I work)
Which article do you use, de or het? There are some rules: persons use de and diminutives use het. But there are so many exceptions. Make sure to use the right article for words you use most.
