"Once you start learning a language, you will never stop". Do you agree with that? Well, this is happening to me right now, I can't stop learning languages and I have been learning languages for more than 8 years. Guess what, I'm focusing on Dutch at this moment.
I have actually started learning Dutch since, as far as I can remember, a long time ago but the progress was slow because I didn't focus on it. I start learning every language because of curiosity and wanting to know how the language works, and life as well as the culture of its speakers. Thus, I rarely really focus on learning the language in the beginning.
So, why do I focus on learning Dutch right now? I somehow think that knowing Dutch could allow me to know about my history since Indonesian and Dutch have a very long history. Besides, I have learned Afrikaans, and it is very similar to Dutch. Afrikaans and Dutch are also considered to be easy languages to learn by English speakers.
Learning Methods
Continuously using the language that you are learning is very important. I like to chat with my online friends because knowing daily and informal phrases are useful for real-life conversation. Chatting in Afrikaans really helps in learning Dutch too.Reading articles and checking dictionary is also helpful to increase your vocabulary. However, it could be difficult to do when you are just a beginner, and the much time spent on checking dictionary may demotivate you. You gotta have high perseverance for this.
I like Duolingo so much, it's easy to use and practical although some of the sentences could be weird, such as "The birds are reading the newspaper". Nevertheless, the courses are grouped into some situations which really helps me to talk about various topics. Oh, and I have reached Level 15 in Duolingo Dutch.
Are you also learning Dutch? Share your experience with us.