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Hoi! If you followed my progress earlier this year
improving my spoken German with the italki Language Challenge, then you may well have
read that at the moment I'm currently, albeit very loosely and very slowly, working on getting
a some kind of level in Dutch! Today I published a blog post explaining as
to why I haven't actually got very far yet with my Dutch. Boo! This sucks! The link to
the blog post is in the description below. Number 1: I hadn't set myself a specific target.
And this is something that I never do when I start to learn a language. I'm really lazy
with this and most of the time it's because I pick up a book from a library sale and just
start reading and then be like "Oh ok, ok, so I'm picking this up now, let's take this
somewhere." So there's no target when I start because
I don't know when I'm gonna start. But now, I'm ready to set myself a target
in Dutch. I want my Dutch to improve, I want to be able to have a simple conversation and
I want to be able to sort myself out if I get lost in the Netherlands or Flemish Belgium.
That's it! That right there is my target. Woo hoo!
I want to be able to have a simple conversation in Dutch and I want to not be a loser when
I get lost. And I want to be able to do this by...let's
say the 4th of July. Not that I'm an American patriot or anything. You can probably tell
from my accent I'm actually British, but hey, 4th July sounds good, I like it.
Also, it's the start of summer and it's the time when I might possibly go to the Netherlands
so who knows?... Reason number 2 as to why I haven't actually
made any progress yet is because I haven't put myself out there. Not in a kind of red
lioght skirt up kind of way, more in a sense that I haven't actually spoken Dutch for more
than 15 minutes with someone who can understand me.
So I'm putting myself out there right now! And I'm gonna speak Dutch unedited on camera
for you today.
And
I pledge allegiance to you, dear viewer, that I will learn Dutch for 30 minutes per day
and 1 hour of spoken italki lessons per week until the 4th July.
I also pledge that I will upload an unedited clip of me speaking Dutch before the 4th July
so hopefully you'll be able to see a difference between today and then.
Do you speak Dutch? Is there something I should know? Is there
some tips that you have? Anything! Please, let me know in the comments below. I'd love
some help with this! Even if you don't speak Dutch please subscribe
to my channel for updates and weekly language videos.
Tot ziens! ...Gonz, not now, baby!...Gonzo, hush!