Sunday, October 4, 2009

My Linguistic Progress So Far

It has taken a while for Dutch syntax to start sinking in. Yesterday, I had a breakthrough with verbs. My dictionary work was markedly improved, because I was able to figure out the root right away and look it up, instead of using the monolingual Van Dale first.

Still, I'm in a place that's frustrating. Last night I heard a news podcast that mentioned Letterman. Because of the English segments, I knew what it was about, but I don't know their take on it. On the other hand, there were a couple of other podcasts of general news, and I understood the first 5 minutes of each one. That was exciting.

Reading can also be frustrating. Chapter 4, which I'll post more about later, has a lot of discussion about the Dutch Reformed Church's internal politics. I think Mak's father was a minister, but I'm not sure yet. At times, ministers and ministry are mentioned seperately. I know he did a lot of work with the church, but I wonder in what capacity exactly. It is clear that he wasn't in charge.

In spite of the frustration, I know more than I did before.

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