I am married to a Belgian living in the U.S. from my research there are only a handful of colleges offering Dutch (much less Flemish) as a foriegn language(it is offered at Berkley but moving to the other side of the country then getting accepted to Berkley for one class just isnt in the budget at the moment) I have however found a local language school that just happens to have an instructor from Belgium. However she hasn't really had anyone want to learn Dutch, most of her students are Dutch or French speaking people learning English. My problem is in locating a good work book. My classes dont start for a few weeks,she doesnt have a book that she prefers.... I was wondering if anyone there (in Belgium) taking the classes there has access to buying the books or have a good suggestion for finding a good one thru a publisher or author. I know there are classes available there, but we wont be moving there for a couple of years. I would like to be able to carry on a little conversation with my in-laws and shop keepers when we visit.

Thank you in advance.
~Michele

The KUL's standard course is:
R. Devos en H. Fraeters, Vanzelfsprekend , Leuven (Acco), 2004.
Order on: <a href="http://www.acco.be" Target="_BLANK">http://www.acco.be</a>

Leiden university also does a course called 'Help1: Kunt u mij helpen?'

However, these are very much focused on the courses taught at these unis.


I'd advise bookmarking UCL's Dutch department and its Virtual Dutch Department:

<a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dutch/virtualdutch/index.html" Target="_BLANK">http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dutch/virtualdutch/index.html</a>

There's a Taalunie-developed online course at:

<a href="http://www.hull.ac.uk/lagelands/index.htm" Target="_BLANK">http://www.hull.ac.uk/lagelands/index.htm</a> (paying)

and one developed from the KUL's ILT at:

<a href="http://www.margoo.be" Target="_BLANK">www.margoo.be</a> (paying)


Not sure if any of the CD-Rom courses are any good:
<a href="http://www.peluche.de/sfgbuk/contents/en-uk/d129.html" Target="_BLANK">http://www.peluche.de/sfgbuk/contents/en-uk/d129.html</a>

Veel geluk!

Here's a site with a whole bunch of useful stuff on it: <a href="http://www.nederlandsalstweedetaal.nl" Target="_BLANK">http://www.nederlandsalstweedetaal.nl</a>/

In the top right hand corner, click on the English flag for the page to be in het Engels. The site is more geared for people coming to live in the Netherlands, but there are quite a few home study aids that might be useful for you.

I've been using a Prisma home study book and CD set and found that quite useful, but to be honest, the thing that's advanced my Dutch more than anything else is living with a Dutch family and basically being "forced" to speak it on a regular basis. If you can find a conversation group, perhaps you can get a bit of practice in before coming over.

Hope this helps!

thank you so much for the replies, why is it that companies selling how to books on speaking dutch have their sites written in dutch <img src="../images/emoticons/ytongue.gif"> good thing I have a native living with me!

I know!! My enrolment form for Dutch classes was all in Dutch too - as have been my letters from the IND and the tax dept. I'm lucky to be living with a Dutchie - I've no idea how non-Dutch speakers manage.

I just came across this while looking for Dutch course offerings in the States.

If you live in the DC area, the Embassy of Belgium is offering free Dutch classes for all proficiency levels (none, intermediate, good). The registration deadline this year is September 18, 2006. It is a 28 week course, and it's open to anyone over 16 who is interested. Additional information can be obtained from the link below.

<a href="http://www.diplobel.us/NewsPublications/Events.asp#DutchClasses" Target="_BLANK">http://www.diplobel.us/NewsPublications/Ev...hClasses</a>

Michale
My husband is also from Belgium and we currently live in Montana. We will be moving there this December so I have been learning Dutch with his help replacing words in Flemish.
I found the best method to use is Rosseta Stone Program. You can buy the CD's or you can take it online. I have tried many books, tapes etc... but to really learn a language you need to start like you did as a child. I am just getting out of the "See spot run" stage and going into the next level. I appears to be slow but what I have learned is sticking with me and I am beginning to be able to read and comprehend the language. My daughter who is a teacher told me the words have to get into you long term memory and the best way for that is repeat, repeat, repeat, which is what this program does. It builds on words and then adds new ones.
This has worked best for me, but you can not become fluent in a language enless you are living there and speaking everyday.
Hope this is helpful
Gigi Embrechts

Hello!

I am living in Belgium for now one year and actually with my previous job it was quite difficult to follow any kind of lessons.
The best books, that even I do use are those from the method Vanzelfsprekend published by the ACCO Leuven. They are not very expensive but the activities book is really helpful. There you can find the real Flemish. However sometimes it is a little bit too tough but if you like online lessons, then I recommend you the courses from Balingua.
Those are interactive modules and they start from the very basics. It is not a common methode, is teaching you the logic side of the language instead of theory, which is quite good.
The price is 1€ per hour and the full course, with 4 boosters is 33 €, I did it and believe me when I say that it works, you just learn like children do learn. It is outstanding! Their website is www.balingua.com
Hope it helps you! :wink: [color=darkblue][/color][size=18][/size]