<p>Well, I really want to be ~proficient in Dutch so that I can communicate with people who don’t speak English when I move to Amsterdam.</p>
<p>So, let’s just say I have the location of every button on my iPod memorized, which I do. Now, if I switched the language to Dutch, would it help me learn the labels of the buttons?</p>
<p>And then if I slowly replaced everything in my life that’s in English with Dutch, starting with my iPod, would I learn Dutch?</p>
<p>Why are you moving to Amsterdam!!?? (hint hint :p)</p>
<p>That is an interesting way, but how would you change everything else in your life to dutch?</p>
<p>ANd are you seriouosly moving to Amsterdam?</p>
<p>it might help.</p>
<p>Wow, are you seriously moving to Amsterdam? (I didn’t want to ruin the continuity of the thread :)</p>
<p>Someone turned their Ipod into spanish. It doesn’t do anything to the music/artist/album title. All it does is change up the menu selection. I don’t speak spanish (I take french) and I navigate her Ipod just fine.</p>
<p>Just start listening in dutch, thinking how to say something in dutch and immerse yourself.</p>
<p>ok. well i don’t want to move to amsterdam for the marijuana or the red light district, lol. i just think it looks like an awesome place.</p>
<p>You’d pick up some Dutch vocabulary, but you’d only know iPod words - “music”, “artist”, “shuffle”, etc. It won’t get you far in a train station or a restaurant.</p>
<p>It looks like there are a couple podcasts for Dutch learners - those might be a better place to start.</p>
<p>That’s pretty ridiculous. You’d pick up a few random words, but would you learn pronunciation? Sentence structure? Grammar?</p>
<p>Dutch is so close to English that you don’t need to try very hard to learn it. Linguistic studies have shown that Dutch is the major language closest to English. If you listen to someone speaking in Dutch, chances are you’ll pick out quite a few words.</p>
<p>I have my iPod in Spanish. It helps you learn iPod vocabulary, but that’s about it. How often are you going to need to say “shuffle songs?” I think it’s funny how it still has “Reset All” in English, no matter how you have the language set.</p>
<p>that is indeed an interesting way to learn Dutch. I’ve spoken German since early childhood and I’ve always found Dutch to be easy to understand both verbally spoken and written (though the spelling feels a little funny). and German is close enough to English, so JBVirtuoso is probably right. </p>
<p>I don’t know if Rosetta Stone does Dutch, but their program is pretty good. try it. or just listen to lots of Dutch music that have lots of lyrics (not repetitive, but like a ballad perhaps) that are slow enough to be understood.</p>
<p>good luck. I <3 learning languages</p>
<p>Um. No. </p>
<p>(In response to the topic question)</p>
<p>You have to do some sort of course, whether alone or at a school somewhere, if you expect to get a foundation when you’re not yet in the country. Chances are that in the Netherlands people are going to pounce on you as a native English speaker and try to speak English with you. I speak German well enough to handle any situation with the occasional awkwardness and/or crime against good grammar, but the natives still try to speak English to me. Learn Dutch as well as possible before going with a decent method if you want to avoid being trapped in an English bubble.</p>
<p>I’d recommend using Rosetta Stone for vocabulary and Pimsleur (There’s only level 1 though) for pronunciation and a general introduction if you can manage to get them for free at a library. Assimil is a good program to work with if you know how to use it and worth buying. After you have a good base try to find native speakers to practice and read and listen to as much Dutch as possible.</p>