Hallo!
I’m learning Dutch for the first time. English is my native language. I chose Dutch because I like Germanic languages, but had trouble with both Swedish and German. Swedish was very difficult to pronounce, and German’s grammar and irregular plurals drove me crazy. Dutch sounds nice and seems a bit more approachable in some ways.
For the first time, I have a study plan with specific goals over three months, instead of a vague "I wanna speak X!"
For the first month, I'll work through the 1,000 basic words on learndutch.org, and try to complete the 20 beginner lessons on Taal Thuis. Each only takes about 10 minutes apiece.
Month #1 goals are learn how to pronounce Dutch decently, conjugate verbs in the present/past, numbers, introduce myself, and some words related to my hobbies. I'm using Anki for vocab. I can devote 30 minutes a day.
If I make it through a month, my longer term goal is to be able to muddle my way through Harry Potter in Dutch and hold a 15-minute conversation with a native speaker. I'm hoping to be able to do that by the end of the 3 months. We'll see how it goes!
Right now, I can say “Hallo! Ik heet Erik. Hoe gaat het?” and that's about it!
Questions
1. I've read plural -en is often pronounced as a schwa: boek /buk/, boeken /bukə/. Is this the way I should learn to pronounce it in general?
2. Does this apply to the infinitive endings of verbs like leven?
3. Are there any highly recommended books or web resources for learning Dutch? I'm using Taal Thuis and learndutch.org at the moment to get started.
Dank!