New Language-Learning Method

So, most people know I love languages. I'm not terribly good at them, but I've studied a bunch over the years and hope to continue that as I get older. So far I've dabbled a respectable amount in Spanish, French, Japanese, Gaelic, Swedish, and Dutch.

Right now, I'm trying to learn Dutch. I'm not sure why I've never really tried it before - my awesome grandmother speaks Dutch and it's an excellent opportunity to not only bond with her, but also to converse with a native speaker.

However, my main problem is that, in learning any language, I tend to get terribly bored with basic grammatical exercises and vocabulary memorization. So with Dutch (or Nederlands), I'm trying something different.

I'm using one of those 'Teach Yourself' books, along with an excellent FREE linguistic program called Byki, all topped off with a healthy dose of 'het laatste nieuws' courtesy of nu.nl. I study vocabulary and grammatical structure with 'Teach Yourself', use Byki for vocabulary building, and spend a lot of time translating full articles from Dutch into English. It's teaching me a lot about syntax and actual usage, both of which you can kind of miss living only in the world of language books.

So far, it's going well - I'm engaged, interested, and am learning all sorts of interesting things (like, apparently, they have designed a shoe in Holland that responds directly to the hormonal and menstrual cycle of women, raising and lowering the arch because, apparently, we need more support on our period!)