Product Description

Teach Yourself Dutch is the course for anyone who wants to progress quickly from the basics to understanding, speaking and writing Dutch with confidence. Although aimed at those with no previous knowledge, it is equally suitable for anyone wishing to brush up existing knowledge for a holiday or business trip.

Key structures and vocabulary are introduced in 16 thematic units progressing from introducing yourself and dealing with everyday situations to using the telephone and giving opinions.

The emphasis is on communication throughout with important language structures introduced through dialogues on the accompanying recording. There are plenty of exercises to practise the language as it is introduced and tips throughout to help with grammar. Cultural information boxes give useful advice and information for anyone planning a trip to the Netherlands.

The new edition retains the tried-and-tested structure of the lessons but has been completely rewritten to reflect changes such as the introduction of the euro and the internet and bring the book right up to date. Grammar explanations have been changed to make them even easier to understand and dialogues and authentic texts have also been updated.

The page design has been improved and section headings given in English to make the course easier to use for the self-access learner.

The accompanying recording has been increased to two accompanying cassettes or CDs amounting to approximately 150 minutes of listening material. The CDs (0 340 85831 1) and cassettes (0 340 85832 X) are available separately or in a pack with the book (CD pack - 0 340 85829 X; cassette pack - 0 340 85830 3).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80508 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-01
• Original language: Danish, English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

About the Author
Gerdi Quist is co-author of the current edition of Teach Yourself Beginner's Dutch, Teach Yourself Dutch and Teach Yourself Beginner's Dutch Grammar, a native Dutch speaker, and lecturer at University College, London.

Dennis Strik is a part-time lecturer at the University of Kent at Canterbury and part-time post-graduate language assistant at University College, London. His previous publications include Teach Yourself Beginner's Dutch Grammar, Teach Yourself Beginner's Dutch Grammar, Dutch on the move (Hugo) and Just enough Dutch (Hugo).

Customer Reviews

Excellent Book
This book is up-to-date and very useful if you want to know casual Dutch. It starts off pretty simple with the basics and then progresses through various useful topics, such as talking about yourself, shopping, talking about jobs, talking about computers and even your mobile phone! This book teaches essential grammar along the way, as well as useful words and ways to make you sound more native. it even has some helpful hints about Dutch culture.

If you have read Teach Yourself Beginner's Dutch or the old version of this book and thought they were pretty poor, then this book IS better. It really is because I thought those others were not so good.

To sum up the book: it's really useful for real-life situations and written in a relatively amusing and simple way.

Will equip you well for any holiday in the Dutch speaking world
As a keen student of foreign languages, I can say this book was instrumental in me enjoying a holiday in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, carrying out a range of conversations, from booking restaurants to negotiating the price of an international phone call. I say this because I could not have done this without this book. Very few materials exist on the market for languages like Dutch, meaning finding good quality ones is very tricky. However, TY Dutch is one of the better titles, and one that I genuinely enjoyed studying. The book contains a number of highly interesting, funny and realistic dialogues. The voice actors put tremendous enthusiasm and realism into their dialogues, such as when the male actor sighs through his lines on a shopping trip with his wife, or the way the female actor adopts a nostalgic, dreamy tone when recalling her previous house. This is a refreshing change from the uninspiring monotone of many language audio exercises.

The written segments are also enjoyable, and there are no spelling errors, again something that is refreshing in a language course. Every chapter is logically divided up, and is sprinkled with delightful illustrations and cultural notes, all of which make the text more "human" and friendly, which is important given most language learners are often intimidated by a new language and new, tricky rules and sounds. The chapters also deal with "realistic" dialogues, such as arranging day trips and ordering food, rather than the highly hypothetical scenarios I have seen in other titles. This emphasis on "real", readily usable language is a major plus point.

The book does not have any real negative points, although it has to be said the first dialogue is very pedestrian, and thus the learner will initially be rather startled by the faster and longer dialogues that follow directly in chapter 2. Another slight problem I had, and this seems to be common with TY series titles, is that the vocabulary index is not very detailed, meaning if you want to take your studies further, you will need as good dictionary. However, the TY Dutch dictionary is disappointing, so look elsewhere for a Dutch dictionary.

In conclusion, this book will be very effective for your Dutch studies, but be sure to buy the CD as well as the book, as Dutch has one or two sounds that can only be mastered when you hear them.

Good book.
It's a good book for beginner.But I'm sorry I have forgotten to buy recording,and amazon also didn't remind me.