Product Description

Although it is aimed at those with no previous knowledge, this course is equally suitable for anyone wishing to brush up existing skills and aims to help users progress from the basics to understanding, speaking and writing Dutch with confidence. 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 pronunciation and grammar. Cultural information sections give useful advice and information for anyone planning a trip to the Netherlands, including updated information taking into account developments such as the introduction of the euro and the Internet.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40659 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-01
• Original language: English
• 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 Resource
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 some up the book: it's really useful for real-life situations and written in a relatively amusing and simple way.

Spot on.
I'll keep this short as it need only be short. I wanted to learn Dutch from scratch. I had no experience with Germanic languages and so was at the mercy of this book to guide me, and it has done exactly that. It is an excellent book in all respects : the content is useful, practical and realistic, the grammar is introduced constantly at the right pace and with clear explanation, the vocabulary is extensive and not always confined to turgid and overdone topics as in other books (not always, I emphasise, there is always an element of this whatever book you choose) and finally the presentation is excellent.

6 months after I purchased this and worked through half of it, I went to the Netherlands and was shocked at how much of the book was actually useful in real life - that is the real bonus of this book. You will absolutely find it useful in reality, as well as catering for reading original texts such as the Diary of Anne Frank in its native Dutch (only after you've completed it all thoroughly for that, though!) It will get you to beyond GCSE at whatever pace you want. However, experienced with languages or not, this book is excellent. Buy it and for a few months of study you can enjoy the language and culture of the Low Countries forever!

brilliant product - can't fault it
I moved to the Netherlands several months ago without knowing a single word of Dutch, and this book/CD package was the first thing I bought myself to try to learn the language. I really can't think of one bad thing to say about it! I'm working through it gradually at my own pace, and every time I listen to a bit more of the CD, literally the next day I always hear a dutch person say something that I recognise and can translate from having listened to that new section of the CD. So, the material covered is very relevant to everyday life. You can play the conversations over and over and before long you will have memorised every sentence. Transcripts of the conversations are also written out in the book so you can use the two together to pick out every word being said and also to learn the spelling. The pronunciation is also very good - they use native dutch speakers for the CD, and I find that if I copy the way those speakers talk then dutch people can understand me easily. This is no mean feat considering that dutch is probably the most difficult western european language to pronounce! Several weeks ago I enrolled in a proper dutch evening class because I felt I needed more practice at speaking dutch to real people, but often when the teacher explains the grammar to us, I think, "This concept was explained better in Teach Yourself Dutch". A great way to give yourself a solid and relevant foundation in learning dutch.