Colloquial Dutch: A Complete Language Course (Colloquial Series)

Once again a course from Routledge that is all but destroyed by a very common error. No wordlists.

For some reason, quite a few of the authors in the Colloquial series seem to be under the false impression that providing English translations of the dialogues is a satisfactory substitute for listing the new words. I disagree 100%. There are no languages that can be translated word by word into English and the result of this is that you end up not knowing which words in Dutch that corresponds to a given English word.

The result of this is that you can memorize the phrases in this book like a parrot, but that won't get you any far and is no better than a much cheaper and more extensive phrasebook. As you're not given the chance to learn and repeat new words, you simply won't be able to construct sentences on your own. It's very disappointing that such a great expert on Dutch as Bruce Donaldson has made such an enormous error and it makes this book very unsuitable for learners. Look for Teach Yourself Dutch instead.

brilliant! (11/11 people found this helpful)

I got this book because i had a lot of success using the Icelandic textbook of the same series.
I wasn't disappointed.

Excellent dutch-english and english-dutch vocab/dictionary at the back, as well as a very clear grammar key, and an extensive list of dutch verbs.

The exercises follow very well on from each other, and are highly conducive to learning. The culture points engage the reader well, sometimes it's easy to get lost in the fact you're learning to speak the language. You're really encouraged to get to know not only the language but the people and ways of life. It does this without being stereotypical or pedantic towards the dutch which i also found admirable.

I am trying to think of a fault with the book and it's very hard! It's so clear and straightforward. Perhaps I am judging the difficulty in relation to my experience of icelandic, which is grammatically much harder, but i would still say it is very easy to follow.

I think my only criticism would be that occasionally, some rules are not introduced softly enough. The first chapter deals with how to form 'i do, you do, she does he does...etc' sentences, which is straightforward enough but some of the spelling/vowel changes which are necessary to do this are in my opinion a bit poorly explained. I think the author has done the best they can on this aspect, it is one of those points in languages you just have to learn after you get a feel of it.

I would definitely reccommend this book to anyone wanting to learn dutch, especially if they also want to know more about the culture.

Clear and to the point. (7/7 people found this helpful)

This is a book which teaches you Dutch as it is spoken, not classroom Dutch. The diction of the speakers recorded on the accompanying cassettes/CDs is crystal clear, enabling the listener to understand each word pronounced and thus train his/her ear to the sounds in preparation for the "real thing" in the Netherlands. One amusing point worthy of note: while the parts of the book that deal with money have been updated to reflect the use of the Euro in the Netherlands since 2002, the recordings have not been updated and are still in Guilders :)

Brilliant!Does just what it says on the cover!!! (18/18 people found this helpful)

Unlike some other phrase books, which give you the basics and build you in step by step with some impractical nonsense, which you can't use in the Flemish speaking regions of Belgium/Holland, the author DOES break you in gently, but has practical'role play' type dialogues in each chapter, with a concise grammar section at the end, with little exercises and very quirky little culture points related to the chapter.So much so, that an Amsterdam girl who I was on a volunteering programme with last summer said,' I think you know more about Holland than I do!,' when I hadn't even set foot in the country by that stage. It really does live up to it's title, as Bruce Donaldson adds little subnotes to words, explaining its' use in everyday conversation, that you wouldn't find in 'standard' textbooks. A Dutch-English/English-Dutch index at the back for little things you may have forgotten!!!

pretty darn good. (13/13 people found this helpful)

Unlike some others in this series that I have seen, the learning curve is not too steep in this book. Both new vocabulary and grammar are introduced steadily. The units are comprised of several short dialogues, each followed by the new vocab. and gammar and after some, exercises. This layout makes the book easy to pick up and have a quick session whenever you have some free time. It's also quite fun to do, some of the exercises take the form of puzzles, and there is some interesting info on culture, which is written quite humourously in places. This is an excellent alternative to 'dutch in three months' if you don't fancy a grammar based approach.

Colloquial Dutch: A Complete Language Course (Colloquial Series)

Bruce Donaldson

Reader Reviews:

Not enough (0/0 people found this helpful)

brilliant! (11/11 people found this helpful)

Clear and to the point. (7/7 people found this helpful)

Brilliant!Does just what it says on the cover!!! (18/18 people found this helpful)

pretty darn good. (13/13 people found this helpful)

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