Colloquial Dutch: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial)

click here for more details, find new or used items	B.C. Donaldson New from £32.17 Used from £26.60 Pages: 304 (Audio Cassette) ISBN: 0415130883 Pub: Routledge Pub date: 1996-09-12 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 544000

Reader Reviews:

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 :)

Good course (9/10 people found this helpful)

A good course. But you do need to get the tapes or CDs which for some reason are not available from Amazon (I had to order themn separately from the publisher). Recommendable.

The best Dutch course I have seen!! (24/24 people found this helpful)

I purchased 'Colloquial Dutch' alongside the 'Teach Yourself Beginners Dutch' book and CD pack. I wish now that I had only bought the 'Colloquial Dutch' book since it is considerably better than the latter. Although it perhaps a little harder to get to grips with (especially if you know nothing of linguistics) it is clearly the better of the two; I would strongly recommend it to anybody learning Dutch. In addition one should buy the tape pack, unless you have a grip on the Dutch 'g' 'ch' and various vowel sounds.

This book not only teaches you colloquial phrases, but where and when to use them.
Grammar and language manipulation is taught throughout, in a clear and comprehensible manner. The activities used to teach you, such as puzzles, are often fun and the dialogues are usually based lively family situations.
The 'culture points' are often humorously written, but are also detailed and useful in getting to know more about Dutch society and the way their people act.
On the whole a great book that's easy and fun to use; the standard one should expect from modern language courses!

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!!!

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