Complete Dutch Beginner to Intermediate Course: (Book and audio support) by Gerdi Quist (Mixed media product, 2010)
K**L
Excellent beginner's course
I've learnt several languages up to conversational level in my time, and came to Dutch out of necessity.What I like about this book is its clear and simple approach. Each chapter introduces a "next step" of the language, including vocabulary and grammar. What's nice is that each conversation piece is then broken down into its constituent phrases, each of which is separately translated.So there is an element of repetition, which in my experience is essential to learning not only languages, but any skill, be it piano-playing, mastering your serve in tennis, or whatever. The main requirement in all of these is repetition, or drilling, i.e. practice.Then there is the layout. It is very clean and simple, without too much information per page. Visual clarity lends itself to learning clarity. The only language books I have found comparable in this respect are the "Living Spanish, Living German etc. " series.I've come across some language books which throw out a lot of new stuff at you in a single chapter, without the drilling or repetition. They get some good reviews, but it doesn't work for me.I love this little book. I started off with a more heavily grammatical book "Hugo Dutch In Three Months", which I'd also recommend, but the Teach Yourself is possibly the best for complete beginners, especially if you're of the younger generation in the UK, whose schooling now completely omits the study of English or foreign grammar, something my generation were fortunate enough to be schooled in.The accompanying CDs are essential. I've ripped them to my PC, then used "Audacity" software to split up the audio conversations into smaller pieces, so that I hear a key phrase, then a silence, then the phrase repeated - two or three times. Saved as small MP3s onto an MP3 player, one can be learning anywhere, anytime.Five stars.
L**R
Good well laid out book
A good comprehensive book if you are learning Dutch. I struggled to find a decent book , but this one was much better although not cheap.
C**S
Goed Punt!
This is a really nice item with a cd to follow along with the book. Well packaged and easy to follow. I still have a way to go but it helped for sure!
F**.
Good course, but no CD
This is a well-structured course authored by two teachers of Dutch at University College London. It promises to bring a student with no prior experience in learning foreign languages to B2 level, which is very promising considering the price and the size of the course.The course has 16 chapters, each of them containing a balanced mixture of listening, speaking, grammar, vocabulary and exercises. It contains cultural references as well.The only downside is that it doesn't come with a CD (despite the advertisement). The audio is available online though (as well as via a phone app) and people willing to learn mainly from a text book (like me) will not find this aspect too inconvenient.There is no silver bullet when it comes to learning languages. It requires practice, determination, and consistency. This course helps with that because it contains what's needed while leaving aside decorations that might make the material more colourful but not necessaruly more useful.Recommended, possibly in conjunction with other tools like DuoLingo or dutchgrammar dot com.
S**N
Useful to have
A good book and CD to learn a language
K**E
Really good
Bought this for my Dad, who is very good at languages and likes to teach himself. He is really pleased with it and thoroughly recommends it.
A**G
Excellent
Easy and excellent way to learn Dutch! I recommend buying it as a pack with book and CD, as the CD helps a lot with pronounciation and such.
T**T
Not the whole truth
The book is very good, an excellent guide to grammar (which tends not to happen in language teaching books these days). However, it was advertised as a book and CD and there was no CD. It is not the case that the D was missing. On theback cover it says that the audio is available for free on the teach yourself websteor app. But I cannot locate it. I would not have bought it if I had known. Not impressed
S**E
Sooo good!
Great resource. I’m very grateful for this study book
W**.
Dutch
The book is very good. What is not easy is to learn dutch.
A**R
Great
I was studying this book from photocopies. Decided to buy it. I received the 2016 version. The cover is not hardcover. There is no CD included, the audio is online for free. The book is all black and white.It is a very good book in my opinion. It is well written and quite engaging. I am the last person in the world to enjoy studying languages, but with this book, it is actually kind of fun and relaxing. I am only in Unit 2 (out of 16 units) and I have learned a ton of things.My only complain is that it would be nice for the cover to be hardback, with colored pages, and thicker paper. But that's just details really... At least it is a cheap book.Overall, I strongly recommend this. 40euros for what you get is very cheap, in my opinion.
C**N
Complete and with natural progression. Powerful
This is an outstanding course book for the self learner. The lessons are well explained, there is a natural progression without gaps or jumps, so the learner never feels lost or discouraged. In the end, the learner is ready to move on to more complex study aids for fast improvement.
M**A
Perfecto para a aprender holandés de forma autodidacta.
Muy bueno para aprender de forma autodidacta. Tienen además una aplicación en la que escuchas todos los diálogos y ejercicios orales. Muy intuitivo.
Trustpilot
3 weeks ago
2 months ago