Vrij goed!, November 23, 2004

Dit boek is een uitstekende cursus in het nederlands. Ik heb veel andere boeken uitgeprobeerd en dit is het best. Er zijn sommige werkworden die zijn in het boeks wordenboekdeel niet gevonden maar meestal dit boek is heel prachtig.

It really worked, that's the best recommendation, July 1, 2002

I moved with my family to the Netherlands five years ago. Both my wife and I worked hard on this book before we left the USA, and it turned out to be time well invested. The amazing thing is that the dialogs we encountered (supermarket, neighbors, job search) were extremely close to the ones in this book, so we were really prepared. The grammatical explanations help without being too cumbersome, and the practical tips were right on the mark. It's hard to see how the book could be better for its purpose. The lessons are in manageable chunks and give plenty of useful pratice. There is nothing in those book I haven't used!

Very Useful, February 8, 2004
Reviewer: A reader
I bought this because my Dutch course was completely in Dutch. For a total beginner, I needed some clarification of grammar, spelling rules and so on in English. This book provided me with what I needed and thus has enabled me to progress faster in a Dutch immersion course. I bought it without the cd pack, but also bought the dictionary and dutch grammar in the same series. The dictionary's good value overall but annoyingly omits a listing of irregular verbs or plurals - which a Dutch beginner needs!

Well-Paced, Imersive, Lots of Dialogue, November 23, 2003

I recommend this book for anyone looking to pick up Dutch from scratch. There are sixteen chapters, each with varying themes. The vocabulary is presented in chunks, most often alongside audio dialogues. The grammatical aspects of the language are presented one at a time clearly and concisely. The dialogues never get ahead of themselves in this respect either. Overall, this is an excellent book. I would prefer that there were more written exercises (the later chapters will become much more useful if you learn with a partner), but with an active imagination, this is not an issue.

Good, But..., October 4, 2002

I have this course (book plus cassettes), and it is good. However, I've found the "Colloquial Dutch" set by Bruce Donaldson to be a much better choice - especially if you're only planning to invest in a single self-study course. I found that the supplemental casssettes in the Teach-Yourself course are VERY short and provide only a meager amount of the kind of active listening exercises necessary to acquaint your ear (and tongue) to the idiosyncracies of Dutch pronunciation. And believe me, it is impossible for an English speaker to learn proper Dutch pronunciation with a book alone - and the cassettes in this set don't offer much more. A good back-up course, but I wouldn't be first on my list.

Not big on pronunciation, September 20, 2002
Reviewer: A reader
The book spends about a page and a half on pronunciation, and doesn't explain many of the rules (when do you roll your r's and when do you not?) - and then it immediately jumps into conversations, which you're expected to follow and be able to repeat. I got lost pretty quickly.