Colloquial Dutch: A Complete Language Course

This book has a great deal to offer a beginning learner. The material is very conversational- and very idiomatic- and the subtleties of syntax are well presented. From very early in the course, one has a chance to get used to the idea that the verb must always be the second element of a sentence. For students who learned German first, of course, this isn't new, but as a beginning Dutch learner I reverted readily to old English habits until I started working with this course. Word order in subordinate clauses- another crack in the cement for beginners- also gets covered very well. The accompanying CDs are excellent and almost essential for learning an authentic pronunciation. It is hard to understand, though, why the author did not provide vocabulary lists for each lesson. The sentences in the dialogues (which are often quite entertaining)are translated, of course, but the translation is often pretty idiomatic and it is easy to develop wrong ideas of what individual words mean- or where and how they are used. So get a good dictionary- I recommend the one by Routledge- and keep it by your side.

Buying this little book is a great way to start learning Dutch. As for the reviewer who said this book is for parrots; it's called "Colloquial Dutch" for a reason! While it's true that this book doesn't offer much of an in depth study of Dutch grammar or linguistics, that doesn't stop it from being a great little primer course that will help you learn Dutch the way the Dutch actually "spreek" it. I went to Holland in 2005 to study history in Utrecht and I took a Dutch class while I was there. They gave us "Taal Vitaal" books in the class, but I found myself continually referring back to Donaldson's book throughout the course. I simply found it more useful than the Taal Vitaal books. Dutch people are usually surprised and very appreciative when a non-native speaker makes an earnest effort to learn their language. That being said, one of the most difficult things about learning Dutch in Holland, is that the Dutch tend to start speaking English with you as soon as they find out that you're an English speaker. It's hard, but you have to kind of insist on fumbling around in Dutch. (If you're incredibly inhibited about doing this then try having a few "biertjes" at a pub with some locals.) In the end, whether you like the linguist's approach or the "colloquial" approach, speaking with native speakers and listening to them speak is the single best way to learn a language. If you're really "serieus" about learning "het nederlands" I would highly recommend that you pick up "201 Dutch Verbs" and "The New Routledge Dutch Dictionary" to augment this book. With these books in hand, you'll be ready to go to Holland!

I've tried many other language/phrase book, and I think the Colloquial Series are the best for beginners who plan to learn and pursue to a higher level. This book explains every details on grammars and usage...and the cultural points are interesting as well. The explanations are very clear and you'll find the learning process with colloquial series is very smooth, you'll hardly feel lost... The audio CD mainly focus on conversations in every chapters, I like it because the native speakers talk as they are in everyday life (kind of fast for beginners), which is good cuz it's realistic...Just listen to it over and over until you're able to understand everything. The only thing I don't like about the audio CD is that I wish it can provide more recordings on how to pronounce some important phrases rather than just numbers. Hope you'll enjoy learning w/ this book

This book is perhaps a bit too intense for an introductory text (for that you should try Dutch in Three Months), but if the reader has already studied the language a little and wants a good discussion of some of the subtle nuances of Dutch, this is a good bet. The companion audiocassettes are excellent.

A very good book if you want to learn "real" Dutch. The conversations are more realistic and they use real words that people actually say. It's a good book to learn from if you want to learn Dutch how it's really spoken. I think it's easy to use and understand. Ik hoop dat u hebben een goed tijd lernend van dit boek als ik gedaan!