Levend Nederlands: Een Cursus Nederlands Voor Buitenlanders [Dutch]

I found this the most useful text for learning Dutch of the several I own. The tapes and the exercises are excellent. In particular, the exercises are very, very extensive. If you work your way through all of them, you will really get a firm handle on issues like word order that others gloss over. (And Dutch word order is tricky enough that you really need a lot of explicit exercises.)BUT the course is entirely in Dutch, with no translations. You have to use your dictionary and look at the pictures to figure it out, and a few times I had to go read up some subject in a Dutch grammar so I could figure out the point being made. If you've had experience in learning other languages, or you have access to a Dutch person who can help you from time to time, this course is terrific. If you're learning on your own and don't have much experience with learning languages, this may be too difficult, and I'd recommend Donaldson's Colloquial Dutch instead.

very useful guide to learn modern dutch ... but don't forget to practice!