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Colloquial Dutch, or Teach Yourself Dutch

 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
sprachefin
Triglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 5744 days ago

300 posts - 317 votes 
Speaks: German*, English, Spanish
Studies: French, Turkish, Mandarin, Bulgarian, Persian, Dutch

 
 Message 1 of 5
12 May 2009 at 2:21am | IP Logged 
For those of you who may be asking why a German speaker is obtaining English resources: I find that resources
from America and Great Britain are better than any other that I have tried.

So the question here is: Which one should I choose. I have used Teach Yourself, but not Colloquial Series. I find that
Teach Yourself does not provide enough interaction for actual learning and retaining. I want to try Colloquial Dutch,
but I don't want to waste money. Can anyone help? I would also accept recommendations for another course.
1 person has voted this message useful



fanatic
Octoglot
Senior Member
Australia
speedmathematics.com
Joined 7144 days ago

1152 posts - 1818 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch
Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto

 
 Message 2 of 5
12 May 2009 at 9:05am | IP Logged 
There isn't much difference between the Colloquial and Teach Yourself courses. The Dutch Teach Yourself course doesn't give translations of the dialogues but rather gives translations of new words and phrases.

They are both fairly practical. I like the Assimil course better as it is entirely in Dutch, you can get a German based textbook, and it is more comprehensive.

You can download both courses from uztranslations.net.ru. They are both available from the local library system here in Melbourne, Australia, and I have looked at both. I have the Assimil course so I got the courses for some extra help and practice. I see that Assimil Dutch is available for download from uztranslations.net.ru as well.

I used to listen to Dutch radio programs when I lived in Germany and found I understood a lot. Dutch is similar to old German and Platt Deutsch. I also got free learning material from Radio Nederlands.
1 person has voted this message useful



stelingo
Hexaglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5830 days ago

722 posts - 1076 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian
Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin

 
 Message 3 of 5
13 May 2009 at 12:31am | IP Logged 
I would highly recommend 'Routledge Intensive Dutch Course'.

.Routledge Dutch Intensive Dutch Course

CD

It is much more thorough in its treatment of the language and has a good balance of grammar, dialogues and exercises. It takes you to a good intermediate level. By the end of the book you will be able to discuss political and social issues. There are however 2 drawbacks:

-It is intended for classroom use, but you can find a key and transcript here.

Resources

There are pair/group exercises you won't be able to do but there is still plenty of material to work through by yourself.

-It is expensive, especially the CDs. But if you are willing to invest some money you won't regret buying this book

Edited by stelingo on 13 May 2009 at 12:38am

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Rout
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5710 days ago

326 posts - 417 votes 
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Spanish
Studies: Hindi

 
 Message 4 of 5
13 May 2009 at 1:02am | IP Logged 
I would think that the German Assimil would point out the similarities between German and Dutch which would be an added bonus, but I'm not sure. I wish there was a language so closely related to mine.. I think L-R might work well for for this situation since there's mutual intelligibility.
1 person has voted this message useful



sprachefin
Triglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 5744 days ago

300 posts - 317 votes 
Speaks: German*, English, Spanish
Studies: French, Turkish, Mandarin, Bulgarian, Persian, Dutch

 
 Message 5 of 5
13 May 2009 at 4:29am | IP Logged 
fanatic wrote:

I used to listen to Dutch radio programs when I lived in Germany and found I understood a lot. Dutch is similar to
old German and Platt Deutsch. I also got free learning material from Radio Nederlands.


The funny thing is, although I am fluent in both English and German, I find it hard to comprehend what is being
said. The Dutch speak way to fast for me to triangulate words. Reading is much better for me, although I tend to get
a bit confused as Dutch orthography is confusing at times. I have listed to speakers of Plattdeutsch, and I never
understand them. I think it's because I was raised entirely in Hochdeutsch, and never got around to listening to
people from the Low lands, nor bothering to speak to them at all.


1 person has voted this message useful



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