Teach Yourself Dutch Conversation (Teach Yourself Conversation) [Audio CD]

Marleen Owen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0340906480 | ISBN-13: 978-0340906484 | Publication Date: August 26, 2005

This stand-alone, all-audio course can be used by those who have little or no knowledge of the language, by those who want to learn or brush up basic conversation skills, and by more advanced learners who require extra audio material to complement their current courses. The ten units or 'conversations' cover the situations you are most likely to find yourself in while on holiday or on business abroad. They are divided into two parts, with a dialogue in each part. The dialogue in Part 2 reuses the vocabulary and phrases from Part 1 in a slightly different context. Both parts start with an introduction to the words and phrases you'll need, followed by the dialogue. Finally it's 'Over to you': you take part in the same dialogues following the English prompts, playing all the roles in turn. So you get lots of opportunity to practise! Frequent track markers divide the CDs up into short, easy-to-use clips. Vocabulary and phrases in the first two CDs are kept to the basics and are introduced gradually with lots of opportunity to repeat and practise, to improve your confidence in both speaking and understanding.The third CD concentrates on helping you improve your understanding, so that you will be able to hold two-way conversations with people who speak very fast or use words and phrases you do not know. The course comes on three 75-minute CDs and has an accompanying 48-page booklet which gives the dialogues and the translations of the dialogues, for those who like to see the written word or want additional practice. The booklet also provides a basic glossary of the words and phrases used. This is the perfect complement to 'Dutch' and 'Beginner's Dutch' in the 'Teach Yourself' range.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I am a big fan of this series. Commercial packaging, simple concept and a competitive price make these well worth trying...One to watch." -- The Bookseller 20050429

About the Author

Marleen Owen is an experienced teacher of Dutch to adults in many different environments.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Teach Yourself (August 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340906480
• ISBN-13: 978-0340906484
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,037,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Save your money, get Pimsleur, March 30, 2010

By 

dragonness (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Teach Yourself Dutch Conversation (3CDs + Guide) (TY: Conversation) (Paperback)

I've been studying Italian in the car using the Pimsleur CDs for the past couple of months and have loved that language course. Trying this after the Pimsleur was a huge disappointment. I've just listened to the first of the three CDs and these are my issues with it:

1. You cannot properly study language in the car with this set as it requires a lot of pausing and repeating. The course basically requires you to drive it, and in the car I don't have the luxury of being able to focus on that, and also I do not even have a pause button in the car CD player.

2. By requiring the user to control the amount of repetitions, the course actually puts responsibility on the student, instead of an expert language teacher, to figure out how much repetition is necessary. I found myself simply listening to the whole thing, and rarely repeating any lessons because I felt they were easy enough that repetition was unnecessary. However, true language acquisition happens only through repetition, so much repetition that the phrases become second nature. Additionally, it's not enough for you to repeat the same conversation over and over - there needs to be some variation so that your brain is sufficiently engaged. Unfortunately, this course does not provide repetition with the variation that is necessary.

3. The course tells you in English what you need to say in Dutch, and then it speaks the correct Dutch sentence after you. However, it does not allow you time to repeat the Dutch sentence you heard. Thus, you only get that one first chance to say the sentence the way you think it should be, and never to correct yourself. Maybe the author of the course was hoping people would make use of their pause button here to stop the CD as needed. But I need the teacher to teach me, not rely on me to know when to pause and what to do to learn the language.

4. There is A LOT of talking in English in this course. The CD explains all sorts of linguistic, grammatical, and cultural points, without letting the student simply SPEAK. Isn't the point of the course to learn to SPEAK the language? I found myself listening for long periods, then saying a short sentence here and there, and then listening again for a long time. This is hardly a satisfying way to learn. I was eager to speak, and the CD was not giving me the chance.

5. Before each conversation is played, the course breaks down the sentences into individual words and translates them. This is unnecessary, even silly. Words like articles, prepositions, things that are very much context dependent, are given to you before you actually hear the context.

CONCLUSION: If it's cheap, there's a reason for it. Stay away from cheap language courses. Get the real deal at the library and it won't cost you a penny. Pimsleur is the way to go.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Source For Studying Dutch in the Car, October 18, 2008

By 

M. Halvorson (Verona, WI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Teach Yourself Dutch Conversation (3CDs + Guide) (TY: Conversation) (Paperback)

I enjoyed learning Dutch will driving on the way to work. Sometimes the words are spoken too fast so it is good that you can pause and replay it. This tape is written more toward someone in living in England but is just as applicable for the American.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful and entertaining, April 18, 2010

By 

Kotanidou Natasa - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Teach Yourself Dutch Conversation (3CDs + Guide) (TY: Conversation) (Paperback)

Through short and useful conversations that will be surely necessary for everyone that travels in Netherlands, you can learn dutch using three cds and a 40-page booklet.The only disadvantage is that the numbers are not written as words with letters so it's difficult to learn them.