Go Dutch!

Go Dutch!
by Marian de Vooght (University of Texas)
André Lefevere (University of Texas)

It is the author's belief that language learning must be fun if it is to be effective. They have, therefore, constructed this book around a parody of a private eye story. They have opted for this particular type of ironic text because it is both fun and functional. They adopted a narrative form to help students achieve comprehension on the level of the text, not just on the level of word and sentence. To further enhance comprehension on the textual level, students are asked to rewrite/retell parts of the narrative from the point of view of characters other than the hero, Jan Raap.

The book also contains twenty-one units of "Survival Dutch," which provides students with the vocabulary necessary to function in every day situations in the Netherlands and Flanders.

Both the text of the main story and the Survival Dutch units are supplemented by vocabulary lists. These vocabulary lists are not given after the countertexts. However, the words used in each countertext are listed in the Dutch-English vocabulary at the end of the book. The authors have done this on purposed to stimulate the students' capacity for contextual understanding.

In each unit students are introduced to the grammar of Dutch, so that they become familiar with the structure of the language and are able not only to understand the texts written for them, but also to express themselves. Every item of grammatical comprehension can be practiced by means of assignments supplied in each unit.

Go Dutch is designed to take the anxiety out of language learning and to give the student a workable command of spoken and written Dutch in a school year.

A free audio lesson accompanies this book. You can download it as an MP3 or as Real Audio. It is not included with the book itself.