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Dutch for Reading Knowledge.
This first Dutch for Reading Knowledge book on the market promotes a high level of reading and translation competency by drawing from Dutch grammar, vocabulary and reading strategies, and providing many translation “shortcuts” and tips when tackling complex texts in Dutch. Aimed at students, researchers and scholars who need to learn how to read and translate modern Dutch texts for their academic research, this book focuses on those areas where the Netherlands plays or has played a leading and innovative role in the world. These areas include architecture, art history, design, the Dutch Golden Age, (post)colonialism, (im)migration, social legislation and water management. For all areas the authors combine profound knowledge of the field with great expertise in teaching Dutch language and culture. This book can be used for a Dutch for Reading Knowledge course or curriculum, and is also highly suitable for self study.
265 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2012
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December 12, 2021
Firstly, I should mention this is a *provisional* review and my views may change later (fairly unlikely though). I have worked through the first chapter (i.e. the first 3 texts, grammar explanations and sets of exercises).
I got this book a) in my desire to be able read/translate Dutch better than I already can, as this is something I am working on, and b) to have more graded Dutch texts to read.
So far, the book breaks down for me as follows:
Pros:
- Good introduction usefully summarising some of the major differences between Dutch and English; these points are then taken up in more detail in the body text
- Grammar points are usually well (or at least adequately) explained
- Lots of tips to help you and pitfalls to avoid when decoding Dutch texts
- The chosen subjects of the texts and their accompanying glossaries (insofar as these go – see below!!) will prove to be handy for specialists/scholars
Cons:
- The chapter and end vocabularies are in some cases woefully inadequate; I have a good reading knowledge of German and have also been practicing translating Dutch texts for a year now, and doing so quite successfully, yet I found dozens of words in the texts I didn't know which weren't glossed either at the end of the text or in the back of the book – this means either resort to guessing in context (which the authors recommend, but which I personally find a not totally satisfactory solution) or else lengthy recourse to a large Dutch dictionary (something the authors try to have you avoid). Both hassles/issues could have been avoided if they'd bothered to put in adequate vocabularies.
- Related to the above, even dead common Dutch words like wel, nogal, zeker and many others, not to mention common expressions and phrases are not glossed; these are words you simply MUST know to translate Dutch properly and fluently. I suppose you are meant to look them all up in the dictionary then?
- As a reviewer on Amazon US mentioned (whose review mine echoes), and I have found one case of this so far, the exercises do not always exactly match up with the answers given at the back of the book
- The texts start off reasonably challenging (remember I've been reading Dutch quite regularly for a year now) and based on my reading ahead, they soon get pretty difficult. I personally feel the first few texts in the book should have been texts of a more general, and not specialist, nature (as with many other "for reading knowledge" books) to ease the reader into the basic patterns and lexis of Dutch. An opportunity was lost here and it seems to me the texts begin at the A2-B1 level from the kick-off.
All-in-all, the book is useful and a handy adjunct to your acquisition of a reading knowledge of Dutch. And there are no such other books on the market. However, it does have the cons mentioned above.
Crucially, the book certainly cannot replace the guidance of a skilled Dutch teacher (my Dutch teacher is brilliant!!) who can explain grammar points/issues and words (including those that were missed in this book) and get you translating more idiomatically and not slavishly.
3 to 3.5 stars is what I currently think this work merits. I will come back to this review later to update it (if need be).
I got this book a) in my desire to be able read/translate Dutch better than I already can, as this is something I am working on, and b) to have more graded Dutch texts to read.
So far, the book breaks down for me as follows:
Pros:
- Good introduction usefully summarising some of the major differences between Dutch and English; these points are then taken up in more detail in the body text
- Grammar points are usually well (or at least adequately) explained
- Lots of tips to help you and pitfalls to avoid when decoding Dutch texts
- The chosen subjects of the texts and their accompanying glossaries (insofar as these go – see below!!) will prove to be handy for specialists/scholars
Cons:
- The chapter and end vocabularies are in some cases woefully inadequate; I have a good reading knowledge of German and have also been practicing translating Dutch texts for a year now, and doing so quite successfully, yet I found dozens of words in the texts I didn't know which weren't glossed either at the end of the text or in the back of the book – this means either resort to guessing in context (which the authors recommend, but which I personally find a not totally satisfactory solution) or else lengthy recourse to a large Dutch dictionary (something the authors try to have you avoid). Both hassles/issues could have been avoided if they'd bothered to put in adequate vocabularies.
- Related to the above, even dead common Dutch words like wel, nogal, zeker and many others, not to mention common expressions and phrases are not glossed; these are words you simply MUST know to translate Dutch properly and fluently. I suppose you are meant to look them all up in the dictionary then?
- As a reviewer on Amazon US mentioned (whose review mine echoes), and I have found one case of this so far, the exercises do not always exactly match up with the answers given at the back of the book
- The texts start off reasonably challenging (remember I've been reading Dutch quite regularly for a year now) and based on my reading ahead, they soon get pretty difficult. I personally feel the first few texts in the book should have been texts of a more general, and not specialist, nature (as with many other "for reading knowledge" books) to ease the reader into the basic patterns and lexis of Dutch. An opportunity was lost here and it seems to me the texts begin at the A2-B1 level from the kick-off.
All-in-all, the book is useful and a handy adjunct to your acquisition of a reading knowledge of Dutch. And there are no such other books on the market. However, it does have the cons mentioned above.
Crucially, the book certainly cannot replace the guidance of a skilled Dutch teacher (my Dutch teacher is brilliant!!) who can explain grammar points/issues and words (including those that were missed in this book) and get you translating more idiomatically and not slavishly.
3 to 3.5 stars is what I currently think this work merits. I will come back to this review later to update it (if need be).
Displaying 1 of 1 review