Dutch/English: Level 2: VocabuLearn: Original Format

Rating:
Summary: Good, But Here's How To Make It Better!
Review: I was thrilled to find this vocabulary building tool. All words and phrases are spoken clearly and distinctly, with no regional dialects. However, in it's present form, it is not as useful as it could be. In a cassette format, it is fairly impossible to repeat a small section of words over and over without risk of damaging your cassettes (or tape player). Listening to the tape straight through isn't going to help you memorize much either. Since there's not really a substitute on the market for what this product offers, I rolled up my sleeves and recorded my cassettes onto MiniDisc. After recording, I inserted track indices on the MD at the start of each page in the accompanying booklet. Now I can drill one page at a time repeatedly until those words are well-memorised, and then move onto the next page. This could be done with a CD burner as well, but would require a little more effort. However, if you are determined to increase your Dutch vocabulary, it would be well worth the time and effort. (PS: If you're just travelling to the Netherlands for a vacation, don't waste your time with language courses - 99.9% of Dutch people speak English fluently. Just get the Rough Guide phrasebook to help you with menus and signs, and that will suffice for a short-term visit.)