Stein cepienelieeerenee all or Improve Your Conversation & Enjoy Your HolidaySpeak Dutch Today! A conversation course on cassette for visitors to The Netherlands Hugo’s Language Books Ltd, LondonThis edition © 1988 Hugo’s Language Books Ltd All rights reserved ISBN 0 85285 132 4 Written by Rob ten Wolde Facts and figures given in this book were correct when printed. If you discover any changes, please write to us. Printed in Great Britain by Buckland Press Ltd, Barwick Road, Dover, Kent Preface The knowledge of a language, more so than any other knowledge, has to be kept constantly up-to-date if fluency is to be retained. Are you one of those who has been through a home study or special course to learn the basics of Dutch, but cannot master the conversational element as easily, especially now that some years have passed? The thirteen conversations on this cassette recording are designed to bridge that gap: they assume a fair (if rusty) knowledge of Dutch grammar, but are all applicable to everyday situations in which the visitor to the Netherlands or Flemish-speaking Belgium is most likely to find him- or herself ... buying things, requesting information, ordering meals and so forth. An effort has been made to keep the language colloquial. Contracted forms and conversational turns of phrase have been allowed. Dutch, although spoken in a geographically small area, comes in as many variations as English in Great Britain, depending on the part of Holland you are in and the level of education of the Dutchman you are speaking to. Flemish, in its standard written form, is virtually identical to standard written Dutch; spoken Flemish (which you'll hear in northern Belgium) can, however, be quite different.