First Dutch Reader for Beginners

The book consists of Elementary and Pre-intermediate courses with a parallel Dutch-English translation. The author maintains learners' motivation with funny stories about real life situations such as meeting people, studying, job searches, working etc. The method utilises the natural human ability to remember words used in texts repeatedly and systematically. The second and the following chapters of the Elementary course have only about thirty new words each. The audio tracks are embedded in the book.

As you read a bilingual reader, your brain begins to remember words and phrases simply because you are exposed to them several times. You don’t even realize, until you must recall what you’ve learned, that you have already learned the new words and phrases. The graded language book with a parallel translation has helped many to uncover their potential for learning multiple languages. Whether you are learning a language as a hobby or for a necessary purpose, you will find such books are supportive.

It can usually take you from one to three months to finish a bilingual graded reader at beginner level (A1) and elementary level (A2). The amount of time depends on your previous experience with learning foreign languages and on your personal abilities. At this point you should be able to ask and answer simple questions with the following questioning words: What? Who? Where? When? Which? How many/much? As you improve and become more confident in your ability to use the new language, you can move on to the next reader level and continue your language-learning journey.