I selected this book at random, on the advice of my friend to "get a norwegian course-book if you really want to learn" and it was the best chance i took. the layout of the course is excellent, and the dialogs are very interesting. I like the way the book tells the story of John, an British student, and Bente, a Norwegian au pair. Hey, how bout a follow up: "Teach Yourself Advanced Norwegian" :)

This book is the best book published by anyone to learn a scandinavian language. It's very concise and besides this language is very easy for an English speaker to learn, so you make rapid progress. You'll be conversationally fluent in Norwegian in three months, I promise!

This short tale highlights the resilience and determination of the Dutch people to live free from oppression during Nazi occupation. Young Johanna (raised in America but with a Dutch father) has spent the last five years with her grandparents in a small village in Holland. She has come cherish the the simple but dignified lifestyle in northern Holland, the last part of the country to be liberated. While some were collaborating with the enemy, she made a private vow never to look a Nazi soldier in the face.

The village treasure consists of a set of 12 Little Riders of metal (modeled centuries ago to represent Crusaders); they ride out and salute each other when the church clock tolls the hours. Johanna's favorite viewing spot is her attic room--just where her father used to sit and admire them as a boy. But when the Nazis invade the village, her family is forced to house a young officer (who plays the flute on summer nights). She has to vacate her little room with its view of the Riders (and a secret hiding place at the back of her closet).

The villagers' worst fears are realized when the commanding officer orders his men to seize the Little Riders and melt them down for ammunition--to be used against the very people who love them. How can 11-year-old Johanna help her grandfather prevent this desecration? Even children can exhibit heroism for a noble cause, for these Little Riders represent more than just medieval art. They now symbolize the spirit of joy and yearning for liberty of the Dutch people. Who will suffer Nazi retaliation when the Riders are discovered missing? A thoughtful tale which will charm adult readers and inspire youthful ones.

I think this is a great book for kids. It is a exciting on the edge of your seat book. I love this book!

The book was very good. I thought that it showed the real problems in Holland at that time and I am very proud of my grandmother for writting it.

I bought this book with cassettes for my girlfriend to learn Norwegian as a supplement to myself teaching her. The book and tapes seems pretty good, but I was very surprised when I listened to the tape. The character Jon is presented as a norwegian speaking male. His words is right, but he has a west-coast dialect, which I belive makes this a fair bit harder than just plain "riksmål" norwegian. The problem is that all the words are pronounced slightly differently than what the main population speaks, and since you are sepoused to copy what they say, it seems like a stupid thing to do to me, as everyone would understand a forigner talking "riksmål" with a english accent, but it gets a lot harder for a norwegian to understand a foreginer trying to speak norwegian with a for them unnatural rolling R that they have on the westcoast. I think this character is from Bergen. Also, the tape seems to be of poor quality. The first tape just ripped. I had to pop it open and use stickytape to get it back togheter again, and then copy it all to a CD in order to get it properly working again. Besids this, it seems like a ok thing to buy, but I belive the results could be interesting for a englishspeaking person training by themselfs.

This book is perfect for anyone interested in acquiring a basic knowledge of the Norwegian language for any reason. Indeed, it is sometimes too easy. I combined it with an earlier (1965) edition of the book, which is pure grammar and memorization, so it was perfect: on one hand I could get all the dry grammar and the "bokmål/nynorsk" situation explained to the bone by Professor Sommerfelt, and on the other hand Margaretha Danbolt was there for me with dialogues and smooth grammar understandable to everyone. DEFINITELY get the version with the tapes. There is just no replacement to hearing native speakers, no matter how good you're at written guides to pronunciation. It's a must, otherwise you just won't be understood, especially since Norwegian is a tonal language (though there are only 2 tones). Norwegian is an especially "easy" language for English speakers. I have previous background in other languages (my mother tongue is Spanish), so maybe a first-time experience would not be as easy for everyone, but I can guarantee this book makes it very fun and simple to those genuinely interested in Norwegian. The text follows the story of Bente and John, which, I think, makes it more lively. I haven't finished this, I'm far from finishing actually, but my Norwegian is growing every day through extra practice from many different sources, and I'm very content. The organization of the book is usually satisfying, though I had expected the guide to pronunciation to be covered entirely in the tapes before beginning the course. Instead, after a dialogue or set of dialogues, a portion is covered; then you hear more, then another portion of the guide to pronunciation is covered. This is perfect for those who like to encounter problems and THEN get an explanation. That was the only thing in the organization that I thought was tricky, but I got used to it, and it doesn't last through the entire course. The tapes are absolutely excellent, but the practice exercises tend to be too simple for me. You may want to consider combining this book with something else, such as a dictionary, because it only has a word list at the end. There are Norwegian newspapers all over the web (www.aftenposten.no being my favorite) that can help you practice also. The book is very clear, very well-organized and informative, and to the complete novice in studying another language, it's IT. But for those of us who perhaps have more background, obtaining a little dictionary or another supplement, such an earlier version of the book, could make it more challenging. (It also depends on your goal: I want to be as fluent as possible.) Either way, the book and the tapes are worth every penny. You just couldn't make a better language investment.

This is a great book for those enthused about learning Norwegian. Though I did not get the tapes, this book reads through very easily and quickly. You should buy the book instead of borrowing it from the library, like me. The tapes should help out a lot, but I've found that the pronounciation is easy in general. If you are interested in Danish, don't go for it. I've found Norwegian pronounciation to be easier, and Danish just doesn't sound very good.

This dictionary is certainly not exhaustive, but I could live with that fact. What I CANNOT live with is the fact that this dictionary does not provide you with the definite artice (DE or HET) for any of the nouns listed.

Don't waste your money here. In both spoken and written dutch, you really need to know if the word "The" is going to take the form of DE or HET, and since there is no rule in dutch to tell you which form of the article goes with which noun, you must learn the article as you learn the word. And this dictionary DOES NOT tell you that information...

Of minimal usefulness. Very confusing to use because of the following: 1)no parts of speech listed, 2)single word definitions 3)few synonyms provided

Dutch-English dictionaries for English speakers are rare. Nevertheless, I'm afraid I have a dissenting opinion of this vintage 1950's dictionary not meaningfully updated since. MANY important words appropriated since the 1950's are missing, not to mention the new spelling. Most irritatingly, there is very little usage included (i.e. idioms, examples of usage, linked prepositions, etc.). Much better to rely on Hugo's or Hipolet's (sic). If Hugo's et al is too limited for you, then you're ready for a Dutch Dutch-English dictionary of which many good examples exist, e.g. Prisma which is complete with extensive usage and cheap. Whatever you do, supplement it with Donaldson's "Beyond the Dictionary in Dutch" to avoid as much public humiliation as possible when speaking with Nederlanders.