Product Description
Here is a complete course in the Chinese language, with graded units of dialogues, culture notes, grammar, and exercises that make it easy to study and then practice what's been learned.Audiocassettes feature dialogue recorded by native speakers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

Great suppliment to any course
I believe this is about as good as you can get, as far as books on chinese that is.
It gives hints on things that after you read you realize is correct, but for some reason no one else has stated it.
Since this book very quickly advances, I believe you need another course with lots of repetition. As others have stated Fluenz course is a good way to go, lots of repetition that will enable the material to stay in your head.
But since Fluenz does not have any good reading material to compliment the course at this time, do yourself a favor and get this book!

good for both reviewers and beginners
I came to this book from a slightly different point of view than some of the other reviewers, since I studied Mandarin for four years in college (mostly using the admirable and still very worthwhile DeFrancis series).Since that has been a while ago I got this book and CD to pick up some contemporary usages and keep my pronunciation up to date and I was very well satisfied in both these aspects.One thing that impressed me in the very thorough section on pronunciation was the author's discussion of the four tones of Mandarin and common mistakes made by beginners.Other sources of potential problems are also very well addressed, particularly compounded verbs of motion, and resultative/potential compounds, which often convey meanings that are pretty idiomatic and differ from what a beginner might expect from the components of the compound. The course transitions very smoothly from the early lessons where pinyin is used almost exclusively to the later sections where characters are introduced and it is shown how to write them.At the end of the book there is a section on Chinese poetry- a very unusual addition to what is an elementary course, but something should give a great deal of satisfaction to a student who has made it all the way to the end. There are both monologues and dialogues in the lessons that cover a lot of everyday situations, although sometimes the English translations are pretty free and I've thought that the author probably should have offered a more literal rendering as well- it's always good to know what the words mean. That's a pretty minor objection, though.This course is a great value and any student who completes it should be very well positioned to move on from there.

Mandarin Chinese
Being an American student of Mandarin Chinese I found this book not as linguistically clear as the elementary book of Chinese by the same authors.The exercises are evident, but the dialogues need to be presented with their specific pages to follow along in the text.Once you have bought the Basic Mandarin Chinese book, this particular book would be more advantageous if you were to spend daily time on the exercises and oral manipulations.

I keep learning!
I think it could be better if I listen someone talking... however since it is like reading in Spanish, I'm good at it or thats what my bf says... So far is its fun! I will keep learning :D

Reasonable text for casual learners
This book would be a reasonable resource for tourists or other casual learners of Chinese.It provides a good number of natural dialogues in a variety of situations, accompanied by simple and straight-forward grammatical explanation. Scurfield and Song's book - like many others in the Teach Yourself series - packs a lot of information into a compact and convenient format that is a reasonably solid introduction to the language.A lack of discussion about Chinese characters, and a tendency for only the most superficial analysis of grammar and language structure makes this book less than useful for more serious students of Chinese.


Nathan Dummitt
author of Chinese Through Tone & Color ... Read more

Product Description
A guide to the fourth most-commonly used language in the U.S.

From the Alpha Teach Yourself series comes this self-paced, step-by-step approach to learning ASL. It teaches readers the unique syntax and grammar, the signs themselves, and the just-as-important subtle facial expressions and body movements. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Great tool for learning about Deaf culture
The benefit of Alpha Teach Yourself American Sign Language in 24 Hours is its history and detail regarding Deaf culture.So many people find the language beautiful, which it is, but never have the opportunity to understand the background and culture of the Deaf community.While I'm not at all a fan of the flat, one dimentional pictures of the signs themselves, I do utilizie this book in all of my beginning sign language classes so that there is a marriage of vocabulary and culture.

Not the book to teach yourself
This book gives a good Introduction on the history of ASL and the culture of the people.but the pictures are dark black and white, also small.So, I don't see any way this is a teach yourself book.I'm glad I checked it out at the library instead of buying it.I didn't feel confident that I was doing the signs correctly.

If you want to learn by book I'd recommend A Basic Course in American sign language by Tom Humphries, or Barron's learning ASL the easy way by David A. Stewart Ed.D.

Excellent, comprehensive intro marred by lousy pictures
I'm so sorry to give this book only 3 stars, since it gives such a good introduction to ASL.

Given that few people buy only ONE book on a subject, I will say Alpha Teach Yourself ASL is definitely worth buying for its background information and discussion of deaf history and culture.

However, there is no way you can "teach yourself" signing using this book, as the photos are about tiny black and white thumbnails (about 2" x 1") that, if not outright blurry, are rendered indistinct by the printing process.It is SO hard to distinguish one minute hand gesture from another in this book!

Since the "teach yourself" aspect is the book's stated purpose, I do feel I have to give only 3 stars.There are better guides to teaching yourself actual signs, but few that are quite as comprehensive for guiding you through the world of sign.

pictures not helpful
a few words to share about this book

a) i picked it up because it was one of the few books that didn't have idiot, dummy, moron or retard in it's title

b) it was an excellent book in regards of summarizing deaf culture, history, and edict when meeting people that are deaf

c) it was poor in regards of helping to learn sign language because the pictures were dark and hard to follow

d) I was confused because when i looked at other ASL books i noticed that some of the same words were translated much differently. There was no explanation why these words would have different signs.

i would't recommend this book to anyone who really wants to lean how to sign... i think taking a program or submerging yourself with people that are deaf is the only way that will be helpful to learn the language

Fascinating book on Deaf culture and ASL
While I agree with another reviewer that the signs in this book are not represented as well as I have seen in other books (many of which I own), I did buy a copy of this one and recommend it.

The book is broken into chapters, the author calls them "hours" to follow the Teach-yourself-in-24-hours theme.Each "hour" is followed by a short quiz, answers in the back, that reinforce the material covered.I like this.

Chapter One -- oops, Hour One -- is a short history of American Sign Language.The next hour discusses Deaf culture, and the one after starts to present some signs and discusses the language itself.One thing it deals with is accents, I had not ever considered the fact that people in distant parts of the country might sign the same concept differently, that is, using a different accent.But this makes a great deal of sense.It's also interesting to note that some signs might be presented differently by a man and a woman.

Then on to conversational basics.How to get attention.How do you handle situations when two people are signing and you have no choice but to walk between them?Or suppose you're signing witha deaf person and a hearing person comes over to talk to you, what should you do?Then on to letters, numbers, and grammar.Look for the section on name signs.

The book has a lot more to cover, but you should get the idea by now.This book is not just a book teaching American Sign Language signs, it is a snapshot into the world of the Deaf. ... Read more

Product Description
You can use Teach Yourself Zulu Complete Course to learn at your own pace or as a supplement to your classwork. This complete course utilizes the very latest learning methods in an enjoyable and user-friendly format.

The new edition also features:

• Engaging visual materials such as menus, photographs, signs, and tickets
• Two CD recordings allowing quick and easy access to individual lessons and exercises
• A clear, accessible new page design
• Strong, striking cover photography

Customer Reviews (4)

After reading this book, I find that Zulu is still Greek to me
I have read several books in the Teach Yourself language series, and have found most of them very helpful. I give especially high marks to the ones covering Norwegian, Dutch and Afrikaans. I can now read books reasonably well in all those languages.
This one, however, turned out to be almost a total waste of my time. I thought I was following the lessons well enough, but when I was finished I found that I was still almost totally ignorant of the Zulu language. My grasp of the grammatical points and my command of the vocabulary were next to nil.
This could be at least partly my fault, of course. Maybe I didn't work hard enough. Or it may be that, for me at least, Zulu is too different. Certainly it is a tough language for an English speaker to learn.
When I had finished the book and had seemingly come up empty, I went back over every chapter, and made meticulous notes of the principal grammatical points. I kept my notes handy as I tried to read Zulu material -- including Zulu newspapers available on the Web and a Zulu-language novel.
Zilch! I could scarcely get through a single sentence, even with the help of a good Zulu-English dictionary. Despite my gloss of the key grammatical points in the book, there seemed to be many more grammatical devices that hadn't been covered. I found them impenetrable.
Maybe Zulu and I were just not cut out for each other. But I feel obligated to say that it's also possible the teacher did an inadequate job.

Some niggling peeves
Overall, this is not a bad course but, unfortunately, I do have a couple of niggling peeves I'd like to get off my chest that will hopefully be of some help to others considering purchasing it.
Generally the TY series is very good at balancing its presentation of functional language (phrase-book style "chunks") and grammatical explanations.This course however, leans too much in the "phrasebook" direction.It teaches a lot of good and useful language but too much of the structure of the language is explained in too cursory a manner or not at all.I am an experienced learner of languages with some linguistics training so I found myself able to "read between the lines" and deduce some of the rules from context but a beginner learning a foreign language for the first time would surely get lost.
The other matter, that I would consider an especially important point for a book teaching a South African language, is the illustrations.The illustrations invariably depict white, European-looking people who for some bizarre reason, chat with each other in Zulu.Is it really that hard to draw black people, or, if you want a more "rainbow nation" feel at least make fewer whites than blacks!
Some people may see this last point as "politically correct niggling" but anyone who knows anything about the history of apartheid in South Africa and the struggle of the black majority for basic human rights will surely see my point. Zulu is a native, black language not the everyday idiom of whites who mostly speak English or Afrikaans among themselves, and to depict white people going about their daily lives in Zulu is just plain misleading if not offensive.

Decent book, be careful to buy the one with the audio!
I've just gotten into the book, and it seems fine to me. Definitely a beginners book, but that's what I wanted. I was under the impression it came with a cassette or CD (the book even refers to listeningexcercises on the cassette), but this one doesn't come with it. There is another item on Amazon (same book or at least the same general title and authors) that says Audiopackage specifically in the title - buy that one.

A Good Start
As a student of various languages, I have always been intrigued by the languages of South Africa; in particular, their click consonants.I was looking for resources in Xhosa, and instead came across this book.Zulu, I have been told (and can affirm), is easier than Xhosa.This book begins with a decent introduction to Zulu's phonology and orthography; but I think it could have been more detailed and with more examples (especially on the CDs).The course is decently structured and seems to cater to both serious students and casual students (ie, those going to South Africa or a neighbouring country).It goes beyond the language itself, into topics such as some aspects of the Zulu people's culture.This book is a great reference for beginners of Zulu; and worth the price. ... Read more

Product Description

Teach Yourself makes learning Urdu easy

The languages spoken by the people in the India and Pakistan region are plentiful and diverse, just like their speakers. Here Teach Yourself gives you the opportunity to learn one of these major southeastern Asian languages. Teach Yourself Urdu Complete Course allows you to study in the comfort of your own home, at your own pace. It introduces you to practical themes, such as making travel arrangements, meeting someone new, shopping, and other every day activities. Includes two audio CDs with listening and speaking exercises.

Customer Reviews (27)

Good resource, but *not* for absolute beginners
I am a native English speaker and I bought this book to learn Urdu at home, rather than in formal classes. While I agree with many of the reviews that state this book provides a sound grounding in reading, writing and speaking Urdu, I have two major reservations:

1) The book only devotes 20 pages at the start to introducing the alphabet and the various independent, initial, medial and final forms of the letters. No clear guidance is given on how to construct words from these letters (particularly as the Nasta'liq form of the Urdu script is written on the diagonal and letters can look different when written as words rather than individually). There is limited opportunities to practice writing the script and the accompanying aural exercises on the CD only give guidance on pronounication (not surprisingly!)

2) The size of the printed Urdu script in the text is so small as to make it almost illegible. This is particularly problematic when trying to identify individual letter forms in any given word. I found myself getting extremely frustrated and unable to understand the relationship between letters and words. This only serves to make it even more difficult to learn a complex alphabet in the already limited space.

My partner is a native Urdu speaker and after reading the book himself, he felt that this book was not suitable for a complete beginner *unless* they had experience of Arabic script as the Urdu script in this book is taught in a shorthand that is not obvious to newcomers. Looking at the reviews already posted, I think that the majority of the 4/5 star reviews come from those who are already familiar with Arabic script and therefore do not need to learn in the same way as an absolute beginner.

I have now purchased the Delancy book, 'Read and Write Urdu Script' (also in the Teach Yourself series), which appears to be much more suitable for absolute beginners like myself as it focuses solely on learning the Urdu alphabet and numbers and how to write the script rather than jumping straight into the language proper (although I still have some issues with the size of the text). I would recommend that other absolute beginners start with this book and I think the Complete Course book would benefit from directing students to this book first.

A Good Beginner Text
I am currently taking university courses in Urdu, and while I have a coursebook written by my teacher, I often am helped by Teach Yourself Urdu, especially when it comes to grammar questions and seeing certain words written in Nastaliq (the variety of the Arabic alphabet most often used with Urdu -- the coursebook is in Naskh script) as well as using the glossary provided (SINGULAR glossary- more on this later).

If anyone has ever used Teach Yourself books to any extent, they will know that the binding quickly falls apart, and my poor TY Urdu book is no exception, espcially since I use it as a reference and flip through it often. While this isn't ideal, it has no reflection on the quality of the contents.

I started to learn the script with this book, but I found Nastaliq to be very difficult when presented this way, and I became frustrated that I had no examples of handwritten Nastaliq but rather had to copy printed forms. So, I switched to learning the script with a few Arabic alphabet learning books, and worked on my handwriting.

On the plus side, I like the general organization of the chapters, which follows Teach Yourself norms, of a dialogue or text followed by a vocab box, then grammar explanations, then exercises, then repeat once or twice with a culture note added in.

The End Material as follows: Urdu-English Vocabulary, Answer Key, Appendix 1 - Numerals, Appendix 2 - Relations, Index. What is there I do appreciate- I use the Urdu-English Vocabulary fairly often, and I'm glad there is an answer key and the numbers 1-100 clearly laid out, but I would add many things.

First: I have a very big problem with the fact that there is no English-Urdu Vocabulary. Second: I would have at least a cursory grammatical sketch, or preferably a usable grammatical reference with descriptions of noun declentions, verb conjugations, etc. Third: This may be pushing it, but I would also have a thematic vocabulary (I think thematic vocabularies are great).

Despite all of these quibbles I still give this book four stars, because a diligent student can overcome any of the book's shortcomings with just a little extra work. The audio is very helpful; I would not suggest getting the books without the CDs. But, I do recommend the book to prospective learners or Urdu; it is a very good companion to a course, or with extra work I imagine it's a good introduction on its own.

A note: I'm not completely sure at this point due to my level, but the language seems to be fairly strongly Pakistani Urdu, probably the Karachi standard. My interest lies in India, closer to the Delhi standard of Urdu, or even southern Indian Urdu (a.k.a. Dakhni, Deccani, Dakhani, etc) but I can't be very picky at this stage, and the Urdu of Pakistan seems to be eclipsing and other dialects of Urdu, so it would be good to know (and I imagine that's what most learners want to know anyways).

amazing book
this is a really good for all kinds of people. this is so amazing anybody can learn urdu perfectly. i love to recommend this book to anybody.

John and Helen go on vacation
What I like about this book is the continuity of the dialogs.This course follows the vacation of John and Helen, husband and wife doctors from London.They meet a lot of very friendly people who invite them back to their homes and to their villages.Except for when Helen gets sick, they have an ideal vacation.Actually, since I have been studying Hindi for the past five years, I mostly listened to the CDs in the car, using this as an audio course for listening skills (meaning, getting the gist of the conversations and learning new words).I didn't neglect the book, however, because it is quite dog-eared now.In the evenings I reviewed the commentary on language and culture, and practiced decoding the script.Many reviewers have complained about the script in the book. They are right. The Urdu script is too small in the early edition. The font is larger in the updated edition but then the ink is too thick. So despite increasing the size, it still is rather mushy. But for the way I used the book, it was not so much a problem.So I still give this five stars.

A very good "introduction" to Urdu
First of all, this book is not for people who just want to learn some useful phrases for a short trip to Pakistan or India (for that purpose, one should get the LP phrasebook, which will suffice). This book sets out by teaching the nasta'liq script, which apprears in most of publications, and covers most basic grammar and a useful set of everyday vocab. it may well be used for first year level intro to Urdu in an organized language program. In fact many college Hindi programs do use the TY Hindi as first year Hindi textbook.

Up side of this book for a serious learner: it is compact and teaches you the script in a hard way--transliterations disappear in later lessons (I think this is particularly useful, becasue the nastaliq does appear to be harder to read than naskh, which is commonly used in printed Persian, but after getting used to the style one often find it easier to read nastaliq than Naskh, so the course actually give you a head start for reading Urdu); the book is compact, small and with very rich information.

Down side for a serious learner: the texts are almost all covnersations, with very little information on other genres; Little complex grammatical usage is presented; the range of vocab presented is limited to basic day to day interaction. Thus after finish the entire book, one cannot expect to read newspaper headlines, journal articles, let alone simple literature. The reason for me to have this complaint is that there is really no textbook in print to teach students intermediate-advanced Urdu. That said, if you are serious about learning Urdu on yourself, this is probably the cheapest and most effective book you can get. ... Read more

Product Description
This hands-on book offers teachers a much-needed resource that will help maximize learning for English Language Learners (ELLs). How to Teach English Language Learners draws on two wide-ranging teacher quality studies and profiles eight educators who have achieved exceptional results with their ELL students. Through highly readable portraits, the authors take readers into these teachers' classrooms, illustrating richly what it is they do differently that yields such great results from English learners. Because most teachers profiled work within a three-tiered Response-to-Intervention framework, the book shows how to implement RTI effectively with ELLs—from providing general reading instruction for the entire classroom to targeted interventions with struggling students. Written by noted ELL educators Diane Haager, Janette K. Klingner, and Terese Aceves, How to Teach English Language Learners is filled with inspiring success stories, teaching tips, activities, discussion questions, and reflections from these outstanding teachers. ... Read more

Product Description
This title is suitable for children of ages 2 to 12 years. It contains a book & a CD. It offers a 45-minute CD and 20-page colouring book that includes all lyrics and translations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Unpleasant songs and accents
The singers do not have native French accents and the songs are annoying.How does a round version of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" in english teach anyone French?

Not that bad
This cd covers some of the basics like the alphabet, numbers to 10, days of the week and some basic phrases in addition to songs. It is useful as a learning tool, especially if you find it cheap. We use it in the car.

Don't torture your ears!
I checked this out from my local library, along with Teach Me French and Teach Me Even More French.I liked this one the best of the three, yet I feel it still only merits two stars.I thought the organizational layout of the booklet was good-- it was based on the calendar year and events typical of each month.However, the singing is horrendous!I cannot stand to listen to it, which effectively makes this CD worthless as a learning tool, for if I can't stand to listen to it, I don't expect my children to listen to it.The singer has such a high pitched, nails on the chalkboard voice that she reminds me of contestants on American Idol who only audition so that they can get on TV.There are MUCH better French music CDs available.If you still think you're interested in this one, I urge you to check it out from a library first to see if you really, really want to buy it.

Not something I would buy
We borrowed this CD from the library and it was just ok. The songs were familiar, but it moved so fast that my kids just made up french sounding words and didn't learn a thing. It would be great for kids who have learned some french already, but I wouldn't recomend it as a learning tool.

A terrible learning tool
The adult singers on this CD are not native speakers of French, and have very heavy American accents. As noted in other reviews, the songs aren't translated literally - in the case of "twinkle twinkle little star," the English translation bears very little resemblance to what the French says. The children singers are very difficult to hear; I think they're native speakers, but the non-native adults sing loudly over them so your child doesn't get any benefit from them.

If you wan to learn bad French, this is the CD for you.
... Read more

Product Description
You can use Teach Yourself Vietnamese Complete Course to learn at your own pace or as a supplement to your classwork. This complete course utilizes the very latest learning methods in an enjoyable and user-friendly format.

The new edition also features:

• Engaging visual materials such as menus, photographs, signs, and tickets
• A clear, accessible new page design
• Strong, striking cover photography

Customer Reviews (14)

Audio needs improvement
Like another reviewer said, teaching tones needs more attention and practice, especially in contrasting them. I am not complaining about the audio amount in the main text but it would be advisable to have it clearer, slower and with pauses between phrases, even if Vietnamese people speak faster naturally. Alternatively, recording in 2 speeds could be provided - slow and natural. Individual vocabulary words could be read as well. As for the text, vocabulary choice and exercises, they are not bad and manageable, not always spoon-fed but the words can be found in the provided glossary. For any serious learner, a dictionary is a must, so... I give it 4 points for some flaws with audio. Perhaps, having Southern accent example would be good but this may only confuse some learners, taking into account the difficulty of the accent.

a lot of organizational shortcomings
This book is now in its second edition, which should mean more than just a pretty new cover. In its favor the material in the dialogues is usually interesting, and although the speed with which they are acted out on the CDs makes them difficult to follow for a beginner, it does get easier with regular listening practice. The grammar is not difficult, but the author has given good explanations of different kinds of sentence patterns so that it isn't too hard to get a handle on Vietnamese syntax early in the game. On the other hand, the audio sections dealing with Vietnamese phonics are hard to follow, not well presented, and do not track the order of the same material in the book.Very confusing for a beginning student, and not a good start in a language with a very complex system of pronunciation (and a particularly bad beginning in a tonal language). A much more thorough treatment of pronunciation in general would be highly recommended.There is a wealth of exercises after every chapter, but there are a lot of words in the exercises whose meaning (and usage) is not given either in the lesson vocabularies or in the glossary, and many of the answers given in the answer key have these unknown soldiers as well. I'm going to be generous and give this book three stars, but I can also understand the frustrations of those reviewers who chose to give it less.

Too fast
The content is pretty good but the CD goes way too fast. It would have been nice if they repeated things three times instead of going it over once REALLY fast.

good conversational learning tool
have not started listening to the cds, but the book that comes with this set is good. has alot of conversational dialogue that is fairly comprehensive. the book goes over dialogue word by word compared to other books that will just explain the phrases. highly recommend along with other learning guides.probably not the best for beginners.

Useless for Beginners
Unfortunately, I paid good money for this book/audio CD at the bookstore to help my husband learn to speak vietnamese (I speak vietnamese).It was so intense and haphazard - he tried to work through the first few lessons - learned next to nothing.We then did what we should have done first - researched online - and found out that others thought this program was terrible as well. ... Read more

Product Description
Bestselling language courses now with audio CDs!

From Danish to Spanish, Swahili to Brazilian Portuguese, the languages of the world are brought within the reach of any beginning student. Learners can use the Teach Yourself Language Courses at their own pace or as a supplement to formal courses. These complete courses are based on the very latest learning methods and designed to be enjoyable and user-friendly.

Prepared by experts in the language, each course begins with the basics and gradually promotes the student to a level of smooth and confident communication, including:

Up-to-date, graded interactive dialogues
Graded units of culture notes, grammar, and exercises
Step-by-step guide to pronunciation
Practical vocabulary
Regular and irregular verb tables
Plenty of practice exercises and answers
Bilingual glossary
The new editions also feature:

Clear, uncluttered, and user-friendly layout
Self-assessment quizzes to test progress
Website suggestions to take language study further ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

taech yourself brazilian portugesecompleate course
I recieved your product, it's fast. But not compleate it isno cd. I can't use this book complealy, it no sound.

Not as bad as the reviews suggest
I'm not sure why the majority here are trashing this book. Some reviewers sound more like scholars of the Portuguese language rather than consumers who are looking for a basic introduction to BP. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen so many people with axes to grind who paid ~$20 for a book and 2 cds. Get over it. If you want the language spoon fed to you without any ambiguities, then take a class. So what if the woman on the CD has a British accent or if you think the presentation is geared to UK readers. I speak American English and I don't find this to be a barrier to understanding the exercises nor the examples. I also don't think that any instructional course is going to give you perfect examples of pronunciation to Brazilian Portuguese because there are regional variations. I'm halfway through the book and I'm finding it very helpful and enjoyable which is saying a lot for a language instruction course book. I've tried a few other do-it-yourself books on learning Portuguese and I believe this one to be the most practical and concise ... and painless. I actually enjoy and look forward to opening up the book and picking up where I left off, whereas with some others, I have a feeling of dread just looking at the book on my shelf. Are there flaws? Maybe. But I don't know enough Portuguese to notice them. I like the sample dialogues; the boxes that define key phrases and grammatical concepts, and the illustrations. Of course, to get a different perspective, it's a good idea to use more than one book when trying to teach yourself a new language. However, I'm glad I started with this one. It packs a lot of information into 230 pages. You get a BP/Eng to Eng/BP dictionary; a glossary of grammatical terms and a cheat sheet for the numbers. So, I think if you're new to the language and travelling to Brazil for the first time and want to feel comfortable enough to ask basic questions and grasp the major concepts of BP, then this book will be helpful and worth the investment.

Great for the grammar.
This book is very good for the grammatical pat of the Brazilian Portugese language, however, one still needs a CD to listen to the pronunciation.

Home study of Brazilian Portuguese
Teach Yourself Brazilian Portuguese Complete Course Package (Book + 2CDs) (Teach Yourself Language Complete Courses)
This is fairly easy to get started and in depth enough to make itworthwhile - the mixture of written and spoken language is useful as are the revision sections.Well worth the money if you need to learn more than the very basics.

I want my money back...
The audio CD doesn't gives only one or two exercises where you can repond and focuses almost exclusively on listening.In addition, the written exercises do not follow what is on the CD so often you don't know if you have completed the exercises correctly or not. My husband is Brazilian and I speak fluent Spanish so I understand spoken Portuguese.I wanted something to help me with my pronunciation and grammer, but this wasn't it!

Annoying waste of money!


... Read more

Product Description
Bestselling language courses now with audio CDs !

From Catonese to Thai, Gaelic to Modern Persian, learning the languages of the world is attainable for any beginning student. Learners can use the Teach Yourself Language Courses at their own pace or as a supplement to formal courses. These complete courses are based on thievery latest learning methods and designed to be enjoyable and user-friendly.

Prepared by experts in the language, each course begins with the basics and gradually promotes the student to a level of smooth and confident communication, including:

• Up-to-date, graded interactive dialogues
• Graded units of culture notes, grammar, and exercises
• Step-by-step guide to pronunciation
• Practical vocabulary
• Regular and irregular verb tables
• Plenty of practice exercises and answers
• Bilingual glossary

The new editions also feature:

• Clear, uncluttered, and user-friendly layout
• Self-assessment quizzes to test progress
• Website suggestions to take language study further

Customer Reviews (14)

Not recommended
I do not think this is a good book to learn Latin. The method used in this book, if there is any method used at all, is not suited to self-learning. Explanations are confusing, missing, not clear. I would highly advice not to buy this book at all.

Worth it, if you're willing to take some flaws
While the product description lives up to its word in saying progression comes quickly in this user-friendly guide, there are far too many inexcusable flaws in this text. First, a number of the readings are not explained fully, leaving a layperson in the dark about why a certain case is used when all the rules say otherwise. Second, the glossary is laughably thrown together. It gives many of the words used in the actual book, but there are some which are not found in the glossary, so some may find themselves going to another latin/english dictionary. It is absurd how this came to be the final product, when so many of its faults are obvious.

On a good note, the material in each chapter is presented piecemeal, so one does not feel bogged down. There are also historical pendants at the end of some chapters, giving one some background on the language.

In response to the other unfavorable reviews on here, I can only say that I myself had no trouble with the author's grammar. It was, I believe, the editing process that was slipshod.

Not for beginners
I don't recommend this book for beginners, and I'm sure experienced Latin learners could find a better refresher course elsewhere.The book seems to go out of its way to present everything in as dull and user-unfriendly a format as possible, from huge tables of declensions with very little accompanying information to surprisingly bad descriptions of grammatical functions(this book features the worst description of a pluperfect tense I have ever seen).

For those like me who are interested in working their way into the language slowly on their own time, I recommend the Oxford Latin course, which is quite simple (sometimes too much so) but not hopelessly discouraging, as this book is.

Teach Yourself Latin...provided you already know it
This book is certainly not for beginners. It's more of a review for someone who already has a firm grasp on conjugation, cases, and so on. If you're an autodidact working your way into Latin, forget this one. My recommendation would be to spend your money instead on something like Lingua Latina (a direct-method reader) and/or Wheelock's.

It's my opinion that this book will serve more to confuse right up front and very likely discourage further study into the language.

Serious Grammar
A serious study of Latin grammar - not for the casual reader.More for the very well-versed.Not the book we wanted.Includes 5-page index, and 41-page Latin-English dictionary.The print is good, and the book looks reasonably well organized.Title is highly misleading. ... Read more

Product Description

Fast, focused lessons for when you need to learn the essentials of a new language--today!

Customer Reviews (3)

These CDs are great for short trips
I have now used the one-day Italian, French and German and all have been fantastic for learning some basic words to get about in the respective countries. You aren't going to learn the language, of course, but you can quickly and enjoyably develop a bit of an ear for it, as well as learn basic phrases needed for eating and getting around. I highly recommend this CD.

If you're going to Italy then get this CD first
If you are going to Italy and you don't know any Italian - get this CD and listen to it before you go.

I listened to it in my car on the way to work for several days before my recent trip to Italy and it was great. 50 very useful words and excellent pronunciation. It was great learning by listening and Elisabeth Smith has a great demeanor on the audio tracks that keeps you interested in learning the language.

The words she taught I used every day I was in Italy. They helped me give a very good impression to the Italians I dealt with in train stations, bakeries, restaurants and hotels and even on the street. Just by saying a few words in Italian generated immediate empathy for me as a traveler by the Italians I met and they would then go out of their way to help me.This CD made my trip to Italy much more enjoyable.

Elisabeth did a good job pacing the teaching so it built your confidence in speaking the new Italian words. She stuck to what was practical and usable.

I highly recommend this CD to anyone traveling to Italy.

I just bought her One-Day German CD for my daughter who will be studying in Berlin in a few weeks so she can pick up a little traveler's German. I was delighted when I found Elisabeth had produced a German CD. My daughter specifically asked if she had because I had let my daughter use the One-Day Italian CD by Elisabeth and she loved it, too. And my daughter has taken 6 years of French and is much better at languages than I am.

So go out and get this CD, you'll be glad you did.

Good Things Come in Small Packages
I recently purchased Teach Yourself One-Day Italian before a trip to Venice, Italy.I purchased the CD as a supplement to a 16 lessons set of Pimsleur Italian I had purchased and Michel Thomas' Deluxe Italian 8 CD set.I was very impressed with Elisabeth Smith's format and presentation.Far superior to any one CD language lesson I have come across and listened to.The CD provides exactly what it offers - 50 important words and a few sentences to help you on vacation.The format was very entertaining and instructive.It was easy and fun to listen to the CD over and over again as reinforcement of the learning process.I highly recommend this CD to anyone who wants to learn a few basic words and sentences before a trip.I was so impressed that I purchased all of Elisabeth Smith's other Teach Yourself One-Day CDs (French, German, Spanish and Greek).They all follow the same format.I always appreciate knowing a few basic words of the language of the country I am visiting.Typically, I use Pimsleur Level 1 CDs to get a basic grasp of a language and learn how to correctly pronounce the words.However, Pimsleur is costly.For those interested in just learning a few words at a great cost, you can't go wrong purchasing any of the Teach Yourself One-Day language CDs.The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because she made me want to learn another 50 words right away.I would immediately purchase any CD Ms. Smith would put out that offered to teach me 100 to 300 basic words and sentences using a similar learning format. Thank you for a great product.I only hope others will purchase these little gems to keep them in circulation. ... Read more

Product Description

Learn Swedish in just 10 lessons!

Perfect for complete beginners or those in need of a brush up, Teach Yourself Swedish Conversation introduces you to the key words, useful phrases, grammar, and sample conversations you will need to start speaking Swedish immediately. In this audio program there are plenty of review opportunities, so you can gauge your progress and reinforce what you have learned.

You also get additional guidance on holding two-way conversations, addressing such issues as speaking with people who talk very fast or use words and phrases you don't know.

Customer Reviews (5)

WAY too little material
Don't expect to get a good understanding of the Swedish language with this. It consists of basically a booklet of about a dozen short conversations and three CDs to follow along. Not to mention an annoying little jingle/song in between each track. And the English speaker keeps interupting.

it's simple
I'm a first time learner and I like it because it's informative, simple, and easy to understand. But I do wish there were more phrases. Over all it is a great starter.

Very basic level
The idea "listen and learn without ever reading the text" is good, however it fails to be effective owing to very limited number of dialogs availble on CD1 and CD2, too much English language in between, all explanatory material could have been put in the booklet that comes with CDs, it is stupid to listen to English speaker again and again especially with that cheap music in the background. The third CD is the only worth listening to (it delivers better immersion into Swedish language, how ever more challenging for absolute beginners), the overall impression is still the material covered is very very basic, however given the low price tag it might be useful for people who would like to start with the concept of Spoken languages.

Hej
Its pretty good if you're just starting out.... they speak slowly and gradually increase the speed.
If you already know some swedish youll probably start learning new stuff by half way through... the third CD is great if you havea good knowledge of swedish already.

Sleepy speakers
It never ceases to amaze me how poor the native speakers are on language tapes. One of the women's voices sounds as if she just woke up from a long nap and is being forced to speak into the microphone. Even if it is a good idea to get one's ears used to different speakers, there's not much learning going on if the voices are garbled and ugly.
I highly recommend the complete Teach Yourself Swedish book and its 2 cd's. The voices are clear and easy to understand. ... Read more

Product Description
You can use Teach Yourself Arabic Complete Course to learn at your own pace or as a supplement to your classwork. This complete course utilizes the very latest learning methods in an enjoyable and user-friendly format.

The new edition also features:

• Engaging visual materials such as menus, photographs, signs, and tickets
• Two CD recordings allowing quick and easy access to individual lessons and exercises
• A clear, accessible new page design
• Strong, striking cover photography

Customer Reviews (33)

I hated this book. Well, I used to....see update below.
I really liked this book when it was the older addition but the 2001-2003 edition is horrible. Too much transliteration seems to be the one stressed to read instead of trying to learn the actual script, which ruins it; you used to have to try to think about the script in doing the lessons as well, to help you learn to both read and write in Arabic. In the older versions, yes, there were words that you didn't need to know and some political mish-mosh but the good things about them were they forced you with every exercise to think about and use what words you just learned in the lesson and the previous lessons. Its the thinking process that mattered, not the words totally.
***UPDATE****UPDATE***
I was pretty harsh in my review of this book but considering this book has like, 5-6 revisions and Amazon NEVER or takes forever to change the pics to reflect the newer editions or the editions use the same pics; you can't tell which one you are doing. Having said that, I must retract my former review. I sheepishly admit that when I first looked at this copy, I rather hastily thumbed thru it and found all the faults I had with it and delved no further. But it kinda bugged me and since there are so few Arabic resources, especially inexpensive ones, I had to look at it again. I realized I had made a grave mistake. After looking at several lessons as a whole and going thru it chapter by chapter, I have to say I actually like it and more than I thought I could/would. These books at first were not really marketed toward the super serious learner who would probably go on to learn more from another source. They were mainly geared to people who were going on a trip for an extended visit, wanted to chat with in-laws or locals, or wanted to dabble in knowing a language ok but not 100% and impress their friends.

There is a method in how the book is laid out and why they included some things from old editions and why they threw out most of it. One of the new things they do, is omit the vowel markings from jump street. So starting at page one, you are on your own if you want to read it by Arabic script and not transliteration, which I like but the thing that bugs me is that the transliteration is so prominent and in your face the way they have it on the page, you automatically focus on those words first and not the script.

However, where TY is starting to differ and improve, is that they have been learning over the past 6 or so years, that they are getting people who are truly serious about learning another language and are gearing their newer editions for people who want to continue on and actually become fluent. As a result, each edition has gotten better and better; they got rid of a lot of the "fluffy nonsense" they used to have before. It used to be about hotels, visas, restaurant ordering, booking a car, etc. Not so much anymore. They do have some of that because let's face it, you will have to learn that at some point plus its just good to know!

Now, they are more relevant to today's situations and has useful phrases that you will actually need and want to say/learn. It has a lot more practical usage of vocabulary and phrases than before. They have gotten rid of the political, useless dialog and have made you read and learn the script earlier on than in previous editions. You start having to read Arabic script as a whole, by lesson 6; before it wasn't until almost the last 3 or 4 chapters of the book. So if you don't know the script, I suggest you get the Beginning Arabic script book in the series along with it. Not every TY book is perfect and I have to remember, as well you should, too, is that the books and CD's are no substitute for getting out there and learning the language first hand, i.e. using it and speaking to native speakers! Without that, no matter what course you buy, French, Italian, Croat, Russian, etc, even the best structured course is totally useless.

Please don't not skip buying this course because of bad reviews especially if you know NO Arabic at all and want to learn something. Buy it with an open mind and just do the work before passing judgment like I did. If you don't know any Arabic at all, you can't help but learn a lot before the course is through, so you will be the best winner vs. some of us who already have a language or two under our belt and look at these programs with a more critical eye. As someone once said to me, every course good or bad, has something you can glean from it whether it be grammar or pronunciation or placement...whatever. All courses can yield something you didn't know before and maybe you wouldn't have known if you hadn't gotten it. I think that is true. If you want to continue on with the language you chose, get some supplemental material, like a good dictionary, a phrase book and another course in the language. Another course is good because every teacher is different and you learn more with each course. Anyway, that is my take and I am glad that I can come back and amend this one.

a well-done introduction
This text stands almost alone among those available purporting to teach Modern Standard Arabic,because the authors (two longtime Arabic teachers)actually went to considerable pains to craft a course that addresses the aspects of Arabic that beginning learners find most difficult. The section on pronunciation is very thorough and gives learners an actual idea of how to make the many sounds of the language that are new (and often difficult). As someone who has labored with materials on many languages where you don't get much more advice than to 'imitate the pronunciation on the CD', this is a feature I particularly appreciate. The treatment of the grammar is not particularly rigorous (Elementary Modern Standard Arabic,the 'big orange' book of Abboud, Erwin, McCarus et al goes into the grammar in much more detail) but regular practice with this book will give a very intuitive sense for making one's own Arabic sentences. The vocabulary is well-chosen, too: early lessons give all the essentials for getting around and asking directions, and from there the book moves on to a number of interesting and useful everyday topics.Two small complaints:a section on how to hand-write Arabic would be helpful, and perhaps some introductory coverage of the case endings that come up in much more formal usage. This book concentrates on a very basic, everyday form of the language, which is fine, but students who want to move on to more advanced materials will be in for an unnecessarily unpleasant surprise if they don't at least know that there are grammatical endings that aren't treated here.

Thank you
Your delivery time was really short. I have been living in Turkey. And also I satisfief from the book. Nice cover, nice subjects and good teaching are covered.

Useful but still needs improvement
Learning Arabic on your own is a struggle. Your struggle is harder if textbooks are below standard. Admittedly, the author put a lot of effort into the book but efforts alone don't make this texbook good for self-learning.

There are good sides:
The main texts are accompanied by a rather thorough (sometimes incomplete) vocabulary, literal translation translation, grammar notes and the main thing - audio recordings.

Verb tables are well organised. Although, I am still struggling to understand how some of them work (especially when the refer back to other tables), I think they are useful. Would be good to use more common terminology (e.g. hollow verbs).

If the textbooks had only the above items, then it wouldn't be too bad, although, there is very little repetition and review of the learned words.

The bad sides:
Many exercises starting around the middle of the book are useless, they are not based on vocabulary or grammar learned before and they are missing the new vocabulary and the vocalisation/romanisation. Check the job advertisment chapter - it's awful! Many exercises are similarly unmanageable, even with the answer provided, in my opinion, at least if you do them on your own.

There is a lot of room for improvement:

The vocabulary should be complete and include ALL the words that appear in the textbook, including all newspaper ads, signs, pictures, etc. and provide some guide on which form they appear in (e.g. passive voice).

The exercises should have enough information to enable the learner to complete them without consulting native speakers or Arabic teachers.

The romanisation is consistent but a more common or a standard romanisation would be more beneficial, e.g. no one uses ":" (colon) for `ayn (3ayn).

Despite my critisism, I like the textbook and I will get back to some of the exercises, I wasn't able to complete when I get more knowledge from other books.

Perhaps, Arabic textbook writers need to look how Chinese and Japanese textbooks are organised + more focus on grammar. The approach is not too different.

Not Too Helpful
I bought this book shortly after starting to self-study Arabic using Rosetta Stone software.What I was hoping to find was a well written, useful book the basics of spoken Arabic with effective drills and exercises to facilitate retention.This is not what I found with the Teach Yourself book.Let me highlight some of the glaring deficiencies for you, and then decided if this book is right for you.

1.The Arabic script is barely even touched upon.

2.The Arabic script which is used in the book does not include vowel marks ANYWHERE.This makes learning new words and being able to read new words nearly impossible.It is true, written Arabic seldom includes the vowels in practice, with the only exception being education materials for children because they are just learning the language... ummmmmm isn't that what we are trying to do too?

3.Exercises in the book quickly become worthless due to the issue mentioned in #2.The book asks you to read passages of words you never learned and asks questions you can't possibly answer.

4.The audio exercises do not add much value to the book and suffer similar problems as #3.

5.Many chapters consist of just a collection a phrases used for particular situations.This kind of content should not be the main focus of an educational language book.After all, we are trying to learn how to speak the language, not walk around like a tourist with a travel phrase book.

6.New vocabulary that is introduced is not reiterated nearly enough to allow for retention.In some parts of the book it is like reading from the pages of a dictionary...

I could go on and nitpick at this book a little more, but the important things are mentioned above.Many people have noted some of the points I made in their reviews, but then have ultimately given the book a 4 or 5 star score citing that it does have basic grammar points explained clearly.I would say that is the absolute minimum you would expect from a self teaching language book.That doesn't make it praiseworthy!"Teach Yourself" certainly is what will not be happening with this book.I could only recommend it if you want a extremely mediocre reference book on Arabic.I hope my review is helpful to you. ... Read more

Product Description

Here you¿ll find a host of ways todevelop or enhance your grammarteaching skills. How to Teach Grammardemonstrates methods for practicinga variety of grammar topics, dealingwith errors, and integrating grammarinstruction into general methodologiessuch as task-based learning.

Customer Reviews (3)

A good book to keep in your home library!
I think this book is a must-have. It is systematic and at the end of each section there is a conclusion, like a wrap-up. As much information as you can get on the internet there is nothing like having a book of this kind in your hands as a ready-reckoner. I use this book in my own home school; its a good book.

A "How To Hit" Again
"How to Teach Grammar", like others in the series, (How To Teach Pronunciation (Book with Audio CD)), is an excellent and very practical resource. As always, it is written with the classroom teacher in mind, and Scott Thornbury has written a very accessible and very useful book.

The book covers some broad areas, such as why teach grammar and even how "NOT" to teach it. Thornbury gives three broad approaches: teaching grammar from examples, texts and rules. He also covers issues related to correcting it, practicing it and integrating it through a couple of different approaches, (such as PPP and skills-based teaching).

I found the book an excellent resource for new ideas and getting a fresh look at a complex issue. If you have been a teach for awhile and happen to be looking for a renewed outlook on grammar, this could be a book that you need to see. I loved it, and still refer to it a lot.

An excellent guide to a perplexing subject
Anyone who has ever tried to learn a foreign language knows how hard it is to take what you know and get it down on paper accurately or utter a correct sentence. Teachers in turn wonder why the grammar they teach doesn't seem to "stick." Scott Thornbury tries to provide some answers in a clear, readable primer on how to teach grammar.

I'm using this book in a course I'm taking in teaching grammar, and I think it's excellent. Numerous books and papers have been written on the subject, and Thornbury neatly summarizes the arguments for and against teaching grammar in a short two chapters. But as a practical matter we DO teach grammar, and Thornbury quickly gets down to the nitty-gritty of explaining and analysing the ways to do it. What I like about this book is the lavish use of examples and sample lessons. He urges that teachers develop personal theories of teaching grammar--there are plenty of theories and methods, but I think one can only decide by trying them on for size. Attention to the organization of the chapters and a neat "Conclusions" section at the end of every chapter makes navigating through this book easy. Highly recommended.



... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent introduction to Modern Greek
This book is now out of print, it's the older book from the original Teach Yourself series, but it's better and easier to use than the book currently filling its slot in the Teach Yourself series.

This is the book to get if you want to learn modern Greek
I'm only a couple of lessons into Teach Yourself Modern Greek, but it is already a great learning experience.I'm half Greek and know some things from relatives and others from various books I've picked up over the years.This book does a good job of putting together the things I know with things I didn't (namely vocab and some of the case forms) and puts it into practice.This is not a crazy intensive book where you have to spend a month on a lesson to retain anything.It is actually a more laid-back book that you can work on at your own pace.It seems that, in general, each page works off the last, meaning you build upon what you learned in the last section.There is vocabulary for each section and then examples with translation, fill in the blank exercises and translation exercises.I find these to be a great tool for practical retention of the information presented in each section.When I finish this book, I plan on digging into my copy of Peter Mackridge's The Modern Greek Language, which is an all-out grammar of modern Greek.Another grammar book that just gives you the essentials of modern Greek is called Essential Modern Greek Grammar.Get this if you know a decent amount of Greek but don't understand the grammatical structures (mainly morpho-syntax) that form the foundation of the language, not that Greek is a hard language for English speakers to pick up.All in all, I don't know why I went so long without Teach Yourself Modern Greek.It's probably that it isn't on the shelves at most bookstores and is an older book.Don't let that scare you off though; this is the book to get if you want to learn modern Greek, even if you have no prior knowledge of the language.The hardest
parts about Greek for most English speakers will be the lexicon(many words are totally different from their English counterparts and there is more than one word for many things) and the case system.Neither is a tall barrier.Alas, this isn't Russian we're learning here!Once you learn the alphabet and the few nuances involved with the alphabet, you'll be able to read almost anything in Greek (handwriting might still be an issue though it's not far off from typed words.If you have a decent accent when speaking a Romance language, especially Spanish, you will have little trouble getting good at pronouncing Greek.Of course, the only way to get really good is to hear and mimic the spoken language.Easy for me to say, having grown up around spoken Greek (not that I understood
most of it).For this I recommend just stopping into a Greek diner and listening to the owners.They usually sit either at one of the booths near the counter or at the counter.Just go where you hear Greek spoken and try to lipsync after them.Sometimes they'll be speaking too fast, but you'll get at least several chances to copy them.Then you can go talk to them in Greek and they'll be more than happy to help you out with your form and pronunciation.Email me at robbyhenionatyahoodotcom if you have any more questions.

Better than a lot of more recent books
I used this little book to teach myself Modern Greek after giving up hope with a couple of glitzier and higher-priced courses.It really is a shame that this book has been allowed to go out of print because it beats its competition going away.

The grammar-based approach to language instruction seems to have gone out of fashion,but for a clearly- written,systematic exposition of how demotic Greek works,this is still the top of the line.The examples in the lessons and the exercises will work very well for learning the language inductively even if the terminology seems intimidating.

This book will be very rewarding to anyone who perseveres with it. ... Read more

Product Description
After graduating from the University of Washington, Caleb Powell found teaching English a good way to travel and not have to pay. The World is a Class is the guidebook he and many other fledgling teachers wish they'd had as they set out on their adventures. TThis book is for you, whether you are from the younger generation, trying to pay off debt, or want to retire, and the book offers help for people hoping to teach anywhere in the world in places where TESL is in demand. South and Central America, Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and even Western Europe and Africa. The book contains relevant information pertinent for teaching that apply to many countries, including Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, China, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt, Czech Republic, Poland, Turkey, Greece, Hungary, Bulgary, Poland, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Columbia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, the Carribean, and a general overview of the more difficult places to find employment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Its a PAMPHLET! 68 pages of large type print.
I am sorry, but some of the prices for this thing are absurd. I paid $8 for it and I feel ripped off.Even if it is a fairly informative pamphlet.

Simple and direct
Well written.Well edited.Simple and direct.Already being loaned to one of my friends who is going to SE Asia with me.

Good Practical advice
The world is a Class offers some practical insights about what its like to teach abroad.It's helpful if you are considering trying this.It's pretty brief and somewhat repetitive, but a quick read and a good place to start an investigation.

very good read
This book is very informative and is written by a very experienced english teacher. This is the perfect book for someone interested in transitioning into this career field.

Once over lightly,,,,
The author sounds like a pleasant fellow, but his presentation of his adventures as a teacher of English abroad is rather superficial, a once-over-lightly recounting of his experiences, and not particularly well written. For someone thinking of teaching English abroad, as I am, I think it would be practically useless. ... Read more

Product Description
Ideal resource for foreign language teachers and others involved in the development & implementation of curriculum. The example lesson are for Spanish, French, German, Latin, Chinese and Japanese classrooms, but the ideas can be used for teaching almost any language. ... Read more

Product Description
Teach Yourself English Vocabulary should appeal to all learners of English as a foreign/second language who want to increase their vocabulary. Its structured, thematic approach means that it can be used as a reference tool or a systematic way of learning vocabulary. The book could also provide supplementary material for a course and act as useful preparation for an assignment or revision of a topic. ... Read more

Product Description

From Cantonese to Thai, Gaelic to Modern Persian, learning the languages of the world isattainable for any beginning student. Learners can use the Teach Yourself Complete LanguageCourses at their own pace or as a supplement to formal courses.

All Teach Yourself Complete Language Courses include:

• Up-to-date, graded interactive dialogues
• Graded units of culture notes, grammar, andexercises
• Step-by-step guides to pronunciation
• Practical vocabulary
• Regular and irregular verb tables
• A bilingual glossary
• A clear, uncluttered, and user-friendly layout
• Self-assessment quizzes to test progress
• Fully updated audio recordings on CD foreasy access and review

Customer Reviews (16)

It won't teach you the language unless you put in a huge amount of time!
If you are really interested in Norwegian and have the time to put into a reading course like this it may be able to teach you the basics. It is structured well and organized simple enough for most people to understand. The problem is the course is very limited and does not really help you learn what you need to learn in everyday conversation.I would recommend buying this with a English Norwegian dictionary and perhaps another companion Norwegian learning book to reference in some cases. Alone it CAN do the job but it might be a bit tough.

Great Product
Got this as a gift for my husband who is learning Norwegian. He is very happy with it & said it has helped a lot. He started out with another set of computer discs for beginners but was ready to try a different one hoping it would be more challenging. He said this was a good choice & is doing well with it.

Very Helpful
I really enjoyed going through this book. It provides such an easy to follow structure, with a humorous at times story line. I'm not sure if the story line in the text is meant to be funny, but when it's talking about things like tossing back some beer and jumping on a motorcylce to then later get in a motorcycle accident. The structure of the book helped me to retain the information very well. Words are introduced and explained well in each chapter, and in later chapters the same words are brought up for review. I would recommend this book.

Under impressed by teach yourself norwegian..
I bought teach yourself norwegian before taking a trip to Norway this last christmas. I also bought the teach yourself norwegian conversation CD package as well. It was not really what I expected but it has not been a bad book either. I would not recommend someone buying it brand new maybe used and if it were not too expensive it is a good source of help but I feel as though a true class would be 100% better than this book. I think if you have a lot of time to dedicate to this book it is okay. All of the narration is in a british accent and some of the slang is english as well. As someone with a norwegian significant other I have learned more from him than what this book has done for me.

Good way to learn Norwegian
I think it's the best way to learn norwegian by yourself, and for a cheap price.

The lessons are easy to understand and every unit ends with exercices to make sure you learned everything well.

With the CDs, you'll get use to hear the Norwegian langage. Of course, they speak slower than norwegian people having a real conversation, but you are here to learn. ... Read more

Product Description
You can use Teach Yourself Ukranian Complete Course to learn at your own pace or as a supplement to your classwork. This complete course utilizes the very latest learning methods in an enjoyable and user-friendly format.

The new edition also features:

• Engaging visual materials such as menus, photographs, signs, and tickets
• Two CD recordings allowing quick and easy access to individual lessons and exercises
• A clear, accessible new page design
• Strong, striking cover photography

Customer Reviews (17)

Helpful but the CD's useless
The book itself is nice, I too wish it spent a little longer on the alphabet and pronunciation. You'll have to find some other listening source to help with pronunciation because like others have said the CDs move WAY too fast. Overall, for the price, it's not so bad. You can find some videos on youtube that have words and pictures like kids videos and those can help enough with pronunciation. The CDs are okay to listen too but there's really not enough time to repeat properly and not enough repetition to really help you learn.

Not what I expected
This book had really great reviews. However, the cds do not always match up to the text in the book. Found it frustrating to use, sometimes hard to follow and sometimes they speak way too fast on the cd to hear the proper pronunciation.

Too much too fast!
WHOA!The first chapter teaches 33 sounds/letters in lower case type and then shows the same 33 in cursive?That's 66 different symbols to absorob before one has even gotten to page 12.Way too crammed and frustrating.
Also, the use of two different fonts (New Times Roman and another thicker font) on the same page are not helpful; the letters do not resemble one another enough.Now we're up to 33 printed letters, 33 cursive 33 in one font and 33 in another. Might seem picky but not if one's trying to differentiate between a Ukrainian "L" and "P: I found myself wishing for a magnifying glass and I don't even wear glasses.

I'll use this text as a weak reference (glossary is irritatingly incomplete.) I've learned more on line in 2 hrs.with a headset than I have dilligently studying the first chapter of this text for about 20 or more hours.

PS:
I'm a veteran English teacher, have heard Ukrainian spoken most of my life by fluent grandparents and believe I communicate adequately in French and Spanish.

Excellant Seller
The book arrived in excellant condition. Shipment fast. A pleasure to do business with sellers like this one. In fact we bought a second one.Thank You

Excellent material but...
It's content was obviously prepared well however:

1. the type size is too small, especially for the Cyrillic characters that are boldfaced; this suggests that...

2. the book dimensions are too small; although it's obviously intended for portability, still...

3. the authors should've been more helpful with tips and such about the learned ability of reading Cyrillic, and...

3. the explanation of the grammatical terms are insufficient (e.g., how many people know what "instrumental case" means without consulting reference material?), and finally...

4. the index is too brief.

It still gets four stars though simply because of its excellent and comprehensive content. ... Read more

Product Description
A Musical Journey Through the DayIntroduce kid's to the Italian language through songs and story. Learn days of the week, numbers, colors, and the alphabet as you sing along and learn. Sings include the ABC Song, Head Shoulders Knees & Toes, One Elephant and many more familiar tunes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Lots of nice songs for young children
We have many Italian and dual language books and CDs for our child to learn Italian, and this one is our second favorite, next to "Baby's First Words in Italian". This CD contains mostly American children's songs translated into Italian (a few native Italian songs), and the narration uses native speakers. A very good product; well worth it.

DISAPPOINTED
IT WAS NOT WHAT I EXPECTED. I BOUGHT IT FOR MY SON AND HE DID NOT LIKE IT AT ALL. IT HAD NO INSTRUCTIONS, IT DID NOT TELL YOU HOW TO PRONOUNCE THE WORDS. IT WAS JUST SONGS IN ITALIAN. IT DID NOT "TEACH".

Teach Me Italian
A lovely product.Very engaging children's songs in Italian/English and a range of short dialogues.Full translation provided.

don't buy it!
I agree with Lorena from Milan. I am Italian as well and if you want your kid to learn Italian in the right way, especially pronunciation, stay away from this book. The leading singer has a very strong accent that makes it hard for me at times to understand what she is singing (and I am a NATIVE Italian and I teach Italian in the US so I am used to bad accents...)
Also, the songs are translated in a way that does not match the music, so when I listen to it, it gives me the chills. You can find much more authentic material around done and sang by real Italians!!

Teach Me Italian: A Musical Journey Through the Day
This book and CD are AWESOME! I have three kids: 6, 4 1/2, and 2 1/2, and they all LOVE to sing along with the songs on this CD.It has been a huge hit in our household.I think the songs are very catchy - I have even caught myself humming along with them in my head at other times during the day!

This set is perfect if you have little ones that can't read yet - my 2 1/2 year old was counting in Italian before he was couting in English!!! ... Read more