Basic Tagalog for Foreigners and Non-Tagalogs (Tuttle Language Library) Review

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Basic Tagalog for Foreigners and Non-Tagalogs (Tuttle Language Library) ReviewI guess I'm a little bit spoiled by some excellent material in other Asian languages. This isn't the worst language book I've ever worked through (Speak Cantonese, Book II, by Huang, unquestionably takes that honor) but it is definitely substandard in several areas that a language learner of even average interest and motivation would find important. I give it two stars mostly because one-and-a-half, which would have been my first choice, was not offered as an option.
First, most of the exercises are of the "do it yourself" variety, where one starts with a word list and is told to make up sentences from there. Even when the book does give the reader sentences to translate, there is no key in the back that would give any idea of how close to a correct sentence one had come;
Second, there are a number of sentences in the book where words are used which are not defined, either in the lesson or in the glossary in back, a particularly serious sin of omission since Tagalog dictionaries are not thick on the ground;
Third, there are no conversations, just freestanding sentences and short narratives, so one is left with very little (if any) idea about how Tagalog is actually used;
Fourth, very little about the book is cumulative: each chapter treats a separate area of Tagalog grammar topically, and only rarely, do the later lessons build on earlier ones.
I would guess that when this book was written, it was aimed at an audience of people who had access to Tagalog speakers on a regular basis (e.g., Americans living in the Phillipines). For someone who has had to use the book as his primary Tagalog source material,(rather than as a support) it just doesn't make the grade. I'm writing this review mostly as an urgent plea to Routledge, Teach Yourself, Hugo and other publishers who have brought out first-class materials for other languages: Help! Help! Help! Tagalog is a fascinating language indeed and it deserves better treatment than it has had up til now- if anything, this is probably the best Tagalog book I have.Basic Tagalog for Foreigners and Non-Tagalogs (Tuttle Language Library) OverviewTagalog, the language of the Philippines, is spoken by millions of people.Learn how to communicate with them in fifty carefully planned, eminently practical lessons in this self-study guide. Basic Tagalog intends to teach Tagalog to English speakers with a minimum of time and effort.It includes a structured introduction of eight hundred words of vocabulary, sufficient to cover daily needs; common idioms; and offers hints and study methods suggested by previous students of this method.After a small investment of time, you'll find yourself prepared for everyday situations and have a glimpse of the lives and culture of Filipinos around the world.

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