Complete French: The Basics (Coursebook) (Complete Basic Courses) Review

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Complete French: The Basics (Coursebook) (Complete Basic Courses) ReviewI bought this french lesson kit 3 years ago, before a trip to France. I didnt know any french whatsoever, never had a class, watched a movie, nothing. Thinking back, I think the package said "beginner to intermediate". I consider myself a quick study and thought it'd be perfect.
I had a difficult time learning. And it wasnt until a few years later (now) that I understand why I wasnt learning anything. This kit is designed to learn by memorization. It doesnt focus on structure. It gives you page after page of "everyday" sentences, then has vocab at the end. But it doesnt explain HOW the french language works. So you're memorizing and then you quickly forget. It does have a lil something about the etre and avoir. But thats it. It doesnt explain things like inversion, but we're supposed to memorize it??
With that said, this is a GREAT book for intermediate level. It is excellent for honing your pronunciation skills, the listening CDs go on for HOURS. If you've had at least ONE semester of french, then this is perfect for you. Because thats when you already have an understanding of the language, and you're more focused on expanding your vocab and pronunciation/speaking. This kit is PERFECT for that.Complete French: The Basics (Coursebook) (Complete Basic Courses) OverviewLearn French in 4 Simple Steps.With Living Language Complete French: The Basics, you'll start by learning words, and then you'll progress to phrases, sentences, and conversations. This simple four-step building block approach will have you speaking with confidence right from the beginning, and you'll be able to learn gradually and effectively. If you're confident in your pronunciation, then this coursebook includes everything you need - vocabulary, grammar, culture, and practice. This comprehensive coursebook includes:• 40 step-by-step lessons• Practical vocabulary and authentic everyday usage• Simple explanations and plenty of examples• Supplemental sections, including e-mail and internet resources• A comprehensive grammar reference section

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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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Turkish, Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand Turkish with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsleur) Review

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Turkish, Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand Turkish with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsleur) ReviewTurkish has been a pretty glaring hole in the Pimsleur catalog for some time now. It always seemed a bit strange that a company that takes the trouble to make programs for Irish, Ojibwe and Lithuanian would overlook a language with over 60 million speakers in such an important part of the world. Further, Turkey does everything it can to reach out to the West, economically, culturally and politically.
But after studying Turkish on my own for a while, I came to see why it may have gotten pushed to the back-burner. It is not a terribly difficult language to learn, but it is quite different in its structure to languages that have previously been produced by Pimsleur. Like Hungarian and Finnish - other popular languages that don't have Pimsleur courses - Turkish is an agglutanized language, which simply means that sentence structures are formed in large part by building on the base word. For example, they don't use prepositions as we do in English, they merely add a suffix on the word. "Sut" means "milk", "sutlu" means "with milk." School is "okul" - from school is "okuldan." And so forth.
While this concept alone doesn't make Turkish improbable for the Pimsleur format, bear in mind that words can become quite complicated when you begin adding attachments for possessive cases, plurals, location, tense, etc. It is not uncommon for words to eventually grow into the size of small sentences. And note negation; "I understand" is "biliyorum" but "I don't understand" is "bilMIyorum." So proper listening requires you to catch agglutinzed portions of the word in the middle of the sentence, otherwise the meaning is completely the opposite of what is understood.
Ok, with that out of the way it must be said that Pimsleur did a superb job of comporting Turkish into the script format that has remained pretty consistent through the various languages. Unlike Spanish or Italian, the pace is a little slower to make sure you "get" what is being accomplished as the vocabulary is built up and key concepts are explained. But the pace does keep up, which I found to be very satisfying. One of the great assets of Pimsleur (as opposed to say, the "Rocket" audio programs) is the lack of pointless chit-chat in English, and the steady pace to keep you focused on the target language. The Turkish script not only navigated the tricky points of Turkish quite well, but also happened to give among the most clear and concise introductions into the points of grammar as they came.
Again the voices are good, the speech is clear, and the vocabulary is useful. This one is a winner. Turkish is a great language, and very easy to speak with regards to pronounciation (say, compared to Arabic, Chinese or Russian). A month invested in this program would be all you would need to have a fantastic time in Turkey. Though I have not yet visited, my Turkish friends say if you know a little of the language, the hospitality is overwhelming and you will never be lacking for an invitation for dinner. I imagine with this program under your belt you'd eat like a king in Turkey!
Turkish, Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand Turkish with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsleur) OverviewTurkish is a branch of the Turkic language family and is spoken as an official language by about 70 million people in Turkey and in Northern Cyprus. Pimsleur's Turkish teaches standard Turkish, which is based on the dialect spoken in and around Istanbul. Turkish, ConversationalSixteen 30-minute lessons of spokenTurkish language instruction. These sixteen lessons are the same as the first sixteen lesson of Pimsleur's 30-Unit Comprehensive Program. Each lesson includes an introductory conversation, and new vocabulary and structures and includes practice for vocabulary introduced in previous lessons. Essential grammar and vocabulary. Topics include: greetings, numbers, meals, shopping, telling time, scheduling activities, and asking and giving directions. No mindless repetition! Converse with native speakers in natural (and useful!) conversations.Easy, fast, fun and effective language acquisition. Completely Audio - anytime, anywhere. No computer necessary! Unlike expensive software programs which tie learners to a computer, Pimsleur courses are available in CD or mp3 format to meet your needs. Receive an instant credit of $150 to trade up from the Conversational to the full Level 1 Comprehensive CD course. Pimsleur® equals success. Just one 30-minute lesson a day gets you speaking and understanding like no other program.

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Japanese, Basic: Learn to Speak and Understand Japanese with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's) Review

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Japanese, Basic: Learn to Speak and Understand Japanese with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's) ReviewThere is a possibility that I might be going to Japan for work, and being somewhat remedial with learning foreign languages, I wanted an inexpensive way to "test the waters"... can I really learn to speak Japanese from a CD? Is Pimsleur the right choice? Absolutely! I put these CDs in my radio on my way to work rather than listen to DJs talk about nothing and have been wonderfully surprised.
Pro:
-Lessons feature male and female speakers to give you a range of voice pitch
-Price of $15 for 10 half-hour lessons on 5 CDs delivered to you door is awesome!
-Some repetition and periodic reviews to help you learn and to keep you sharp
-You learn basics to get around, such as "Do you understand English?" and "Good morning, nice weather isn't it."
-5 CDs come with a nice black zippered soft-sided CD holder
Con:
-Each 30-minute lesson is an entire track, so you can't use the "scan" feature on your radio, you must rewind (or fast forward) manually, despite clear logical breaks (like learning the reponse to a question you just learned)
-No supporting book or pamphlet of words to visually memorize (I need all the help I can get)
-Lessons are not a full 30 minutes typically... would have appreciated more repetition on several words that get almost none (you can rewind, so minor point I suppose)
Neutral:
-Tip #1: CD recommends that if you master 80% of the material, you can move on to the next lesson. I couldn't disagree more, be nearly 100% to get the most of this (you can do it if I can), rewind if you must
-Tip #2: They say a word and you repeat it, there are a few seconds of delay time for you to respond. Learn to say each word not once in that time, but twice, so that you learn to speak at a reasonable speed. It would be annoying to go up to someone and talk too s-l-o-w-l-y...
-Sample vocabulary you will learn: excuse me, hello, good morning, good day, thank you, thank you very much, I, you, good, bad, weather, so it is (agreement), yes, no, I understand, I don't understand, do you understand?, skilled, unskilled, English, Japanese (language, heritage are different words), American, but, well (like I don't know Japanese very well), and so forth... and that's only a sampling of the first 3 lessons... there are 10 in all.
Bottom line: Excellent introduction, highly recommended especially for ~$15. Note: if you buy Pimsleur I, I believe these are the same five discs that begin that series. With Pimsleur I you'll get more CDs obviously, just note the overlap if you are considering it. If I knew then what I know now, I would bite the bullet and go right for Pimsleur I.Japanese, Basic: Learn to Speak and Understand Japanese with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's) OverviewThe 10-lesson (5 CDs) Basic Course gives customers the chance to test drive the incredibly effective and efficient, world-famous Pimsleur Comprehensive Program. A real try it before you buy it deal. Customers will love the experience of acquiring the essential grammar and vocabulary of Japanese, during the spoken practice sessions. It is this ease of language acquisition that makes the full Comprehensive Pimsleur Program so popular and successful for adult language learners.

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Chinese Mandarin: Audio Cd Course (Language 30) (Chinese Edition) Review

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Chinese Mandarin: Audio Cd Course (Language 30) (Chinese Edition) ReviewThis is our third Language 30 CD. Easy to use and understand.
Prompt shipping. All around great.Chinese Mandarin: Audio Cd Course (Language 30) (Chinese Edition) Overview

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Arabic (Eastern), Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand Eastern Arabic with Pimsleur Language Programs (Pimsleur Instant Conversation) Review

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Arabic (Eastern), Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand Eastern Arabic with Pimsleur Language Programs (Pimsleur Instant Conversation) ReviewI was hesitant about learning Arabic, given how difficult others had made the effort out to be. This set of discs made it very easy. The repetition used (called the "Pimsleur Method") worked really well for me. I found myself repeating phrases from the CD's in my head long after listening to them. This is a great way to pick up a new language.Arabic (Eastern), Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand Eastern Arabic with Pimsleur Language Programs (Pimsleur Instant Conversation) OverviewEastern Arabic is the dialect spoken in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine. Eastern Arabic is also very well understood in the eastern and southeastern parts of the Arab world -- Arabia, the Gulf Region, and Iraq. Pimsleur's Eastern Arabic is based on the dialect of Damascus, Syria. Arabic (Eastern), Conversational Sixteen 30-minute lessons of spokenEastern Arabiclanguage instruction. These sixteen lessons are the same as the first sixteen lesson of Pimsleur's 30-Unit Comprehensive Program.Each lesson includes an introductory conversation, and new vocabulary and structures and includes practice for vocabulary introduced in previous lessons.Essential grammar and vocabulary. Topics include: greetings, numbers, meals, shopping, telling time, scheduling activities, and asking and giving directions.No mindless repetition! Converse with native speakers in natural (and useful!) conversations.Easy, fast, fun and effective language acquisition.Completely Audio - anytime, anywhere. No computer necessary! Unlike expensive software programs which tie learners to a computer, Pimsleur courses are available in CD or mp3 format to meet your needs.Receive an instant credit of $150 to trade up from the Conversational to the full Level 1 Comprehensive CD course. Pimsleur® equals success. Just one 30-minute lesson a day gets you speaking and understanding like no other program.

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