Book 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
Customer Reviews:
Great!.......2007-10-08
We used this book as a Hindi textbook in a university class. I still use it.
Probably not for the new student.......2007-10-07
This is a great book, but I'd recommend the "Teach Yourself Beginner's Hindi" and "Beginners Hindi Script" by the same author prior to starting this course. It throws the student straight in the deep end with conversation and beyond the first few chapters all the Hindi is written in the Devanagari script, which means you need to know it first before you can progress. The CDs are helpful with pronunciation, particularly with the retroflex consonants, which are a challenge to the English speaker!
teach yourself hindi.......2007-09-06
I've used several language cd prgrams, including Colloquial Hindi and Pimsleur, and I think Teach Yourself is the cream of the crop. I find it easy to follow, and well paced. The dialogues make sense, and follow an actual storyline. For the price, I don't think you can do better than this one.
outstanding.......2007-08-27
this text was the core text for my university hindi course. every chapter begins with a dialog and this is followed by grammer exercises. the text covers a comprehensive overview of hindi grammer and also has numerous exercises with answers at the back. moreover, there is a comprehensive hindi-english dictionary at the back. it is an outstanding book and i suggest it for anyone who is interested in learning the language.
Learning Quickly.......2007-07-08
The Teach Yourself Hindi Complete Course is the best language package I've seen. Just be sure to look online at the recommended pages listed in the Taking it Further section to learn the right ways to write the characters. I'm doing just a little each day and it is sticking well. The lessons don't have a lot of over-explanation or busy work, you figure out your own pace. Going at my current pace I should be through all the lessons in six months, which seems to be a good foundation of the language.
Book Description
Now learning non-Roman-alphabet languages is as easy as A-B-C!
Readers wanting to learn the basics of reading and writing a new language that employs script will find all they need in the Teach Yourself Beginner's Script series. Each book includes a step-by-step introduction to reading and writing in a new language as well as tips and practice exercises to build learners' skills. Thanks to the experts at Teach Yourself, script will no longer be all "Greek" to language learners--unless of course, it is Greek script! Teach Yourself Beginner's Script series books feature:
- Origins of the language
- A systematic approach to mastering the script
- Lots of "hands-on" exercises and activities
- Practical examples from real-life situations
Customer Reviews:
Awesome way to teach yourself Hindi script.......2007-09-03
This is a great learning resource; very thorough and well-organized. For me, learning to speak a language by ear first- without learning how to read/write- is impossible and unacceptable. So this book was a necessary first step before I could move on to the Rupert Snell "Teach Yourself Hindi" package with the conversation books and CDs (also fantastic).
By the end of this book, I really felt like I had a handle on the alphabet and I was able to read lots of words, even though for the most part I didn't know what they meant (haha!).
I have only two suggestions for improvements:
1) Include directional guidance on how to actually write the letters (it's not always evident where to start and end writting- left, right, up, down...). This can be hard to accept for a perfectionist ;) Fortunately, there are some guides to writing the letters online, .
2) Include a CD with the pronunciation of each letter. Some of these letters are difficult to pronounce despite the helpful hints from the book's author.
Terrific Book!.......2007-08-06
I bought this book to accompany Rosetta Stone Hindi. As I wrote in that review, this book is a must for those wanting to learn Hindi (Devanagari) script. A+
EXCELLENT INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPT.......2007-01-11
Definitely the book to buy if you wish to learn Devanagari Script. The book includes a thorough introduction to the alphabet. Each character shows you how to write it in steps. There are also lots of words and exercises WITH KEYS AT THE END to help you to know you are doing things correctly. These exercises include Devanagari to roman letters and vice-versa. I would HIGHLY recommend this book. Another plus is it includes an authentic writing sample from 6 different people. True handwriting to let you see what the language genuinely looks like written in the script. Also lots of other explanations and fun things like a chapter on writing English words in Devanagari. :)
Short and complete.......2006-08-27
I recommend this book because the Hindi Script gets pretty intricate. It is quite interesting to go through the rules governing these intricacies, particularly in conjuncts. You even, in some instances, get to see different forms of conjucts for print, and alternatives to overly complex, and convoluted conjuncts. And there are exercises for you to do so you can practice.
It deals with the vowels, and consonants in their own chapter. It also has a section on puncuation (which i don't immediately think of when I think of scripts). Even shows you how to express things like "Yooooooo!!!!!", and abbreviations.
Some of the reading is a little tiresome. But you'll learn the script.
Good book to study before studying Teach Yourself Hindi.......2006-03-26
I bought this book simply because Amazon said that many people who bought Teach Yourself Hindi bought this book. I think this recommendation was quite reasonable. When I opend the Lesson 1 of Teach Yourself Hindi, the skit was written in Devanagari. Teach Yourself Hindi also has some pages about the Devanagari Script, but I don't think that's enough. So, I opened this Teach Yourself Beginner's Hindi Script and studied the script first. The book explains strokes and shows plenty of examples of hand written scripts. Those were quite useful. Now I am comfortablly studying the skits in Teach Yourself Hindi. I recommend studyging Teach Yourself Beginner's Hindi Script first.
Book 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
Customer Reviews:
Not for beginners.......2007-09-03
A really authoritative course in Urdu with lots of useful cultural info as well. It puts you at the deep end and gets tougher. The main problem that will stop most beginners getting past chapter one is that they decide to use the nastaliq (complex cursive) script from the beginning. Given that "ordinary" cursive arabic script is tricky enough to get your head around this more elaborate form is a real obstacle. Even native speakers have to know the words in Urdu before they can pronounce them properly from this script so the benefit of this immersion method is not clear. They could have been gentler with beginners and had a few more chapters exclusively in roman script to ease them in.
If you have a grasp of the language from other sources and want to use this to build up grammar as well as reading and writing skills this will do the job.
Michael
sunie.......2007-02-05
I disagree with all of the prior glowing reviews. What is most likely the case is that the reviewers, being completely new to Urdu, did not have an appropriate standard of what is required of a book of this sort. I, on the other, know Hindi, and bought it not to learn a new language, but another register of one already learned. I came to learn Perso-Arabic script and vocabulary. Thus I can give an assessment with that in tow.
The book contains 15 chapters of 3 dialogues each, centering around the travels of an Urdu-speaking Englishman, John Smith (jAn ismith), in Pakistan (Land of the Pure) and a bit of India. The first thing he wanted to do in Delhi was visit Jama Masjid and the Red Fort. LOLLLL. ... Anyway, after each dialogue, the book doles out bits of information: syntax, conjugations, idioms, etc. in not so much a comprehensive but a simple yet soundly-explained way, putting the reader at ease. One of its good points is the cultural tidbits (siqAfat). The book invariably takes a long time to read, due to the lameness of Urdu Script, which seems, unlike brAhmI-based scripts, to takes more than a Teach Yourself book to get down pat, to say the very least.
My criticism of the book is that it is very slow. It went well throughout the beginning, but it was when I landed upon the 11th or 12th chapter, nearing the end, that I started to worry. Besides getting sick of reading so many "bahut"'s, by that time I saw that SO much had not been explained. The real meat of the grammar, such as the relative-correlatives is only touched upon in the last throes of the course. Bizarre! Causatives are merely grazed, and passives have no mention at all! The book ends right there, when it really needs at least 30 more pages. It is this major fault, this slowness and incompleteness, that warrants a low score. The other criticisms I have are the lack of a "Further Reading" section, to recommend where to go when you're done; there being no primer on naskh (original Arabic) script, which is the digital standard; no reference grammar (though there is an index); no English-Urdu dictionary; and the lack of spaces between words (I don't know if it's the authors or Urdu convention). There are some typos but it's not too big a deal.
With that said, what I recommend instead is the fantastic Teach Yourself Hindi by Snell and Weightman. Its reviewing on Amazon is much too brutal, too unwarranted, perhaps somewhat ridiculous. Complaints about its intensity only match its comprehensiveness: it's the closest to everything you'd want to know. Having learned Hindi in the fantastic Devanagari (Divine City) script, you can then go ahead with Urdu, undertaking the single struggle (jihad, lol) of learning a new and difficult script over the double-struggle (double-jihad, lol) of learning a new and difficult script AND a new language.
Though there is the possibility that Teach Yourself Urdu ("Camp") in it's incompleteness is not too different from other Teach Yourself
books and that rather Teach Yourself Hindi ("Indian") is uncharacteristically thorough! :]
Me gusta (lo que llevo leido).......2006-08-23
El libro está bastante bien. La clasificación de las lecciones es clara, las explicaciones son minuciosas y tiene diálogos con personajes simpáticos para ponerse en situación. Me gustan mucho los CDs, se escuchan bien y en poco tiempo empiezas a entender lo que dicen.
En contra: está en inglés, por lo que al explicar la pronunciación de cada letra es algo lioso. El tipo de letra cuando escriben en urdu es muy pequeña y veces no se distingue bien.
Urdu asaan nahin hai, magar yeh kitab achi se achi thi. .......2006-04-14
On the box it says that the goal of this book was to reach "all-around confidence". It did that and more. This book covers a variety of subjects while following the story of John and his wife Helen as they travel through several sites Pakistan and North India. There were even several situations and vocabulary words that they covered that I thought I would never need to use, but found myself using in conversation shortly after. Also, the culture notes were a very nice touch as well. And as a Muslim I really liked the Islamic culture notes they brough up also.
I am a USAF military linguist and I was 100% sure that the best way to learn a language was to be in a class all day, or immerison in the specific country, or among friends. This book proved me wrong. The content is difficult, especially after the 5th chapter because they remove the English transliteration and you are stuck reading the Urdu script and can only "cheat" by going to the back of the book. It seemed like every five chapters it got REALLY hard and seemed not gradual enough in the level of difficulty. But it took me three weeks to finish this book (I will admit, that was way too fast) and afterwards I was speaking and thinking in Urdu and the overall goal of "all around confidence" was definatley met.
That being said, I want to share the downsides, which are few. The errors that a lot of the reviewers talked about, I didn't notice until the last few chapters, and most of the students will probably notice this because by that point they are familiar with the Urdu script and it won't be a problem. Also, I learned Arabic script first from "Teach yourself Arabic Script" and "Very Simple Arabic Script" so I can't comment on their Urdu script introduction, which is needed for the rest of the book. You can't fake it past chapter five without knowing the script!
Finally, I would like to add that if you are *really* serious about learning Urdu, this is THE book to get, but still there is a long way to go. I *highly suggest* following up by getting "Urdu - An Essential Grammar" by Ruth Schmidt afterwards. I was so confident in Urdu after this "Teach Yourself" course but the Grammar book will make your realize that there is still a whole bunch more to be learnt and clear up the fuzzy spots. But overall, I very highly recommended "Teach Yourself Urdu Complete Course" very, VERY well done.
great choice_ make sure you get a dictionary as well........2006-01-17
It is as compact as it gets... I was amazed to see myself reading and understanding (!) websites in Urdu after 3 weeks max (i have to mention tho, that i am a native Turkish speaker with some knowledge of Persian.. that certainly helped me memorize words much faster and eaily). The topics are well chosen, giving just about info you'd need for a daily conversation (and survival). The repetition pattern helps a lot to keep words in your mind. And no matter how much I want to complain about it's load of grammar and structure, in the end, it proved successful.
pros: has a mini dictionary, there is no english transliteration after unit 6 (but included as an appendix- it pushes you to try to understand), includes info about the culture and traditions as well.
cons: the dictionary could've been more comprehensive (a seperate verb list would be good), not enough chance to exercise what you've learned.
Book Description
Bestselling language courses!
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
Customer Reviews:
Excellent if you are prepared to put the effort in........2006-04-21
Teach Yourself Hindi is an excellent value book that covers the most common aspects of Hindi grammar. Being only a relatively small book it does not go into great detail and moves at a fast pace. To get the most out of it you really need to go over each chapter again and again until you understand it. Using this book thoroughly will yield its rewards.
The Hindi is written in Devanagari with only the first five chapters being transliterated into Latin characters. While I found the introduction to Devanagari sufficient, it is very brief. Some people might have trouble learning the script. A book that teaches the script in more detail might be a good idea.
Also learning a language from a book completely neglects the oral side of the language. Anyone trying to learn Hindi from this book will need at least audio tapes, a Hindi speaker to converse with would be even better.
Lastly the vocabulary listed in the book is rather small. A dictionary would be a very good idea.
If you are a beginner who wants to learn Hindi and be literate in the language this book is excellent value. I would however discourage someone who just wants to learn a few phrases for travel from buying this book. The book doesn't do everything, (it is unfair to expect this), but what it does do it does well.
Adequate book if you're willing to invest the time.......2006-04-20
Of the few books that are available to anyone who is interested in learning Hindi on their own, this is probably one of the better books on the market. Though there are things that I like about the book, there are just as many things that I feel could be improved upon. Here are the main points why I think this book is better than most:
1) The explantions are clear as long as you understand most of the basic elements of language (i.e. subject, object, verb, noun, pronoun, adverb, etc.), and the different tenses (i.e. present, subjunctive, past, future, perfective, etc.)
2) In most cases, the book gives sufficient examples to explain any particular grammatical point.
3) The dialogues are available on CDs, which are much more convenient than cassette tapes.
4) It is well structured and easy to follow, which makes it just as handy as a reference.
5) It includes a very useful appendix and glossary, and every chapter has "test" exercises at the end of the chapter with an answer key in the back of the book.
There are things about the book that annoy me as well, such as:
1) The lesson order of the book. You aren't introduced to verbs or the Hindi sentence structure until a bit later in the book, where it seemed to me that it should have been introduced much earlier.
2) Word grouping does not seem to exist in this book. That is, rather than introduce the vocabulary for clothes, colors, and parts of the body in the same lesson (which is helpful for memorization and associating words with one another), you might learn the word for 'face' in one chapter and the word for 'eye' in another.
3) In order to reinforce any newly acquired knowledge, the book should have exercises after each section rather than just at the end of each chapter. By the time I finished a chapter, I had sometimes forgotten what I had learned in the beginning.
4) The CDs should have gone over the dialogues line-by-line at a slow pace at first, then repeat them at a normal conversational pace. There are points in some of the dialogues where it is hard to decipher one word from the next, and other points where the dialogues seemed choppy and unnatural. Additionally, the CDs would go over some (but not all) of the answers to the end-of-chapter questions. I thought it would be better if they had made a seperate disc for all of the answers, and focused on pronunciation exercises and/or listen-and- respond type exercises.
Overall, if you're willing to dedicate 2 hours a day for six months or so, then you're likely to be successful at having an intermediate knowledge of Hindi. One word of caution: DO TAKE THE TIME IN THE BEGINNING TO LEARN THE DEVANAGARI SCRIPT. It will pay off very quickly. If you do not, you can not proceed past Chapter 5.
critic.......2005-12-14
it is ok and grammar point are well explained but i have the assimil as well to complete. Just this one would not be enough.
If the will is there, you will speak Hindi.......2004-03-17
Before opening this book, I wouldn't believe you could learn a language from a book. But the authors have done an amazing job of simplifying the language, breaking it down into the basic elements and conveying it all to the reader. Three factors make this book exceptional:
Structure: every chapter in the book is built on the ones preceding it. Initially it is frustrating, because verbs, the cornerstone of any language, are not introduced until chapter 5. But the preparations are essential.
Exercises: the exercises at the end of each chapter cover and reiterate the important aspects and stress translations in a sentence-context. All the answers are provided at the end of the book.
Size: The book is small enough to travel with. The information in the book is very concise, but very detailed. Make sure to read and re-read every sentence starting with the introduction, as you may miss important points.
Hindi is not a difficult language, conjugations are straightforward and unusual verbs are few. After two months of studying for about an hour a day I was able to converse with Indians, albeit in very basic Hindi, but certainly get my meaning across and understand theirs. Most all Indians were very keen on taking the time to listen to me and speak slowly, especially the ones who spoke little English and found it a rare opportunity to communicate with a foreigner. If you're willing to invest your time, this book will indeed teach you Hindi!
A Real Improvement.......2001-03-25
This "Second Edition" of Teach Yourself Hindi is a real improvement over the previous edition. The lessons have been arranged in a more logical manner and the vocabulary is much more up to date. The dialogs are also more current in subject matter. The Grammar is explained in a more concise manner with better examples than the first edition. The Devanagari script is used throughout the book - with the first five lessons being transliterated completely. Which brings us to the only drawback to the book - the script is not covered in any depth. This can be a problem for some beginners. For a more complete study of the writing system the beginner should try the book "Teach Yourself Hindi Script" by the same author. If you get the book with the tapes it is one of the better Hindi resources that is readily available today.
Book Description
Now learning non-Roman-alphabet languages is as easy as A-B-C!
Readers wanting to learn the basics of reading and writing a new language that employs script will find all they need in the Teach Yourself Beginner's Script series. Each book includes a step-by-step introduction to reading and writing in a new language as well as tips and practice exercises to build learners' skills. Thanks to the experts at Teach Yourself, script will no longer be all "Greek" to language learners--unless of course, it is Greek script! Teach Yourself Beginner's Script series books feature:
- Origins of the language
- A systematic approach to mastering the script
- Lots of "hands-on" exercises and activities
- Practical examples from real-life situations
Customer Reviews:
Not very helpful :(.......2007-01-11
I agree with the other reviewer. This book is terrible if you want to learn how to write naturally. Everything is computerized and the characters are all in bold thick print as though a marker drew it. It makes it impossible to see how to write a letter and/or word naturally. Everything seems to just blend together. There are NO examples of actual handwriting whatsoever. I think the author could have done a much better job. Also he really doesn't tie the ideas in together to move from one point to another. Definitely would not recommend this book to anyone else. There simply must be something better out there.
Excellent for learning Urdu.......2006-05-31
There is no secret to learning another form of writing. It isn't really that hard either. After going through the exercises in this book, one chapter per night, (about an hour each), for 10 nights, I found that I have a good understanding of the Nasta'liq script.
If you diligently work through the exercises this book will rapidly get you to a point where you can read and write Nasta'liq. However, this book will not advance you past this point. Any further advancement requires other learning aids.
This book simply does what it tries to do, and it does it well. I highly recomend it to people learning the Urdu script.
Very good if you want to learn to read Urdu.......2003-11-14
This is an excellent book if you want to learn how to read and write in Urdu. Unless you are a native speaker, you might need to consult someone who can speak a North Indian language to help with the pronounciations. The exercises are excellent-they are not only designed to test your reading skills, but they also test you on your writing abilities. All in all, it is highly recommended if you want to learn how to read & write Urdu.
Unusual format but the book works.......2002-01-02
Good Urdu learning material can be hard to come by. Delacy hits the mark with a self-contained introduction that serves as an ideal base for launching into further studies of Urdu. The book presents Urdu letters in bite-size units with the emphasis on character recognition and handwriting. There are lots of reading and writing exercises, all with the answers provided. You'll learn about how, like Arabic, these letters change depending on if the letter is first or last in a word or somewhere in between. You'll also learn how to read and compose simple words.
Here are a few assorted findings. There are two styles of Urdu script: nasta'liq and naskh. Nasta'liq is a bit more intimidating than naskh although the latter is also common to Arabic and Persian. Delacy utilizes the nasta'liq in his text which may cause you to curse at first but in the end you'll be glad that the book is presented that way. Not only is nasta'liq is the more common Urdu script but its compact, slanted form gives written Urdu a distinct character compared to other languages that utilize Perso-Arabic scripts. Also, the letters are not presented in the order of the Urdu alphabet nor are letters which appear similar in shape presented together as a group, as intuition would suggest, but rather spread out throughout the book. This arrangement is a bit weird but it works. If you already know Arabic you'll simultaneously find a lot of commonality and difference with Urdu. For example, you'll find many of the same letters in Arabic as well as some letters that look the same but aren't. There are also different rules for connecting letters when constructing a word.
One of the book's chief benefits is that it will give you a head start when undertaking more advanced studies in Urdu. You will already know how to read the language and will not have to bother with messy transliteration schemes that use the roman alphabet (along with funky tildes, macrons, and umlauts) to teach pronunciation. The author does employ such a scheme but you'll need a native speaker to help you correctly pronounce Urdu. The chief benefit, however, is that this inexpensive book fulfills its purpose of teaching you how to read and write Urdu in an easy to follow manner.
Great resource.......2001-11-06
I am a university student who's studied Arabic for the last few years and am now thinking about learning Urdu. Because I know the Arabic script already, I figured this book might be a good way to teach myself the Urdu script before going on to learn to speak and read. I have to admit I was slightly skeptical about the whole teach yourself thing, but this book turned out to be a great resource! The author does a good job of teaching how to form the letters step-by-step in each of their positions, and how to link them together. It was especially important for me that this part be clear, as there are several key differences from Arabic. The whole book is easy to follow, but doesn't condescend to the reader. What was most helpful, though, is that it allowed me to deal with one part of the language at a time. Now that I feel comfortable with the script, I feel like I can go on to learn to read and speak. I would also guess that this would be an especially useful tool for native speakers who may not have learned to write in the Urdu script.
Book Description
Teach Yourself Hindi Dictionary provides a comprehensive vocabulary and a concise grammar section. Idiomatic usage is also covered to create a dictionary that is easy to use.
Customer Reviews:
If only it were bigger!.......2007-06-28
My only complaint about this dictionary is that it's not more extensive. My Oxford English-to-Hindi dictionary was clearly designed for Hindi speakers learning English, not the other way around. Not so the Teach Yourself Hindi Dictionary. Where multiple translations apply, this dictionary gives not only the translations, but a plentiful supply of usage examples. In the front there is a clear, comprehensive section of the Devanagari script -- including an exhaustive list of consonant conjuncts and a concise grammar reference. The ambitious student could gain an elementary understanding of the language using this book alone -- though I don't recommend it.
If I ran the world and could improve this book in any way I wanted, I would only expand it to include more words. The material that IS there is excellent, I just wish there were more of it. That's the only reason I hold back from giving 5 stars.
Whether you're teaching yourself or getting formal instruction, this is one reference you should NOT be without. And the price should be within any budget.
Great dictionary for English speakers learning hindi.......2007-03-08
I began learning Hindi a semester and a half ago, this is a good dictionary for me at my stage right now. it offers a single word translations as well as phrase translations. I recommend it to people learning Hindi.
Critic.......2005-12-14
very good indeed but a pity it does not exist with more entries specially in english. Romanized characters for beginners and well choosen words.
Better than you think.......2005-10-06
I am a third year Hindi Student at UW-Madison and I must say I was skeptical of such a small dictionary, but the one is pretty good. It has sentence examples for most of the verbs and it points out when the structure in Hindi is different from the structure in English so you learn a good bit about usage while using the dictionary as well. It is a small dictionary, but the selection of words is very good.
Great supplement to Snell's other Hindi Books.......2004-08-30
Snell has put together a dictionary that English speakers can easily use and contains a lot of language that is spoken by most people who speak Hindi or Urdu in India. It does not lean to much to either Persian/Arabic or Sanskrit, but is nicely in the middle. So, for example if you enjoy Bollywood Hindi movies, this dictionary will be very useful for you when you want to find the meaning of certain words you hear in the films.
Hindi can be a fun language to learn because you can pick up a lot just by watching some really fun movies and I think it is the only other lanaguage besides English that gives you an opportunity to learn it through movie watching. What a deal. India is great that way. More movies are made in Bollywood each year than Hollywood, so between this dictionary and Bollywood and either of Snell's other Teach Yourself books, you will be understanding Hindi in no time and then you can impress your friends and family by speaking such a distant langugae like a native. Go for it.
Book Description
A lively, practical way to develop and improve basic foreign language skills
This new, audio-based language series from Teach Yourself is an entertaining, nonintimidating way for beginners to build conversational proficiency. Each course covers 10 key situations—from greetings and buying food and drink to shopping, asking for directions, and visiting locals—and includes two conversations per topic. The explanations and instructions are simple and bite-size, making this a very accessible program.
Each audiopackage:
- Builds confidence through a variety of listening exercises, from repetition of foreign language prompts to replying to English prompts
- Covers structures, useful phrases, and strategies for holding two-way conversations
- Lets learners assess their progress with specific objectives and review sections
- Includes a 48-page guide with key words and conversations in written form for reference
Customer Reviews:
Great supplement to other self-teaching books.......2007-06-23
Anything written by Rupert Snell is a best bet. His other books in the Teach Yourself series are wonderful, especially the Beginners Hindi. I agree with the other reviewer that the repeated music between sections becomes quite annoying, but this is true for the entire new conversation cd series. Nevertheless, this is a fantastic addition to your Hindi learning materials.
It is also important to note that the booklets only use Romanized writing, so don't expect the "real" Devanagari script. The series is meant primarily for auditory comprehension, but it would have been nice to see the words in the original writing system.
Lose the English and the music........2006-10-29
This CD offers clear and copious listening practice to comfortably paced conversations between Hindi speakers. I give it only three stars because the amount of spoken English and music on the CD becomes a distraction after repeated listenings.
The whole first band contains information, introduction, and instructions read aloud in English. Although it can be skipped over, it is not necessary to have it on the CD in the first place because most people can read that information in the accompanying booklet.
After that, each individual conversation is preceded by arpeggios and bursts of music, then by a description of the setting read aloud in English. These cannot be skipped over and must be listened to repeatedly.
I think that the music should be eliminated and the setting information should be given in the booklet so that these do not have to be heard multiple times. In this way, a listener could experience continual immersion without distraction.
Other than the two drawbacks, the quality of the CD is excellent.
Book Description
For those who find learning a new language daunting, the Teach Yourself Beginner's Language Series is just what the language teacher ordered. Each friendly and practical course introduces the new language without overwhelming the learner and includes:
- Lively dialogues and exercises
- A helpful pronunciation section
- Manageable lists of practical vocabulary
- A glossary of grammar terms
- Hints on how to make learning easy
- Fascinating language and cultural information
- Accompanying dialogue recordings on CD
Average customer rating:
- Very good if you are prepared to put the effort in.
- TERRIFIC!
- Good book
- Best Book For Learning Hindi
- Had it not for this book, I would have never learned Hindi!
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Hindi (Teach Yourself)
Rupert Snell , and
Simon Weightman
Manufacturer: Ntc Pub Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 English (All)
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Hindi
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| African
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Similar Items:
-
Teach Yourself Hindi Complete Course Package (Book + 2CDs) (Teach Yourself Language Complete Courses)
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Teach Yourself Beginner's Hindi Script
ASIN: 0844237957 |
Customer Reviews:
Very good if you are prepared to put the effort in........2006-04-04
Learning a language is not a trivial matter. There are lots of programs that promise that you will learn a language in some short period. This is pretty much false. You need to put effort into learning another language and this book will pay off if you put the effort in.
It is important that you learn the Devanagari script for this book. The book starts off with a chapter that summarises the script. This is sufficient but it would be a good idea to get a book like beginners Hindi script as well. After chapter 5 all of the Hindi is in Devanagari. Some reviewers complain about this, but I found that it kept me honest, and made me learn to read and write the script.
The book has a large amount of material but it also covers a lot of ground quickly. The other thing that is important is to use this book with some audio training.
So in summary, if you want to learn Hindi, be literate in the language and are prepared to work through each chapter until you understand most of it, this is a good book. Although, I highly recommend supplementary material to cover the areas that this book understandably leaves out.
TERRIFIC!.......2001-01-11
while I sympathize with the Corning reviewer's accent problems, I'm surprised ANY Indian laughed at his pronunciation. Most people (even the allegedly grouchy French) are astonished as well as gratified by any American who seems to understand that it isn't the rest of the world's duty to speak English in their own countries. I wasn't surprised at the outstanding quality of this book, as I've had such good experiences with the whole series, hav ing used it to acquire fluency in Spanish and Swahili, and at least some knowledge of Greek and Arabic. I assume readers will judge the two negative reviews by their braying tone. That anybody would willingly remain illiterate in a foreign language, given the work involved in even semi-fluency, passes understanding. As somebody speaking seven languages fluently, I can't say too much for Teach Yourself Hindi.
Good book.......2000-11-14
I've bought about 10 books on how to "learn Hindi" over the past two years. This is by far my favorite "learn Hindi" book. This book gives you a lot of material to read that is in the Devanagri script.
Best Book For Learning Hindi.......2000-05-11
This is the best book for learning Hindi that I have come across. It may be a bit much for the absolute beginner, but it uses the Devanagari alphabet throughout, which aids in learning the language, and forces you to use what you have learned. Grammar and vocabulary are covered in detail and many conversations are recorded on the accompanying tape. This book contains the complete structure of the language. After this, all you need to do is to build up your vocabulary and you're ready for India!
Had it not for this book, I would have never learned Hindi!.......2000-02-26
If you really want to learn Hindi, I recommend you this book! Nothing to do with all the other manual that I've found around, which were unclear and approximate. This one is complete, clear, step by step, and if you come over the initial difficulty of learning devanagari script, it really takes you further on in the practical use of the language. I have learned Hindi most of the time studying it on the train while going to work!
Average customer rating:
- Awesome (even though the letters are smudged)
- Simply Awful
- Muddy print and missing letters
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Teach Yourself Hindi
Mohini Rao
Manufacturer: Hippocrene Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Hindi
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
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Phrasebooks - General
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| Foreign Languages
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General
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General
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Similar Items:
-
Oxford English-Hindi Dictionary
ASIN: 0870528319 |
Customer Reviews:
Awesome (even though the letters are smudged).......2007-03-14
It's is awesome the only thing is that the letters are smudged but you can read it. I can read the whole thing I am working with the book and it is teaching me sufficiently (I am learning a ton in about 10 minutes). Even though that I didn't start reading it until 3 days ago I know it is awesome from my friends and because of my last sentence.
Simply Awful.......2001-10-22
Miserably typeset with all the look of having been printed with an antique moveable-type press. Parts of sentences are missing or illegible, and many characters are broken or smudged. Additionally, the Devanangari letters are tiny which makes it very difficult for someone unfamiliar with the alphabet to learn them. The chapters are poorly laid out both internally and as a sequence. Additionally, while I was hoping for something more 'correct' than the usual phrasebook rubbish, the language in the book is academic enough as to make my hindi-speaking friends lapse into reciting lessons from their school days.
Muddy print and missing letters.......1999-07-29
In Varanasi, cheap, shoddy hotels take the names of good hotels in hopes of luring unwary customers. In much the same way this book lured me in: I bought it thinking it was part of the "Teach Yourself" book series, but it's definitely not.
This book is a disaster. The type is muddy and hard to read, which would be bad enough in an English text. When a few of the letters in a pronunciation key are obscured, or when pieces of Hindi letters are missing, it's nearly impossible to work with. And not only is the printing egregiously bad, there are actually missing letters, so that you have the sentence, "would be pronounced as ee" -- with nothing at the beginning!
Do yourself a favor and steer clear of this miserable excuse for a Hindi textbook.
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