Customer Reviews

Beginner's Yoruba (Hippocrene Beginner's Series)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is my first encounter with Yoruba and I have to say that CDs are really helping. However, the book is very short and not particular about certain aspects and details of grammar and other nuances - for someone who NEVER spoke Yoruba and doesn't have anybody to ask for a clue, it leaves a lot of questions unanswered - for this, however, there are hopefully other Yoruba textbooks.
On the brighter note, I would like to add that the book does a very good job in giving a little insight on Yoruba people and Yoruba culture in general. I would recommend it as a good start book for anyone who wants to learn Yoruba - you can't go wrong with it.

While I am still in the process of learning the Yoruba language, I think that this book is a nice beginners tool. Please keep in mind that the new book comes with to audio CD's that are MUCH NEEDED! So if you're considering buying the book used, fine, but be sure to ask if the CD's come with.

Without the audio assistance, I'm not sure how great of a tool this will be in your journey to learn the beautiful language of Yoruba!

Best,
S

This book contains a great amount of vocabulary. It teaches you the Anglicized versions of certain words such as "teacher" but it also gives you the Yoruba word. Although I didn't appreciate the Anglicized words at first, they are good to know because a lot of people use them. The CD is an excellent and necessary addition to the book. There are lots of dialogues and lists of vocabulary on them (there are 2 CDs). The CD does skip over some of the exercises in the book, which I guess you're supposed to go over by yourself or with a teacher, though. All in all, it's a great set and, if mastered, can bring the user to a high level of fluency. I also like that the narrator, who speaks English to announce the lessons, is a native speaker and doesn't butcher the names of the characters in the dialogues. There is a Yoruba book/CD set created by another publisher who uses a British narrator. It really throws you off course throughout the CD. Watch out for that one and buy this one instead!

I agree, the CDs are a much needed help, since it would be impossible to pronnounce the Yoruba tones without the help of a native speaker. However, the design of the book is really poor and confusing. I have found several spealling mistakes in English and Yoruba. And the grammar explanations are very hard to understand.

Unfortunately there are not many Teach Yourself Yoruba books that are worth it. This one at least provides basic vocabulary and pronounciation skills.