Customer Reviews

Beginning Maltese

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

 

 

This set of two tape cassettes and one thin book was written by a professor at the university in Valetta. The book provides some grammatical explanations and a middling amount of vocabulary that will help anyone who wishes to pursue further study of the language. It is not a detailed, complete course. It is, to my knowledge, the only treatment of Maltese that allows the student to hear the language, and this alone sets it above all competitors.
Explanations are clear, the recordings, all of them transcribed in the book,are also of excellent quality.
A search of the internet turns up a respectable number of sites by Maltese or expatriot Maltese with stories, essays and poetry, and this, I think, is proof that the language is still alive and vital--important, even though most Maltese are fluent in English and many in Italian.
While Amazon no longer stocks it, it may be available by mail from the author--that is how I obtained it--or from the university.
See my review of "Teach Yourself Maltese."

I bought this product during my recent trip to Malta. The only good thing about this course is the audio material. Other than that it is totally insufficient. It's totally low beginners material. The best course so far, which I also purchased during my trip to Malta is "Learn Maltese, Why not?" both the textbook and the workbook. The only thing is that the latter does not come with audio files. But then again it makes it very clear how letters are pronounced, and this book and watching an online Maltese TV channel does it. I paid 32 euros for the Beginning Maltese course in Malta, and in my opinion it's only worth 7 euros, if not less, just because of the CDs that come with it. Lame work!!