Customer Reviews

Burmese: An Introduction to the Spoken Language, Book 1 ( With Audio CD) (Bk. 1)

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

 

 

This book has the perfect mix of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and conversation. Okell is a superb teacher, and has chosen good, native speakers for his tapes. The progression of information is very logical and helpful. He also includes an Appendix to allow you to quickly get some useful prhases under your belt, as you methodically learn the carefully chosen vocabulary in the Lessons. The review sections are thoughtfully designed to quickly get you back up to speed after a break (as opposed to having to work through lessons again).

The pronunciation section (book & tape) portion is the best I have seen in an introductory text. For example, having wroked through introductory texts in Greek, Thai, and Vietnamese, his explanation of the differences in aspirate, plain, and voiced consonants is the most clear.

As you consider purchasing this text (a wise decision), you really ought to consider simultaneously purchaseing Okell's Burmese: An Introduction to the Script. For anyone wanting to learn more than cursory Burmese, the sooner you learn the script the better. The Roman-alphabet transliteration is far from standardized in Burmese (as opposed to the Vietnamese standardization a century ago) and can get confusing.

Final note: although amazon.com asks that I not display postal addresses or URLs, at the time of this writing, amazon.com was out of most of these books, while the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Northern Illinois Univ (the publisher) was fully stocked. Just an FYI.

I have purchased many self-teaching language courses and this is by far the best. Starts off simple and builds knowledge and confidence gradually. The variations in exercises also keeps the student interested throughout the book. The tapes are very much like an actual lecture. Okell includes many fascinating points about Burmese culture and the added bonuses at the end of the tapes such as BBC Burmese broadcasts and traditional Burmese music are really interesting to hear. What every language package should be.

Just the right language course for any serious learner of the Burmese language. Within the first few lessons, John Okell is able to teach the learner a useful set of Burmese phrases. He approaches language training by encouraging the learner to repeat the Burmese phrases over and over. This rigorous approach may sound somewhat dull, but I find the method effective, down to earth and, yes, quite entertaining.

This is considered by many to be the best Burmese language instructional book out there. It was recommended to me by the Cornell Burmese language instructor who also co-wrote the Lonely Planet Phrasebook. I am perfectly satisfied with the work but feel it could be improved. First, it came with cassette tapes instead of CDs and this surprised me. (There is a plan to replace the cassettes and the publisher informs me that when this happens there will be a discounted price on the CDs for the folks who already purchased the edition with cassettes.)

Secondly, the vocabulary is aimed at tourists. (I work with Burmese refugees.) However, as lesson one teaches the phrase "What is this?" --a very useful phrase that more language books should teach early on-- if you spend time around Burmese speakers, through use of this phrase, plus Burmese friends and acquaintances who know English to varying degrees, it is fairly easy to get them to teach you new vocabulary that suits your needs. It also teaches things slowly but surely, reinforcing often.

All in all, this is a fine book and considered by experts to be the best out there. I am pleased with it. (Although I'd expected CDs, not cassettes.) However, it did not cause me to drop my Lonely Planet Phrasebook.