Customer Reviews

Catalan (Teach Yourself)

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After my return from eastern Spain, I took up the study of learning Catalan, which was the language many of my ancestors spoke before they settled in the New World. While at a bookstore in Madrid, I encountered this book on a shelf and found it fascinating to read and study. while the language is primarily spoken in 4 countries (Catalonia, Spain; Southeastern France; Sardinia, Italy; and Andorra (its' official language) it still holds plenty of power in Europe, being one of the top ten most spoken in the European Union (although not official.

The author took his time in researching the language and he clearly states the dialect taught in the book differs from other Catalan dialects such as Valenciano or Mallorquin. This is very important, especially if traveling and/or doing business in this region of Europe, where dialects are plenty. I read the book, and after a while, I surprised my pen pal near Barcelona with a letter in Catalan. He was blown away that I wrote the language so well on my first try.

This book will help you learn grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure, however as the other reviewer of this book said, the only thing negative is that there is no audio tapes to accompany this book. Many language books in the Teach Yourself! series have audio tapes, however it is very difficult to speak Catalan without listening to a native speaker. I had to go on the web to hear some examples, and even this is difficult, because only a few phrases are said.

I contaced the publisher by mail, and I got the same response. There is not an audio companion to the book. I am so disappointed about this, however this shouldn't be a reason not to buy this book. Mr. Yates, who has written other books on the series has done an excellent job covering this once-forbidden language (Franco prohibited its' use in public during his regime).

If you are interested in learning this language, I recommend the following books:

(1) Cambridge Word Selector : English - Catalan

(2) Catalan sin Enfuerzo (for Spanish speakers who want to learn Catalan)

(3) Catalan Dictionary :English-Catalan/Catalan-English (by Routledge Press)

Let's hope in the future that NTC Publishing will change its' mind and release an audio tape companion to this book, but for now, the best way to learn phonetically is to find a private tutor.

I bought this book over a year ago and found it immediately useful for my limited purpose. I was learning a song cycle in Catalan and the pronunication guide at the beginning of Alan Yates's volume served me well, mainly because he uses International Phonetic Alphabet. Having studied IPA and other Romance languages, I was able to make a good phonetic transcription and then sing successfully in a langage I'd never heard spoken. If you know French and Spanish, you can read Catalan for comprehension, especially if you have a dictionary handy, which I did. When I got ready to move on to actually learning something about the spoken language I hit a snag. There are no audiotapes to accompany this book, and Catalan is not a language you can learn to pronounce well without an audio model. Transcribing every word in Yates's examples into IPA would take forever. So I called up the publisher, NTC, near Chicago. I was told that no tapes are available and there are no plans to publish any. Apart from this significant limitation, Yates's Catalan tutor is well organized and written. He admits to having used Kathleen Speight's Teach Yourself Italian as his model. I learned Italian from her book many years ago, and it's a gem; but Italian is much easier to learn to pronounce than Catalan. Bottom line: if you have a native speaker who can coach you on pronunciation, this would be a great book to use for your Catlan language study.

As anyone who has tried to learn Catalan knows, this is the most available book. However, it is often difficult and pedantic. I found that the University of Girona website was far more useful. As mentioned by other reviewers, trying to learn Catalan without language tapes, is nearly impossible. I am currently taking Intensive Catalan courses, and learned more in a week than I learned practicing with the book. If one is able to aquire a dictionary, and a copy of Xuriguera's "Els verbs Catalans Conjugats", you will move faster. The University of Girona, has the best formed intensive language class I have found. Check out their website and try to get a copy of their book. Adeus

I have really learned a lot from this book. Sad that it doesn't come with a pronunciation tape or CD. However,it will help you learn basic Catalan. It will also give you and idea of the countries that speak Catalan and the culture of this language.

It is a great book if you want to learn some Catalan, specially if you plan on going to Barcelona or Catalunya or know people that speak the language. It'll give you the basics for traveling and/or pulling a smile from your catalan friend....

Though this book claims to be aimed both at travelers and language students, I find that, especially in the crucial opening sections, it is really written solely with the professional linguist in mind. For instance, the first 26 pages are an exhaustive presentation of pronunciation, culminating in an advanced Catalan text of some four pages which one is expected to read aloud (albeit with the help of interlinear IPA symbols). The book is full of valuable information, but is presented in such a manner as to be awkward for the average language learner wanting to begin with basic conversational skills - this is the dead-opposite of e.g. Berlitz! Even though I have a background in learning other languages, every time I pick up this book I find it so daunting that I give it up.

I see that later editions have audio supplements, which is good. I hope that this book itself will be or has already been reorganized so that it's more practical for the non-professional language learner.