Customer Reviews

Colloquial Afrikaans: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series)

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

 

 

It's not easy finding in-print textbooks for learning Afrikaans, especially in the United States, and the fact that this course has audio cassettes is by itself a major advantage compared to the few other offerings. Although I already speak German and Dutch (and am interested in learning to read, not speak Afrikaans), I found the tapes invaluable, especially in identifying the relatively few (in my opinion) places that Afrikaans pronunciation differs substantially from Dutch.

Overall the textbook is very good and similar to the author's Colloquial Dutch course (including some of the same dialogs at that). The grammar descriptions, etc. are brief and to the point, the dialogs are also manageable, and there is sufficient review/exercise material as well.

The reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that there are a few words in each lesson that are neither defined in the lesson nor included with the glossary in the back of the book. If you're really interested in learning Afrikaans, I would recommend getting a decent dictionary like the Hippocrene A-E/E-A by Kromhaut or the very extensive (and very big) Reader's Digest dictionary, which you would have to order from South Africa. A final point is that the dialogs stop being translated after the first few lessons, and several times I would have liked to see an English translation of the later dialogs as a comprehension check.

Still, this is definitely the best book/course out there for learning Afrikaans, especially with the tapes and I would highly recommend it.

Professor Donaldson's COLLOQUIAL AFRIKAANS was a pleaure to study. His book includes many interesting dialogues using ordinary Afrikaans. The grammar sections are surprisingly easy to read. Donaldson also includes many short exercises which cover the material very nicely. For added interest, the book is sprinkled with cultural information. Finally, Donaldson includes generous glossaries, a key to the exercises, and an index.

Unlike most of the other titles in this series, Colloquial Afrikaans provides the new learner with a solid knowledge of the basic grammar, essential for a further study. The plural of nouns and the flexion of adjectives should be covered more thouroughly however, but this course with its lively dialogues and everyday vocabulary is one of the best one could choose to start that interesting language.

This is, hands down, THE course to have if you're aiming to learn Afrikaans through self-study. The textbook provides a comprehensive amount of material for beginners in the language, and it also works well as a refresher course if you're looking to brush up on your skills. The dialogues fall more easily into the "everyday life" category than in the "exclusively for tourists" section (one of the major drawbacks of other Afrikaans courses available), and the rate of speech used by the native speakers throughout most of the course is the closest to everyday rhythm that a learner could ask for. The accompanying audio is clear and easy to follow (there are a few points where the speakers switch up a word or two, but it's very easy to identify these points and understand what was said : one example, "ek is bekommerd oor jou" is said as "ek bekommer my oor jou". Easy to notice, and both are grammatically correct -- it won't throw you when it comes).

A huge advantage to the language itself is that it's very similar to English, so many of the words will be easy to recognize. The word order might be a little difficult to pick up, but don't let this put you off -- this course will put a strong foundation under your ability to speak and write the language, and becoming more proficient in Afrikaans can be a breeze once you thoroughly complete this course. Mimicking the native speakers is sound advice; once you can speak confidently and sound authentic, it's so much easier to progress and take on more vocabulary and to get a better feel for the flow of the language.

I can't rave enough about this course. As an experienced self-study learner of several languages, I can say that this is one of the best courses out there for beginners and intermediate learners alike.

After all the rave reviews for this course, I hate to rain on the parade. However, I feel that some crucial parts are missing from the other reviews. Yes, it's a good book and for exactly the reasons other reviewers have mentioned. The grammar is very well defined and Afrikaans is a remarkably easy language to learn.

Unfortunately, this books comes with a major problem. No wordlists! In almost any other Colloquial or Teach Yourself course, each dialogue is followed by a word list containing the words used in the dialogue. That's the way you study the words and enlarge your vocabulary. Not so in this course. For the first few lessons, the dialogues are followed by an English translation. This isn't a very good substitute, especially not as word order is very different in Afrikaans. You can't be sure whích English words mean what, so you can only learn phrases like a parrot. After a few lessons, even this English translation is dropped and your left with dialogues in Afrikaans with no wordlist nor translation! How is this different from reading a newspaper in Afrikaans and having a dictionary to check up each word? Not at all, and that's free on-line.

I usually prefer Colloquial courses over Teach Yourself, but in this case I strongly recommend the excellent course Teach Yourself Afrikaans. The author of that course didn't try to get off too easy by ignoring the word lists and the result is that Teach Yourself Afrikaans is an excellent book. The author of this book was lazy, and it is the reader who pays the cost. So Afrikaans is an easy language, but this book makes everything it can to make learning it harder. Teach Yourself Afrikaans makes it easier.

I've studied several languages and I can say that - as a native English speaker - Afrikaans is the EASIEST language to learn. This book is a great introduction to Afrikaans - the easiest language for a native English (and Dutch) speaker and also the easiest and most logical and analytical Germanic language. After mastering a working knowledge of Afrikaans with this book, I was able to converse with South Africans and Dutch speakers. Prior to this, I only learned/studied Latin-based languages (Spanish and Portuguese). Now, I can read/understand Afrikaans and Dutch (and more German than I thought I could). I got this book on a whim (curious about other Germanic languages as a native English speaker focusing on Iberian languages) and have now fallen in love with the other languages in my native West-Germanic language family.

i am looking tomove out to South Afica and this book has helped me pick up the basics that i will require to get me started.

I was on a safari for two weeks this past fall and started to learn Afrikaans. Am going back next year and want to be proficient. This book gets you right into the heart of the language and forces you to learn by doing. Just 30 minutes of study a day, and after two weeks you have added a nice bit to your vocabulary and grammar. A highly useful book...and great value.

The quality of this cassette is marvelous and I felt like checking my ears for accumulated phlegm when I took off the headphones. Side one deals with the basics of conversational Afrikaans and side 2 sets out a variety of expressions of belligerent condemnation.