Colloquial Navaho [Paperback]

Robert W. Young (Author), William Morgan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1994 | ISBN-10: 0781802784 | ISBN-13: 978-0781802789

This dictionary addresses the inadequacy of literal translation when working with idioms. It offers interpretations based on the general meaning of a phrase rather than the individual words that comprise the expressions.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert W Young and William Morgan

Product Details

• Paperback: 461 pages
• Publisher: Hippocrene Books (September 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0781802784
• ISBN-13: 978-0781802789
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,080,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Navajo
  • #84 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Native American

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good for intermediate or advanced students, May 8, 2000

By 

Sean Burke (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Colloquial Navaho (Paperback)

This book is a good source on idioms in Navajo, and it also has lots of example sentences illustrating the idioms (as well as illustrating all sort of other things on the way). This should be quite useful to intermediate and advanced students.

However, this is /not/ for beginning students -- they will find this book basically unusable.

I advise beginning students to buy Goossen's intro book (/Dine Bizaad/), and to buy one or both of the other big Navajo dictionaries (/Analytical Lexicon of Navajo/ and /The Navajo Language: A Grammar and Colloquial Dictionary/, both by Young and Morgan).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Colloquial Navajo: A Dictionary, August 1, 2009

By 

Douglas R. Causey - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Colloquial Navaho (Paperback)

I'm really enjoying this publication "Colloquial Navajo: A Dictionary." In all seriousness, it's a must for anybody wanting to learn, speak, and understand simple Navajo. I do appreciate how this book is written so as to better facilitate an individualin in absorbing some simple everyday Navajo.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for those with a basic familiarity of Navajo, September 10, 2010

By 

Almelle (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colloquial Navaho (Paperback)

In this book, Young and Morgan give for each entry:

- Colloquial verb phrases like, "to have a grudge against him" or "to push it over"
- Followed by a first person example (e.g. I have a grudge against him = bik'ee dinishniih)
- Then a list of conjugations for other modes (perfective, usitative, etc)
- Followed by a sample sentence usage.

You won't understand this right off, but after you spend a few hours learning the grammatical structure of a verb (see Faltz's The Navajo Verb: A Grammar for Students and Scholars for an excellent but detailed explanation and Goossen's Dine Bizaad: Speak, Read, Write Navajo for one of the best intro Navajo textbooks), this will be a great help in expanding your vocab!