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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Small. But good, considerings its size., August 21, 2000
This review is from: Colloquial Somali (Colloquial Series) (Audio Cassette)
To paraphrase the publisher's commentary, what makes this the student's best choice for Somali is that it is almost the only choice. It is not a bad book, but to call it a "complete" language course is a stretch. It is, however, a good introduction for the rank beginner, such as myself. It emphasizes the aspects of pronunciation that are difficult for English-speakers, such as tone differences that signal grammatical change. It shows methodically how words and sentences are constructed and it presents dialogues for speaking. Having mastered this course, the student may want further study, perhaps by searching the offerings of American universities that have programs in African area or language studies.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
fascinating, May 21, 2009
Somali is a language with many features that will seem exotic to most English speaking learners. Accents are based on pitch (rather than stress) and the placement of the pitch accent often determines the gender of the noun. In addition, nouns can flip genders when they are put into the plural. We're definitely not in Kansas any more.
That being said, this is an extremely user-friendly approach to a formidably difficult language. The explanations of the most unfamiliar grammar are very clear and easy to follow. The exercises, which in the beginning lessons are not too difficult, get more challenging as the course goes on, but always remain close to the material already presented.The dialogues start out pretty formlaically- there's a lot of "How are you?" "Come in!" "How's the family?", but they gradually get more interesting, as they follow an English teacher's journey to the Horn of Africa, where he eventually takes up his duties in a Somali town. Do get the CDs, though- a student who knows Arabic would probably find the sounds of Somali pretty familiar, but the stress-tone patterns are likely to be very different and unfamiliar and without a lot of practice it would be difficult to reproduce them acceptably. The author is, incidentally, a scholar of Somali poetry; his website is also worth checking out.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great, but get 2007 edition, November 12, 2008
Great book to start with in Somali, which is a complex language.
There is a new edition (2007), get that one instead of the 1995 edition. In 2007, it has been packaged with CDs instead of tapes.
if you want to go on in Somali or learn in parallel with a more detailed book, get those great Somali books from Dunwoody Press.
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