Customer Reviews

A Complete Grammar of Esperanto

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

 

 

For the student who wants more than a simplified conversational approach to Esoeranto or who is mostly interested in reading the language this is a good choice. The grammar is fairly thoroughly explained in a teaching )not reference) format. Each grammatical section is accompanied by well thought out illustrative examples.The exercises are well done and there is a lot of reading material covering lots pf ground. The grammatical explanations are in a traditional format and cover all grounds (ex a thorough coverage and examples of compound tenses allong with their subtleties). I have been using the downloadable copy at The Gutenberg Project, but having a convenient hard copy is invaluable. In fact I ordered 2 copies to keep one at home and one at work!

Decent texts for learning Esperanto are lamentably few and far between. This is the only book I am aware of which is even close to adequate for the task.
The clear, logical presentation of grammar points and good choice of reading texts makes this book an adequate vehicle in, and of itself, for the acquisition of a good reading knowledge of Esperanto.
The only criticism I might make is that, unfortunately, this book seems quite stuck in the grammar-translation methodology that, while excellent for teaching dead languages, can tie learners of living languages to habits that slow fluency and communication. This book therefore, is an excellent resource for people who want to read Esperanto, those who need to speak may need supplements. Unfortunately, I can't recommend any other book to combine with this one, this really is the single best text on the market to my knowledge. Most books on Esperanto feel dated, stuffy, are visually unappealing and tend to be grammar-driven. This book, at least, is intended as a grammar and is therefore vindicated, the others have no excuse.

As any contemporary Esperantisto recognizes there is a plentiful lack of books concerning the language. This one is adequate for learning the grammar. My one complaint is that it is not structured in a fashion to serve efficiently as a reference. Appendixes and charts are disappointingly wanted.

Basically, the above reviews of Mrs. Kellerman's work are all valid; however, the Kindle version has a problem: the accented consonants are not shown as accented. E.g. Cxevalo (horse) is rendered as cevalo. In most instances (such as the one given) it's not a problem.....if you already know the word. One instance I can see a major problem for is that the -ig-/-igx- suffixes are rendered alike.