Conversational Tagalog: A Functional-Situational Approach [Paperback]

Teresita V. Ramos (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Tagalog

Product Details

• Paperback: 358 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Hawaii Pr (May 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824809440
• ISBN-13: 978-0824809447
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #356,182 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Tagalog

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good introductory-level text, June 9, 1999

By 

Willkie - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conversational Tagalog: A Functional-Situational Approach (Paperback)

I found this book complimented my other books well in learning Tagalog. There are many gramatical explinations and good vocabulary builders. The focus is not pure memorization but to develop your skills in the language and understand how it works. The text is probably better for a more structured learning environment. It is not geared towards the "Teach yourself" learner.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a good place to start, July 30, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conversational Tagalog: A Functional-Situational Approach (Paperback)

This book does include many useful phrases, and will teach you some basic vocabulary. However, the instruction on grammar stops at giving examples of phrases. Given a slightly different situation, the examples you've memorized could be rendered useless. A good book for those going to the Philippines for the first time and those who want just enough to get by on. If your aim is fluency or actual conversation, however, I would look somewhere else.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars OK, but with reservations, July 14, 2004

By 

"infantofprague" (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conversational Tagalog: A Functional-Situational Approach (Paperback)

For self-instruction, this book is just OK. It does provide a decent introduction to the vocabulary and grammar, but don't expect to be able to speak or understand much Tagalog at the end. The grammatical explanations are confined to describing the forms of the word, but almost nothing is said about HOW the forms are used (especially the different verb forms, the heart of the language). You will have no idea how to use an actor-focus verb versus an object-focus verb. On the other hand, I do like the vocabulary lists at the back that are arranged by topic. Ramos' strong point is providing some information about Filipino culture. This one not bad given some limitations; you could do worse. But for serious learners, I recommend Pilipino Through Self-Instruction, by John Wolff, et al., from Cornell.