Customer Reviews

Easy Way to Latvian (Book/Cassette Course)

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

 

 

I am the youngest daughter of Liga K. Streips who died quite suddenly in 1991. She died in Latvia where, I think , she really wanted to be...

I can remember very clearly all of the hours she spent on the computer perfecting every detail of this wonderful book and cassete way to learn Latvian. Believe me, my brother, sisters and I were guinea-pigs to all of the experiments my mother did to make sure that the courses would work! And work they do - there are countless people that have learned fundemental Latvian from Easy Way To Latvian, and more that now speak the language fluently... My new husband and mother-in-Law are beginning the course now so that they can speak Latvian to our children.

I miss my mother every day but am so glad that part of her lives on in this book!

I tried about four different books before coming to this course. With the other books I didn't get far. But with this course I hit paydirt! It finally began to click.The key is the cassetes which put the learner into different social situations which are very useful in the real world. This was the course which allowed me to begin to explore my culture!

This is a very informative book on the Latvian language,which,together with the audio cassettes makes an invaluable guide to researching same. Clearly,as the author's family indicate,a lot of work went into this. An excellent course for the beginner interested in Latvian per se or for the light it casts on aspects of the Baltic Family of languages,together with Lithuaninan. It is indeed with sorrow that one reads of the passing of this person. If you're interested in the language,get the book and cassettes from Audio-Forum.

Latvian is one of the more difficult of modern languages to learn, both because of its case-oriented structure as well as its relative lack of cognates with the English language. Easy Way to Latvian combines a labor of love on the part of the author wih a touch of genius in guiding the beginner through the morass of Latvian grammar and vocabulary. The course comprises 24 lessons of graded difficulty which illustrate the use of the language in various social situations. Lesson dialogues are supplemented by a series of relevant exercises as well as interesting background commentary by the author. A set of crystal clear audio tapes accompany the text. Surely deserving of five stars!