Hugo Language Course: Turkish In Three Months [Paperback]

DK Publishing (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0789442183 | ISBN-13: 978-0789442185 | Publication Date: March 15, 1999 | Edition: Pap/Cas

Now learning a foreign language can be enjoyable as well as challenging, and not require a trip back to the classroom. Available in both book-only or book-and-cassette format, these Three-Month Language Courses are outstanding self-study programs designed for the individual seeking to acquire a good working knowledge of a language in a short amount of time. Devoting just over an hour daily to the course, the program provides grammar lessons, contextual conversion drills, relevant word lists, and graded exercises, giving you an immediate and practical grasp of the language. In addition, pronunciation is made easy with Hugo's unique "imitated pronunciation" system, which represents foreign sounds with English syllables. Whether you are a businessman tackling an international account, a student preparing for an adventurous holiday, or simply a lover of new languages, the Three-Month Language Course makes learning easy, satisfying, and more fun than ever before.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: DK ADULT; Pap/Cas edition (March 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789442183
• ISBN-13: 978-0789442185
• Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,674,529 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The best of a not very good bunch, February 10, 1999

By 

Chris Stephenson ([e-mail]) (Istanbul,Turkey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Turkish in Three Months (Hugo's Simplified System) (Paperback)

This is the best Turkish language book for beginners that I have found so far. As a translator and teacher of English living in Turkey I am struck by the enormous disparity in quality between books for foreigners who want to learn English and books in English for people who want to learn Turkish.

This is not surprising when you consider the enormous demand for books teaching English. Bengisu Rona's book has the advantage that it is written fairly recently (some other books on the market are pretty ancient). It is a logical presentation of the grammar of the language, but still lacks the lively and imaginative approach of most modern texts teaching the English language.

Turkish is very different from European languages, but once you get your head round the entirely different principles on which the language works, learning it is very satisfying.

So, until someone (maybe me!) gets round to writing a better book, I recommend "Turkish in 3 Months".

Don't take the title literally, though. You have no chance of cracking it in three months, unless you're a natural linguistic genius.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good but..., November 2, 2002

By 

My Pen Name "not me" (nowhere) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hugo Language Course: Turkish In Three Months (with Cassette) (Paperback)

For a 3 month , independent trip through Turkey my wife decided to learn rudimentary conversational Turkish. She bought the very expensive...US/ FSI Turkish Basic Course (Level I ) with 12 tapes. She was very happy with the course. BUT..after borrowing the Hugo book from the local library , she wanted to get the Hugo Course with tapes. I was fortunate to find her a copy (with tapes) via a re-seller. The price was 10% of the FSI Course.
She also used the extremely inexpensive LV Thomas "Elementary Turkish" booklet.

Comparisons and Opinions?

The FSI course is massive, and the only way to describe it is to pretend that you are a 2 month old baby, who hears over and over again something that they very slowly begin to understand... and master rapidly.

The Hugo Course is comparable to a high school course. It comes fast... perhaps too fast, and overwhelms. However, when you 'crack the book' and actually "study"... it is all there. But you need to invest 2-3 hours per day to really master the material. My wife says that it is simpler , more logical, and ultimately easier than the FSI course. But she says the FSI course is very good, because it has the bulk to allow multiple repitions and incremental mastery. She also feels that the speakers on the FSI cassette are more varied and easier to understand than the Hugo course.

For 6 months, 3 hours/day she has been studying.That's her opinion.

For me? I didn't have the time to invest.I found the LV Thomas grammar book, a small Eng-TK/TK-Eng pocket dictionary , a Turkish co-worker, and a lot of listening to my wife's inane questions in Turkish, which she insisted I answer, helped me to achieve the comfort level that I wanted.

She loves the Hugo course, and that book is what she plans to take to Turkey. However...this is the 4th language she has learned. And she that she intends to continue learning it. And says that she would consider spending shelling out for the FSI Level II course when the time comes.

Update: a subsequent (2004) 3 month trip in far eastern Turkey demonstrated the utility of learning the language once you step off of the tourist track/guided tour world that is part of most (the few that there are) American visitors to TK) I would also recommend the comments of SK who mentioned that the FSL program is now available as open source/freeware)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Turkish in Three Months, February 12, 2000

By 

Dr. Poppy Collyer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hugo Language Course: Turkish In Three Months (Paperback)

As a reference book for grammar this is fine.Otherwise it's dull and offers little incentive to learn.I bought it because Rona wrote it, and her Get By in Turkish (BBC Books) is excellent.The problem with all these courses in Turkish is that the authors don't realise that the language is more 'alien'than the European languages one learns, and they all present far too much material far too soon.Start with the BBC book.It will at least give you enthusiasm, and some incentive to plough on through the rest of the dry stuff on the market.