Customer Reviews

Romanian: A Complete Course for Beginners (Teach Yourself) (Romany Edition)

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

 

 

I decided to learn Romanian because my grandmother was from Romania. She tried to teach me the language before she died, so the learning process has been a personal experience for me. This book has been great because it is very well organized and has really helped me along.

The pronunciation guide was very detailed, and the tapes are even better for learning pronunciation. It's not very hard, anyway -- similar to Italian. Each chapter is organized around a central theme or question, with the vocabulary derived from the theme. The grammar sections are pretty good. They don't try to give you too much grammar in the beginning, and build on what you've learned gradually.

Overall the book is geared a more to the tourist than to the student who wants to learn the language for knowledge's sake, but that's pardonable. Not many people attempt Romanian unless they are going to go there! The book is a valuable first course in Romanian, whether you're a veteran of foreign language study or this is your first attempt at a second language.

I lived in Romanina for almost 1 year and the book was a terrific addition to my studies of the language. It provided practical things to practice as I walked the streets daily and shopped in the piatas. I would recommend this book to anyone who needs to learn this language. The only thing that I wish it would have had, was a more complete and extensive verb conjugation list at the end of the book. The book had little self-quizes at the end of each chapter that were very helpful. The chapters were organized very well, containing connected information that was not too much to take in for 1 chapter. If you are determined to learn, this book is a great tool. For a language that is not commonly attempted, this book was more than I expected. Of course it is grammatically correct and the people are not, so the language on the streets varies from the book in areas of numbers and some verbs. All around it was great.

As others have noted, this book is fairly helpful, but it does contain many errors that could throw you off if you are not careful.
Although it is better than some of the other cassette and phrase books, it is too confusing to learn from on your own. The tape skips some of the key words and phrases listed, and then uses unexplained vocabulary in the dialogues. In one chapter, half the dialogue is missing.
Thankfully, my boyfriend is Romanian, and helped me, or else I would have never made it through the book.

Deciding what to buy for basic Romanian is a mess. There seem to be 3 overlapping texts out there by the same author, Dennis Deletant. It's unclear whether they are sold with or without casettes. Anyway, this book is very good. But the third edition of the 'Colloquial Romanian' by the same author has more material for those wishing to learn more. The material of the teach yourself book is somewhat humorous, colorful, quite doable. The cassettes have 1-2 texts per lesson only, and both cassettes last only about an hour. There should have been only one with more tape in it.

I would disagree with the earlier review criticising the apparent "lack" of pronunciation in the book. I have found Romanian pronunciation to be no more difficult than any other European language, and the book presents it in a way I found useful. The book's content is both appealing and very easy to understand. As you work through the units it is clear that Romanian is similar in many ways to French, Italian, Spanish etc., and this enables the learner to make progress quickly. This is the best Romanian language book I have found, and is a must for anyone intending to learn this language or travel to Romania.

The subtitle is "A complete guide for beginners". It's not. Out of 244 pages, only 2 deal at all with pronunciation - one has general rules for vowel sounds, the other consonant sounds. There is a companion audio cassette, but it wasn't mentioned in the ad as a separate item. At the price, it should have been included. Anyway, the Berlitz phrase book -- at less than half the price -- is much more useful for the traveler and for anyone just starting out in the language.

This book is great, a wonderful help in studying Romanian. I am a missionary to the countrym and have sought out as many books about Romanian as possible. I have asuggestion for anyone who goes there: Buy your Romanian laguage books in-country. There is a great selection of English/Romanian laguage books and CDs in places like Galati, Bucuresti, Brasov, Braila, etc. Another excellent resource is ... It offers a set of 5 CDs (Romanian/English) and an HTML format companion "book" for only ..., and that includes shipping and handling, as well as tax. The English is in an electronic "voice", forcing you to focus on the Romanian being spoken. The HTML document offers *COMPLETE* verb tables, companion reading for the cds, and a grammar guide. Worth the buy!