Customer Reviews

Swahili: A Foundation for Speaking, Reading, and Writing - Second Edition

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

 

 

This is a really wonderful book to start learning Kiswahili with. The explanations are clear and it is very attractively illustrated. My only (small) gripe is that there are no solutions for the exercises, which hampers independent study somewhat. However, this won't deter any serious student as the book does include a translation of all the dialogues,as well as all a vocabulary listing all the words used in the book. Highly recommended!

I used this book in addition to my classroom text in my Swahili course and I found it incredibly helpful. The grammar notes were especially helpful and the presentation of the very difficult noun classes was awesome! I would definitely recommend this as a supplement or even for the motivated independent student!!!!

I found this book easy to use and very clear on matters of grammar and pronunciation. The reading exercises advance at a nice pace, so you are continually challenged without being overwhelmed. I do agree with the other reviewer that more answers to the exercises would be really helpful for self-study. The dictionary section at the back is pretty thorough, though if you keep going past about the first half of the book, you will be interested in investing in a Swahili-English dictionary (probably Awde).

I used this book along with several other resources (Simplified Swahili, Teach Yourself Swahili, Pimsleur) to learn the language independently. This was the book I relied on the most. It's well laid out with dialogues, readings and grammar notes. The emphasis is on natural topics of conversation in Africa, not on travelers' phrases, so you won't learn how to have your luggage carried to your room. Instead you'll learn about farming, fishing and schooling. The lessons progress slowly enough that I was not overwhelmed (a problem with the Teach Yourself series).

I have one serious complaint, which is that the book introduces all the noun classes at once in chapter 14 -- which caused me to put the book down for almost a year before giving it another try.

Learning a language on your own out of a book is very difficult, but this book is the most useful one I found. As a classroom text I think it would be excellent.

the service was good and it arrived on time, and that's all i really wanted. also, it was $5 cheaper than at the bookstore.

Reading other glowing reviews of this book made me wonder "Did I have the same text?" This book is a hopeless muddle for a beginning student of the language! Almost all other books on the market are at least organized in a manner that offers a non-intimidating approach. This specimen begins the actual instruction with section titles in Swahili, and proceeds to introduce terms that are not yet accessible to students in the chapters being studied. I'm sorry, this is the ONLY Swahili language text I could find that I would NEVER recommend for an independent learner.

My daughter has spent time in Tanzania and hopes to go back. She she this is a wonderful book.