Customer Reviews

Swahili: Lonely Planet Phrasebook

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There just aren't that many swahili dictionaries or phrasebooks out there, and this one turns out to be useful too. Its small size makes it easy to take everywhere and the sections give travelers a good feel for the language without being too overwhelmed by swahili's many noun classes. I would recommend it more as a reference than as a stand-alone teaching tool, but the english-swahili, swahili-english dictonary is comprehensive and useful for travelers with all degrees of Kiswahili fluency. My copy has turned somewhat brown from all the dust, but the book has held up well. I would hate to be stuck in East Africa without it.

I have purchased a few different materials to try to learn the Swahili language. The was by far the best value. It is full of useful information, and unlike the others that I purchased, actually teaches you how to build sentences, and not just ask where the train station is. If you purchase this along with some tapes, you will learn the language much faster.

It may not be the only book you'll need to grasp the concepts of the Swahili language, but it is definitely a must-have supplement. Covering a wide variety of topics, this inexpensive little book holds a lot of information. Grammar and pronounciation tips throughout the book help you to build confidence and understanding when putting those hundreds of new vocabulary words to use. Different scenerios are broken down into appropriate chapters, making words for every situation easy to find. And to top it off, reinforcing crossword puzzles and a two-way dictionary at the back of the book. Excellent!

What's not to like? The compact size makes it easy to pack and tote on your trip to East Africa. It works great as a pre-trip study resource for the language - and equally well if you never open it until you are in a market in Tanzania and want to know "bei gani?" ("how much?") The book is organized in a way that makes sense - you can go to the section on shopping and find, not just a list of vocabulary words, but lots and lots of phrases to cover all kinds of situations. (If you have ever had to look up what you want to say word by word in a language guide, you will appreciate the value of this feature.) Like all Lonely Planet publications, it is written with a sense of attitude and energy - not dry like many language guides. My (Ki)Swahili is pretty good at this point - but I still pack this book whenever I go to East Africa.

The highlights of this book is that it contains not only the dictionaries and useful phrases but also good explanation of grammar which makes understanding easier. Can't learn a language without grammar. They also try not to complicate by teaching "survival Swahili".

I had this guide when I went to Kenya, and I highly recommend it! It was very useful when I got very ill and needed to explain to a Swahili speaking doctor what was wrong with me. I also used it when I'd go to the Masai Markets and I always got a much better deal when I'd barter in Swahili. The Kenyans can speak English, but they appreciate it when you try to speak to them in Swahili.

I loved this guide so much I am buying copies for the members of my family who will be joining me for a holiday in Kenya this coming year.

It's an absolute must for any traveler!

There are many things in life I don't understand.

This is one of them.

On page 11, it says:
"There are no diphthongs in Swahili (i.e. vowel sound combinations, like in English 'day'.)"

Then, in chart below (paraphrasing), book instructs:
"Symbol 'ay' will be pronounced like 'may,' so 'wewe' will be pronounced 'wayway.'"

BUT WAIT, you just said there were NO DIPHTHONGS as in "day."

Now you're going to have us pronounce EVERY "E" as an incorrect DIPHTHONG?

("Wewe" is pronounced like "e" in English "leg." It rhymes with "heh heh," not "hey-hey". Why? Because it's not a diphthong!)

This might not be a big deal, except every time I read, I now have to "auto-correct" myself for the book's mistake ("ay" is pronounced "e" as in "leg"), every time.

And readers who don't catch the book's error will be pronouncing with an unmistakable accent.

Seems like someone there just turned off their thinking cap for a moment, and steered the whole book in a decidedly less useful direction.

I brought this little book for a trip to Kenya. It was a great resource for finding commonly used phrases and words. Swahili is a simple sounding, yet complex language. Because it was easy to understand the pronunciation of words, it was easy to look them up to see what someone who didn't know English was telling me!

It was easy to use in hotels, at the parks, shops and more. Made the trip much more enjoyable by being able to zero in on what I wanted with the right word(s) rather than using a point and mime system. Yes, at times I did transpose the words in the wrong order which had many of the native Swahili speakers in stitches, but they appreciated the effort to learn their language and the effor to communicate.

For a compact book on Swahili this is the best I've seen. The contents of this little gem were easily divided into useful and practical sections, covering a broader use of the language than I've come across in other similar type books. Each section was uniquely and clearly identifiable allowing faster access to put your fingertips on the words or phrases you need. This book also succeeds in helping the reader obtain a basic yet concrete understanding of the Swahili language where other similar books have attempted but failed.

This book is a novelty at best, perhaps something to browse over on the plane over to East Africa, or something to put on the bookshelf when yo get back, but chances are you're never gonna REALLY use it. Best bet is to print some useful phrases off the internet and take those along, and save whatever this book would cost for some Tuskers once you get over there. If you actually want to learn the language definitely do not waste your time, Baba Malaika makes some good dictionaries, and take a course at a university or just go live over there, and be prepared to put a lot of time into it.. But this phrasebook = WASTE OF MONEY!!