Customer Reviews

Tagalog (Teach Yourself)

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

 

 

This book has a story which starts from their arrival at the airport. You will see dialogs of conversation. I am a local who is very familiar with Tagalog. I bought this for my European wife who wishes to learn. One thing we found is that the translations is around 98% correct. But the format is enough for one to learn the language. The approach is practical. We don't have the accompanying tape and I didn't know it had one as an option. So I would do the talking for my wife to get the proper pronunciation. I don't know how foreigners would read this book but I assume they are likely to get the wrong pronunciation without help. The phrases have no indication how you would pronouce them but I think it might be a distraction.

I found that the best way for a foreigner to learn is to be exposed to it by speaking it and being spoken to in Tagalog, or listening to an actual conversation. If this isn't available to you, then this book is close enough. I assume the tape would be a bonus if you can get it.

You can also join http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tagalog-e/ Here you can learn with others how to speak it or write it.

At last! A Tagalog course I can use! And tapes to go with it!

The Tagalog language has been long-neglected by publishers of language materials. This fine course helps make up for the deficiency. The lessons are very well-designed, the explanations of a grammar very different from our own are not difficult to follow, and there is a lot of interesting material about Filipino culture. Also, the tape I purchased with the book is excellent and an invaluable help in picking up the pronunciation.

Much has been made of the lack of accent marking in the text. I for one don't see why accents are not marked in the vocabulary lists for each lesson- that is the usual practice in texts on other languages with unpredictable accentuation- Russian, for instance- so that if the reader forgets the stress in the main body of the text, she can always refer back to the vocabulary. The book does have all entries in the back marked with accents, however it is a nuisance to have to consult the glossary to learn the stress of each new word, if you don't have the tape right at hand. That's a minor fault, however.

And I'm so happy to have a usable Tagalog course at last that I don't even mind.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a Teach Yourself Tagalog book was finally offered to the public. Upon opening the book, however, it was clear that the book would not do its job. The authors, for one thing, neglected to write stress marking on the Tagalog words so whoever uses this book and tries to pronounce will end up sounding like a blundering idiot. They had a lot of Tagalog literature at their disposal to help them with their explanations that it appears they didn't use. Whoever buys this book will have to ask a native to write the stress marking on each word so they can really learn to speak the Tagalog language. What a shame they published it in its current state!

This book has a very high price, and is made very cheaply. After using it for 5 minutes, pages are coming out of the binding (this is a paperback that is stitched together). Not what I expect from a $20 paperback!

The book refers repeatedly to the audio cassette that accompanies the book for pronunciation. Well, sorry, there is no cassette included; This makes it impossible to use this book to learn to speak or understand Tagalog. In addition, the introduction that gives a guide to pronunciation must be based upon a variation of English I am not familiar with (one of the authors lives in England): the book indicates the vowel 'o' is pronounced 'aw' in Tagalog. Aw heck, I happen to live with a native speaker of Tagalog, and I can tell you that if I relied on this book to learn to speak Tagalog, I would incorrectly pronounce nearly every word!

I'm very disappointed with this book!

I think this book was definitely helpful in helping me learn Tagalog, especially when there aren't many places to learn the language firsthand, such as a college or university. The tapes were also very helpful. The only complaint I have is that the book was made badly. The pages are only held together by a thin layer of glue. My pages fall out on a regular basis. Otherwise, an altogether good buy.

I hate books that set out to remind me how little grammar I know. This book succeeded in managing not to scare the heck out of me..., so it must be doing something right ! Great to see a book that starts with the learner where she is and not where she's 'supposed' to be. I find it clear, helpful and fun. If you hate grammar like me, try this one for size.

This was an excellent English - Tagalog book. I also bought a cassette to properly HEAR the words. However, I wish they would have an American college course in Tagalog, I am tired of learning to speak Spanish or French. My wish is that we could have a college course professor who would teach this language as an elective in school.