48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Poor for everyone. I have better alternatives here...., April 13, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Teach Yourself Icelandic Complete Course (Paperback)
People have said this book is poor for beginners and for those who don't learn languages by learning difficult grammar right from the start. I've used it; they're completely right. Unfortunately, the pedantically outdated and pathetically small vocabulary also makes it difficult for people that know other languages as well, even similar inflectional languages (i.e. languages dependent heavily on grammatical forms).
This book, by trying to satisfy everyone's needs, ends up satisfying nobody's needs. For proof, just consider the first chapter. It describes the 8 forms each for approx. 10 different kinds of nouns all at once, and the vocabulary is so small that there's no way to practice all those forms anyway, even if all this could justifiably be covered in 5 pages!
Look for another book. They're few and far between, that's for sure. I would seriously recommend contacting Iceland directly. Try Iceland's biggest bookstore with web site http://www.mm.is/default2.htm for instance. From living here in Reykjavík, I can tell you the selection is much much greater than you can find anywhere else. Ask about "Icelandic for Beginners," with or without the cassette tape, if you are not a grammatical juggernaut. An intermediate but very well written book is also the possibly out-of-print "Course in Modern Icelandic." It was definitely my "best value" language resource, although I caution that you have to start with an easier text first. Stefan Einarson's "Icelandic: Grammar, Texts, Glossary" is also excellent, although only for reference. It was written during WWII and the exercise vocabularies are mostly 'pastoral' e.g. 'farm,' 'sure-footed horse,' or obsolete, teaching you the outdated word for "radio," for example. This last one's only for the ultraserious and only for looking up all the minute, beautiful details of Icelandic.
Anyway, have fun. Remember that it is very difficult to be even conversational in Icelandic if you don't know another Nordic language or grammatically heavy language like Russian. In that case it will take a lot of time to learn. I knew four other languages before I came here, and I still thought learning Icelandic was difficult. But it was very rewarding indeed, and if you invest enough time I'm sure you'll agree.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
New edition now vastly improved, October 18, 2004
All of the reviews for this book seem to be directed at the previous edition, written by P.J. Glendenning. As most of them correctly point out, that edition was woefully out of date, and not a particularly useful book for a student interested in learning conversational Icelandic.
As a student of Icelandic for quite some time, I'm aware of how difficult it is to find materials worthy of recommendation. The new edition by Hildur Jonsdottir is just such a book, vastly superior to the earlier editions. It follows the new Teach Yourself style of introducing the language through conversation rather than rote grammar memorization. It starts with useful greetings and moves on to everyday conversation smoothly, introducing the necessary grammer gradually and naturally.
If you need to learn Icelandic, this seems like a very reasonable aid. Don't let all the negative reviews for the old edition scare you away from this new one.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Waste of Time, September 28, 2000
This review is from: Teach Yourself Icelandic Complete Course (Paperback)
Although Glendening's book is full of useful grammatical information, this book is not very user-friendly. The shortage of Icelandic learning materials will naturally guide an eager learner to this book, and the book is fine and serves a purpose. Compared with some of the other materials that are widely available this book is among the best. I would suggest, however, some texts and materials that are available in Iceland and which are used in the degree program for Icelandic language designed for foreigners at the University of Iceland (mostly written by U of Iceland faculty and published by the university). One book that is good for basics and provides explanatory information is Icelandic for Beginners by Stanislaw Jan Bartoszek and Anh-Dao Tran. It comes with a cassette and is a great place to start learning Icelandic. In the meantime, however, Glendening's efforts are to be applauded. The book provides a lot of information but just is not very accessible. One bonus, though, if you can get past the layout of the book, is that it is affordable, unlike a lot of materials.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
