Customer Reviews

Teach Yourself Norwegian Complete Course, New Edition (book only)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm about half way through this book (it's taken about a month, but I'm putting lots and lots of time into it) and so far I've been very impressed with the clarity and organization throughout. I have a number of Teach Yourself language books... and some of them are horribly disorganized and illogically sequenced--especially those published from around 10 to 15 years ago. It seems that the TY people have finally come to their senses with the newer offerings (especially the "Beginner's Series" French and Italian--those are wonderful).

This book is very well presented. The vocabulary is introduced mostly at the word level with nice lists and definitions side by side (not predominately at the phrase level, which is a weakness for many TY language books, IMO). You actually learn to use words and put them together into sentences, rather than learning a bunch of semi-useless static "canned" phrases.

The voice actors present dialog very well/clearly in an ongoing story format--it's quite entertaining at times (reminds me of a Spanish telenovela). The grammar is introduced in very digestible chunks (in fact, personally I could take that part way faster). On the vocabulary side, I find it to be quite intense, almost overwhelming at times. There are around 1500 words introduced and several hundred phrases. For me personally, the vocabulary comes too quickly. I find myself getting bogged down with memorizing new words after I've long since done the grammar from the section. But that is just personal learning strengths/weaknesses. I pick up grammar very fast... and memorize vocabulary quite slowly. It may be different for you. I know many people shudder at the mention of grammar--trust me, in this book it's presented very understandably.

Finally, as is the problem with nearly EVERY language book I've seen, there are just not nearly enough exercises/practice problems. I won't fault this book for it, since it's a common condition. About ten times more practice would be nice. I find myself trying to come up with my own exercises to help me remember all of this vocabulary. I also use other books (Janus' Verbs & Essentials of Grammar, Colloquial Norwegian, Hippocrene's Beginner's Norwegian) for extra practice. Of course, if your memory is sharp, you might not need so much practice/study.

All in all, this is my favorite of the Norwegian books I have. I'm already able to understand some of what I hear on Norwegian (internet) radio. There is quite a lot of vocabulary similarity with English, which is nice. And Norwegian grammar is very refreshing compared to other languages--it's relatively simple. I wouldn't say Norwegian is "easy" for an English speaker, but it's not nearly as hard as is a language such as Gaelic or Finnish. Not even close.

A helpful hint: The Norwegian Conversation CDs by Teach Yourself are a great supplement to this course. They roughly follow this book's sequence and are great for additional practice with vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.

This is a top-notch treatment of the subject, but one must have both the disk and the book, as in this package, to benefit. It is addressed to adults-The heroine rides a motorcycle and likes to guzzle beer! The grammer is presented in bits that are easy to digest. it is the best introduction to the subject I have seen since the old Einar Haugen SPOKEN NORWEGIAN of many years ago. Once you have digested the book you might try the Norwegian novelist Per Petterson getting both the Norwegian and English versions of UT OG STJAELE HESTER and OUT STEALING HORSES respectively. It is superb writing in a relatively simple Norwegian. Working back and forth between the two can improve your reading of Norwegian suhstantially. And of course the Norwegian newspapers are on line for some very current practice.

I have wanted to learn Norwegian for some time, but as an American student living on the East Coast, my resources have been someone limited. On a whim, I picked up a copy of this book from my college bookstore, hoping to cruise through it over time and perhaps pick up at least some introductory knowledge of the language. I got a lot more than I thought I would. The chapters are organized and helpful, the vocabulary lists build on each other, and the subject matter is interesting. I use it everyday.

To give you an idea of what this book has done for me, let me say that I have taken five years of German at both the high school and university level. Though I can read and write German better, my Norwegian speaking skills are inexplicably stronger. For having only worked on learning the language a few months, I can easily hold various conversations. The book is excellent for building conversational skills as well as skills in both reading and writing.

If you're looking to get started in Norwegian, look no further than this book. It's simply awesome.

Having both a CD component and a book (with a small Norwegian/English dictionary included) is very helpful. You learn how to pronounce Norwegian by listening to and repeating words on the CDs, and the book provides grammar rules, spelling and definitions that help when you have a question about what you heard on the CD. Also, there are exercises in the book, with answers in the back. The course also covers Norwegian culture and traditions by following several people through their activities over the span of a year.

I'm only on chapter 7 (of 16) but so far it's been great. The pronuniation guide section is a little off, but you learn very quickly to pronounce Norwegian by listening to the recording. It's definently not for someone who only wants to learn "survival" Norwegian, or just enough to get by if you were to go to Norway. It's for serious students, something that many language textbooks lack.
All in all, very impressed.

If you are really interested in Norwegian and have the time to put into a reading course like this it may be able to teach you the basics. It is structured well and organized simple enough for most people to understand. The problem is the course is very limited and does not really help you learn what you need to learn in everyday conversation. I would recommend buying this with a English Norwegian dictionary and perhaps another companion Norwegian learning book to reference in some cases. Alone it CAN do the job but it might be a bit tough.

My only complaint is the CD was a little hard to use because it went through everything at a breakneck pace. You can't use it much without the book. Each chapter has only a few minutes of audio and I was always rewinding. That's not to say it wasn't a very useful addition to the book, especially for something as hard to learn to pronounce as Norwegian. It's just not something you can use in the car.

Overall though, the course is very well done and is a great deal for the price.

This book is really helpful for learning the basics of Norwegian. It is well organised and makes a lot of sense. The only problem is it is sometimes hard to learn pronounciation without an instructor and using the audio in conjunction with the text can be kind of difficult. Also, as with all self teaching you must motivate yourself and find your own ways to practice-- with this in mind, the book is great!

When trying to learn a foreign language while at home the great challenge is to hear the target language spoken, especially with a language like Norwegian that is in no sense an international language. In the Teach Yourself package you get 2 CDs and a ridiculous amount of space on them is wasted by the English chatter of the teacher. Also, the tone of voice in which she constantly whines "Do you understand?" ought to be a hanging offense.

I think it's the best way to learn norwegian by yourself, and for a cheap price.

The lessons are easy to understand and every unit ends with exercices to make sure you learned everything well.

With the CDs, you'll get use to hear the Norwegian langage. Of course, they speak slower than norwegian people having a real conversation, but you are here to learn.