Swahili (Teach Yourself) (Audio Cassette)

~ Joan Russell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Bestselling language courses!

From Danish to Spanish, Swahili to Brazilian Portuguese, the languages of the world are brought within the reach of any beginning student. Learners can use the Teach Yourself Language Courses at their own pace or as a supplement to formal courses. These complete courses are based on the very latest learning methods and designed to be enjoyable and user-friendly.

Prepared by experts in the language, each course begins with the basics and gradually promotes the student to a level of smooth and confident communication, including:

• Up-to-date, graded interactive dialogues
• Graded units of culture notes, grammar, and exercises
• Step-by-step guide to pronunciation
• Practical vocabulary
• Regular and irregular verb tables
• Plenty of practice exercises and answers
• Bilingual glossary

The new editions also feature:

• Clear, uncluttered, and user-friendly layout
• Self-assessment quizzes to test progress
• Website suggestions to take language study further

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Joan Russell has worked in Kenya and Tanzania, and taught Swahili for many years ath the University level.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company; Cas & Book edition (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 084423835X
• ISBN-13: 978-0844238357
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,127,488 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good buy, October 11, 1999

By A Customer

this book was fun to work through for me, it has interesting scenarios and exercises. It also doesnt just heap the noun classes on you in the first chapter, like alot of books. I was surprised at how it made this Bantu-African language relatively easy and fun, with lots of culture points on Kenya, Tanzania ,most books on AFrican langs dont. I think this is great book for anyone looking to learn Swahili Kwa Heri

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back to the Basics., January 19, 2002

By	Marcus J. Williams (Newark, NJ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is amazing. I've bought many Teach Yourself books, but this book makes me want to go through it.

This book isn't built for colloquial speaking in informal formal situations. It's about being a tourist, but only for the first half of the book. The writers in this books seem to have decided to make it for people who want to be tourist, and people who want to become close to fluent. The first few units detail tourist situations like going to the hotel and getting letters. The subjects move to more advanced conversation, but as Swahili isn't that complicated in most respects it isn't bad.

The most notable thing that can be noticed about the Swahili language is the use of putting nouns into different classes. This is likely the most confusing aspect of the language. This means that they need to be taught very slowly, one noun class per unit... well technically two because the plural counts as a noun class in most cases. The language is easy besides that, with probubly the easiest to understand Verb system, that a three year-old could understand with little effort and a bit of memory.

I'd strongly advise this book to anyone who has an interest in understanding an African language (It could be useful one day) or plans on taking a trip to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, or Even Southern Somalia.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good book, August 31, 2001

By A Customer

When coupled with a good Swahili-English dictionary, this is a great book. It teaches grammar well, and gives you a firm base that will let you travel fairly easily. Of course, there is no substitution to actually speaking the language with other people, and they will no doubt speak very fast for you at first. However, this book does give you a good foundation in Swahili grammar and a basic understanding of how the language works. Be warned that in Nairobi, most Swahili speakers completely ignore rules, so don't be surprised if they say things that are kinda weird!