Tamil for Beginners (Paperback)

by Kausalya Hart (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 361 pages
• Publisher: International and Area Studies (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877253528
• ISBN-13: 978-0877253525
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #463,614 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #9 in	Books > Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Hungarian
  #12 in	Books > Reference > Foreign Languages > Hungarian > Instruction

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best introduction to Tamil I've seen yet!, March 27, 2000

By	Amber Rehling (Berkeley, California) - See all my reviews

I highly recommend this book to anyone trying to learn Tamil, especially since any books about Tamil, much less one as well-written as this one, are very hard to find outside of India. Nice aspects include: explanation of alphabet, lengthy and quite useful vocabulary lists, fun easy-to-read stories in Tamil, and lessons that are easy to follow and not too overwhelming. My only hesitations are that the grammar section is not always totally clear (though better than anything else I've seen) and that there isn't anything about spoken Tamil variations, but these are small complaints. Mrs. Hart teaches Tamil at UC Berkeley and this book is her text. I had the pleasure of studying Tamil with her for a year and I made fast progress. I wish the same to anyone else who tries to learn this beautiful and often underappreciated language.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for classroom learning or self-teaching., April 11, 2001

By	M. Cauble "ldlakasha" (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an excellent book. After years of trying to make sense of the confusing "learn Tamil in 30 days" or similar books one can get in India, I found this book to be very helpful. The only book I have found which comes close to it is the "Microwave Approach" (only sold in India, I believe), which puts more emphasis on the spoken version but leaves out most of the written elements. As to what the other reviewer has said -- my copy of this book has a small section detailing the differences between written and spoken Tamil, but maybe they've changed it since then!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best book on Tamil I have found, September 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Tamil for Beginners: Reading and Writing (Paperback)

Finding a good book on Tamil is very difficult. I haven't made my made through this whole book, but it is clearly written and strikes a good balance between teaching formal and informal Tamil. It is far superior to anything else I have found. Now, if only volume 1 were also available!