Teach Yourself Swahili (Book Only)

by Joan Russell

Book Overview

This course in Swahili is designed for anyone who wants to progress quickly from the basics to understanding, speaking and writing Swahili with confidence. Aimed at those with no previous knowledge,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0071420177
• ISBN13: 9780071420174
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.8" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

very very intensive

I chosed Swahili in my university,but my class book is Pearson's simplified swahili,which a good grammar book.so I bought it for study Swahili conversation.II feel it is very very intensive.it has lots of new words each lesson and you can hold swahili mainly grammar in only 18 lessons.Although it only has a few lessons,I feel if you want to master all things in this book,you need a long time,coz it is very very intensive.the study book of swahili is very a few in this world,although you don't like some more in it,you must to cherish for it:)

Itakusadia kusema Kiswahili!

This book is excellent. It moves at a very good pace, for people who have no experience whatsoever in Swahili, or for people who are trying to brush up too. The audio is excellent and really helps you to pronouce the words. I have enjoyed it, I truly enjoy learning other languages and there hasn't been a language I have caught on as fast as Swahili thanks to this book. A very good tool for people trying to started in this beautiful language.

Back to the Basics.

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.

good book

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!

Good buy

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