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| The Quick and Dirty Guide to Learning Languages Fast | 
 enlarge | Author: A. G. Hawke
Publisher: Paladin Press
Category: Book
List Price: $20.00
Buy New: $12.00
You Save: $8.00 (40%)
New (20) Used (7) from $9.87
Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 335887
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.5
ISBN: 1581600968
Dewey Decimal Number: 418.0071
EAN: 9781581600964
ASIN: 1581600968
Publication Date: September 1, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: NEW from the Publisher! APO/FPO Orders Welcome. Order from a VETERAN-OWNED Bookseller. Every order shipped with Delivery Confirmation, Please E-Mail us directly with any shipping questions.
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Product Description
There are many reasons why you might need to learn a foreign language quickly. The author, a U.S. Army Green Beret, often travels to foreign countries on short notice and needs to be able to communicate with military and government officials, many of who do not speak English. He tried all types of schools, classes, books and tapes, but none delivered what he needed when he needed it. So he developed his own method for learning foreign languages. It proved so effective for him and his fellow Green Berets that he decided to share his method with others who need to learn a language quickly. The Quick and Dirty Guide to Learning Languages Fast is designed for people who have no interest in learning complicated rules of grammar. The author promises that his method will help anyone become functional in any language in seven days and proficient in 30. He's trimmed the fat, freeing your time for what's truly useful. Includes a day-by-day schedule, a handy workbook format and secret tips to help you master key elements quickly and easily.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 My video review of The Quick and Dirty Guide to Learning Languages Fast September 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RW1BPNPSL6S7C This is my video review of The Quick and Dirty Guide to Learning Languages Fast. In this review I cover the strong points and weak points of The Quick and Dirty Guide to Learning Languages Fast. I also tell how I happened to come across this book.
 A Good Jump on Language Acquisition January 19, 2008
I studied French throughout my high school years, only to be released into the wilds, incapable of speaking French. I had to rethink everything I learned about LEARNING. I decided for myself the following: What is important to me? How would I decribe myself to someone, and how do I increase my vocabulary? I wish I'd had this little book. One of the good things about this book is that it has, in English, useful word lists that you can reproduce, although the one deficit is that the pages are small, and trying to write in a non-Latin alphabet or phonetically is difficult, given the space alotted. Better to reproduce the word lists and personalize them on Word.
The word lists do increase your vocabulary acquistion quite quickly, and the applications are endless. This book, of course is not meant to be a study guide in any particular language, but it will get you started in a logical, rapid fashion.
 Barely Better Than Nothing September 29, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Having directly taught or directly supervised instruction in exactly thirty languages (at Stanford, Georgetown, US Naval Academy, State U of NY, US Defense Languages Institute, etc), I picked up this book with considerable enthusiasm but found it seriously wanting. Other reviews here have handled some of the details well; I'll direct my comments to just one overriding principle.
This book's structure and method tend to reinforce the unfortunate assumption that, in general, languages consist of pieces interchangeable with the pieces you already know in your own language. This brick-by-brick concept leads to word lists where English is presented in one list of words matched up with the target language's list of words. This reinforces the incorrect feeling that each language is put together with bricks, and you match up your red bricks wih the other language's yellow bricks.
Whereas the reality is that each language presents a different structure. You may think of bricks, but your target language may be frame-stucco or an animal-hide teepee. To understand a teepee, you wouldn't be helped by looking at it and wondering, "Where are the bricks?" As just one example, using two common languages. the American English construction "because I FELT like doing it that way," is very often rendered in Spanish as, "porque si." How would it help the learner of Spanish to wonder, "Where is the FELT," or "Where is the doing?" The fact is that the Spanish, literally, is just "because yes." But it can often and easily mean "Because I felt like doing it that way."
And yet, despite this very fundamental weakness, this book does offer helpful info of the type to which it's limited.
great book June 27, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is for the people who need to know enough to get by in a short period of time. If you are in the military or travel alot it is a must. It also works for any language.
 Good if you really need to learn a new language fast May 13, 2007
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Here's the skinny: If you really need to learn a new language fast, because you will travel somewhere in the next few days, then this is probably a good book to get. Otherwise, you may get it if you can spare the money, and it may teach you something. But don't expect any silver bullet.
The method is very simple and most of the pages are filled with word tables. These are simple tables that you have to fill with translated versions of some essential words in the target language. It's a waste of paper; the book could show the model for the tables, and put the essential words into lists. It's easy to build the tables if you have the lists. Nonetheless, the selection of essential words is a good guide for what to learn first.
The method gives you a direction for a quick start in a language, and is supposed to work for any language. However, some parts of the method may be difficult or impossible to apply if the target language is too different from English. The author admits this is so, and the student may need to adapt the techniques.
There's one sound piece of advice for any language learners, regardless of method: you must immerse yourself in the language and culture you want to learn. Read children's books, newspapers, magazines; watch movies; listen to music; eat the food; all of this connected with the culture associated with the language.
Otherwise, I found it mildly interesting, but don't plan on using the method as I'm not in such a hurry, and becoming merely functional in a language is not my goal at this point. But I think I can incorporate some of the tips and ideas into my own language learning habits.
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