| Accessories By Manufacturer | |
|
|
Email Newsletter
Get info on Sales, Events, New Products, and More!
|
|
|
|
|
| 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: $10.75
You Save: $9.25 (46%)
New (19) Used (8) from $10.75
Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 84933
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
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Some of these review are a little unfair May 31, 2006
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
I'm impressed with this book. Some of the tips are a bit inane. If you've learned a language before, they might be suggestions you've already figured out. That being said, for the first time language learner, this book points out things that many of us had to learn the hard way.
I give it five stars for the list of words alone. Previous reviewers criticized the book for these word lists, but I disagree. The list is filled with items that will allow you to hit the ground running, if you elect to memorize them as instructed. These frequently used words are worth the price of the book. Each one is a golden nugget.
 Quick and Dirty - but not easy March 13, 2006
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
If you want to learn most languages, you've got Michel Thomas, or Pimsleur or Berlitz (the courses, not the travel packs) to turn to. If they're available, that's where you should go.
Unfortunately, they haven't yet made these handy-dandy one-size-fits-all solutions for all languages. If you're learning, say, Azeri, or Tahitian, or Georgian, there's precious little out there. This is where the Quick and Dirty Guide comes in handy. While some of the advice is contradictory and some of the ideas about how fast you can learn are exaggerated, this book provides a great format for streamlining and organizing your learning for the more exotic languages where the resources are scattershot.
As a language teacher, I don't agree with all of Hawke's observations on language. But if you're faced with the practical reality of needing to communicate in a week or two, proper language learning has to take a backseat to picking up what is humanly possible. For this purpose, his advice is worthwhile.
If you're looking for a language-learning silver-bullet, bad news - none exists. But if you're looking for a way to organize your self-study of an unusual language, this book is worth looking at.
 Unless you want to be hanged... August 8, 2005
6 out of 11 found this review helpful
Although this may leaves many feeling confident in a new language, it most certainly is not enough to get around with.
It's quite annoying to read this book, almost like watching people trying to use sticks as wheels. The author seems to think that knowing small bits of vocabulary in a language is fluency enough to carry on diplomatic conversations with natives.
Basically, it says that for the most part grammar in all languages is in essence the same as in English, and that one need not learn much about it, and spend more time on the vocabulary.
Well, in most languages, saying a literal translation of "I need to go to the bathroom" won't get you very far. If the natives /do/ understand, it will be at their expense (loss of time, energy, youthfulness, and brain cells).
Jump-start your learning February 5, 2005
37 out of 39 found this review helpful
I've been studying Spanish on my own nearly every day for almost two years. Of all the how-to-learn-a-language books that I've found in that time, I think that Barry Farber's "How to Learn Any Language" outlines the best long term strategy. But I think that A.G. Hawke may have the best short-term/quick-start method.
In his introduction, the author talks about principles. He says that his method is based on the KISS (keep it simple stupid) principle. I don't think he gives himself enough credit. I can see three much more tangible principles at work here:
1) Prioritize
Learn the most useful and important things first. The book's charts are prefilled with suggested concepts that the author considers most important.
2) Divide and conquer
The material to be learned is broken into manageable chunks. You concentrate on one chunk at a time. Every day you have a goal.
3) Be consistent
The method suggests a daily pattern of review and learning.
While these principles may not be earth shattering news, the book does provide plenty of details. From those details, you are expected to craft a program of your own. This allows you to take charge of your own learning and to progress with the least amount of wasted time and effort (At least in the early stages).
After reading this book, I can't help but wonder how much of a head start it would have given me. Having no guidance at all, I floundered for quite a while before I started making any real progress. If I'd had this book, I might have shaved several months off my initial learning. (Even just a one month head start is worth more than the price of the book.)
Other reviewers point out that this slim book has very few pages of real text. I'll admit that was my initial reaction too. It's barely longer than a magazine feature article if you don't count the charts. But the author wastes no words.
Short as it is, I'm glad this did end up in book form rather than in a magazine. Otherwise, it would be lost in the abyss of back-issues.
I was left confused July 16, 2004
20 out of 25 found this review helpful
Hawke has done some useful work for the reader by providing his view of the essential words in English that you will need to know the foreign language equivalents of. His advice on Not learning obscenity is excellent. I am learning Korean, and Korean culture would ostracise anyone who used any of the (oh so many) obscenities that I have seen in some guide books.
As noted by others, the majority of the book consists of tables of these words with spaces for you to fill in the translations. It took me the better part of two full days to fill up his tables, using an excellent dictionary and phrase book.
His advice on how to pace your learning is very confused. He appears to give two separate schedules for learning, with no indication of which he actually expects the reader to use. Thus, on page 25 he suggests the following schedule:
15 minute review of work so far
15 minutes of 5 new verbs
15 minutes on 15 new nouns
10 minutes on grammar rules (1 major rule per day)
5 minutes on five new phrases
15 minutes review before going to bed.
Then, on page 27/28 he gives an individual schedule for each day, that is totally at odds with the above! Which of the two does he expect the reader to follow? Or both? This ambiguity irritated me.
Overall this is a useful tool with a couple of good ideas. The macho language style is irritating, as is the lack of clarity as to what he is really trying to recommend to the reader by way of pacing the learning of vocabulary.
|
|
|
Site by: Troy Peterson | |
