Rating: 
Summary: Forget the tape ... use the book
Review: I would agree with all the comments made by the reader in Oakland, California. I am planning a trip to Viet Nam to visit friends, and I bought the book & tape hoping to get a basic introduction to the language. My biggest frustration came in constantly being instructed to "listen and repeat" and then not being given a chance to repeat before the speaker went on with the next sound! In particular, there is a section in the first part of the book where it lists "difficult sounds" that are very similar to one another ... but on the tape, the speaker reads them so quickly that it is nearly impossible to hear exactly how they are different or to match the sounds you're hearing with the words in the book. One important thing lacking in the book itself is a table explaining how the various letters are pronounced and giving examples in English ... for instance, "a - as in 'father'" or "a - as in 'at'". The tape does give good examples, but there is no place in the book to go back and just refresh your memory. I haven't gotten all the way through the book yet, but overall I have learned quite a lot of vocabulary and grammar. I could write out some basic sentences to get my point across if I had to, however, I have no real confidence in my pronunciation or tones. I use the tape very sparingly, because when I do try to listen to a dialogue I end up feeling very frustrated and discouraged.
Rating: 
Summary: A word of warning...
Review: Make sure you get the book WITH the audio cassette. There is basically NO description of prononciation in this book. They simply say "refer to the cassette." I hear that the audio cassette is useless, though, but you absolutely NEED some type of thing to listen to, because we don't have tones in English, and they're not that easy to explain.
Otherwise, I'm sure this is a decent way to learn Vietnamese.
Rating:
Summary: A word of warning...
Review: Make sure you get the book WITH the audio cassette. There is basically NO description of prononciation in this book. They simply say "refer to the cassette." I hear that the audio cassette is useless, though, but you absolutely NEED some type of thing to listen to, because we don't have tones in English, and they're not that easy to explain.
Otherwise, I'm sure this is a decent way to learn Vietnamese.
Rating:
Summary: A word of warning...
Review: Make sure you get the book WITH the audio cassette. There is basically NO description of prononciation in this book. They simply say "refer to the cassette." I hear that the audio cassette is useless, though, but you absolutely NEED some type of thing to listen to, because we don't have tones in English, and they're not that easy to explain.
Otherwise, I'm sure this is a decent way to learn Vietnamese.
Rating: 
Summary: Sure, it has a few flaws, but
Review: so does any language course. The key is whether or not a course, should you have enough time to study it, will cut the mustard during travel (or a local Vietnamese establishment). I gave myself a shade under three months to finish this course, brought it with me along with one phrase book / tape combo, and had spectacular success. No one said language learning was easy, and this isn't - but if you actually put the effort into this course, it will pay off in a big way.
Rating:
Summary: Book/tape combination lacks polish, but gives basics
Review: The Teach Yourself series of language instruction books and tapes seems to be aimed at the morning commute--the office secretary by day who plans on taking their summer vacation in Viet Nam, and who hopes to squeeze in a basic familiarity with the language before getting on the plane. As such, a should not be judged by academic standards. Rather, the test for such a grounding in Vietnamese? The answer seems to be yes, but not nearly as much as seems possible with some simple improvements. The book appears to be reasonably-well organized, with an introductory portion focused on tones, pronunciation, and diphthongs. These are the essential building blocks for what follows. But the tapes which accompany this portion are not so helpful. The speakers rush through the different sounds, not giving the reader time to listen and repeat, (unless they constantly hit rewind). In some places, the sequence in the book doesn't follow the sequence on the tape, and the listener must thumb about to find what's being pronounced. Once you get past the intro and into the chapters, the sinchronization seems to be more reliable, and the pace is not quite as rushed. Each Chapter begins with a brief conversation that introduces new vocabulary words, and a list of the new words. This is followed by thematic explorations, such as a discussion of how past-tense is handled, or how to use the correct article when addressing a person. Although not as rushed, the taped conversations are still read through too fast, and there is no pause to allow the listener to repeat what is said. These speakers seemed unaware of the concept of "sheltered language," where the speaker tries to facilitate the listener's understanding by speaking slowly and clearly. The rushing aspect is particularly maddening because there are on-tape quizzes in English, with long pauses for the listener to answer in English. These comprehension quizzes are a waste of tape, which should have been conserved for what can't be written--actual Vietnamese pronunciation. Because of these issues, I had trouble checking and correcting my pronunciation and use of tones. I did, however, pick up a fair amount of vocabulary and sentence structure, and I became reasonably familiar with the alphabet. Although I found the problems above frustrating, I cannot say whether this book/tape set compares well or badly with its competitors, as I have not tried them. It may well be that the problems described here are typical in this, "commuter-language student" market. But I can say that compared to what seems doable, the set falls short. The makers of the next edition would do well to give the speakers a little coaching, not only about pacing, but about use of sheltered language in general.
Rating: 
Summary: Quite good actually
Review: Well, as mentioned the tape have its flaws, mainly in the beginning where there is just a big mess of the introduction to the pronounciations.
Before starting with the first chapter I would recomend to go to the library and borrow a simpler tape material just to go through the basic pronounciations, or have a vietnamese speaking friend teach you. Besides this I think the material is very good;
you get a good insight into the grammar with very good excercices.
There are at least two dialogues in each chapter, clearly and simply explained grammar with plenty of excercices.
It can be very intimidating when you get to a new chapter and you hear the native speaker talk in what sounds to us very fast, but you have to keep up with it and listen-speak-and repeat, eventually you will speak (almost) as well as the people on the tape,the human voice is like any other instrument-you need will, dedication and constant practice.
If you keep it up it is very rewarding.
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