A Comprehensive Course in Twi Asante for the Non-Twi Learner

Rating:
Summary: Great book, horrible audio.
Review: I got this book along with the included cassette and CD in the sincere effort to learn the Twi language. The book itself is good as it shows phrases that would be used in every day conversation. Twi is a tonal language and the correct pronunciation of the words is essential. Unfortunately, the sound quality of the cassette and CD is awful. It actually sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom stall. I may be able to read the language, but I dare not attemt to speak it after listening to the cassette and CD. I would not recommend this to anyone who is just beginning to learn the language.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, horrible audio.
Review: I got this book along with the included cassette and CD in the sincere effort to learn the Twi language. The book itself is good as it shows phrases that would be used in every day conversation. Twi is a tonal language and the correct pronunciation of the words is essential. Unfortunately, the sound quality of the cassette and CD is awful. It actually sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom stall. I may be able to read the language, but I dare not attemt to speak it after listening to the cassette and CD. I would not recommend this to anyone who is just beginning to learn the language.

Rating:
Summary: good intro to Twi language
Review: I have used this text for two classes. Overall, it has been very helpful. The notes on culture are also very helpful. Initially, the audio CD and Cassette which accompany the book were of low quality; however, I received a better audio (I believe the stock was replenished with better audio) from the CD and the cassette.

The audio supplement could be improved by additing specific pronunciation examples.

I recommend it for indivivdual and group classes in Twi.

Daniel

Rating:
Summary: good intro to Twi language
Review: In its two parts and appendices, Comprehensive Course packs in the information. Part 1 (17 chapters in 80 pages) concentrates on the spoken language, with an appropriate amount of grammatical instruction interwoven with oral and written exercises. Part 2 (19 chapters in 40 pages) focuses in greater detail on technical grammar points. Finally, in the appendices, a variety of common idiomatic expressions, proverbs and Akan names are explained. There is also a 15 page list of vocabulary (in English-Twi, but not in Twi-English) at the back of the book.

The chapters in Part 1 cover a broad spread of subjects: greetings; finding out where someone lives and what they do; travelling and directions; telling the time; clothes; the body; and buying things, to name a few. The structure of these chapters is not uniform, but typically each contains: a dialogue section (with the Twi and the English translation side-by-side); a list of relevant vocabulary; notes on basic grammar; an excellent explanation of relevant cultural points; and a short written exercise, say, a translation or word substitution exercise (for which no answers are given).

By separating out the detailed grammar study into Part 2, Professor Dolphyne allows you to concentrate on the spoken language first, where you only encounter essential grammar as the need arises, and to leave the more technical stuff for later (or ignore it altogether). I do not find it disruptive that most of the grammar appears separately, and this may be a pleasant approach if you are not really interested in the rules of grammar, but the risk, I suppose, is that you will then use the Part 1 chapters more like a phrasebook where you are just learning to memorise selected phrases, rather than learning to use the language.

The main problem I find with Comprehensive Course is that one of its strengths - the sheer volume of instruction that it contains - is also its principal weakness. I find that in working through the book, it does not give me enough opportunity to really digest new material and that, having finished a chapter, I am then moving on to a new area without feeling as though I have had the chance to consolidate what I have just learned.

The book comes with a 60 minute cassette tape which contains the Twi from all of the dialogue sections from each chapter (each one lasts about 2 minutes), and some of the vocabulary, although seemingly selected at random. There is no polite way of saying it, the quality of the recording is absolutely dreadful. There is an enormous amount of background "hiss" on the tape and the speakers are either too quiet or too muffled to be heard with real clarity. To simulate the experience, you should put your head next to a roaring air conditioner and then try to listen in on a quiet conversation on the other side of the room.

It is easier to follow the tape when played through headphones at full volume. As you do begin to get more accustomed to the poor sound quality, it is helpful that a number of male and female speakers were used to make the recording, so you are not in danger of copying any one individual's particular speech traits. But, when you are beginning to learn a language, and particularly a tone language, you need to hear it spoken slowly first of all, with the words broken down into their component parts and repeated, before you hear the same passage at conversational speed. Aside from the quality of the recording, with Comprehensive Course you get it once and quickly. Most of the vocabulary lists and other exercises are not covered on the tape. None of the English is recorded either so, at least until you are familiar with a particular dialogue, you have to have the book in front of you when listening to the tape.

Although this is intended to be a beginner's course for non-Twi speakers, it is not a good source for an absolute beginner, especially given the limitations of the accompanying recording. If you are determined to learn Twi, this is well worth buying because there is a lot of very good teaching here, but I think you will get much more out of Comprehensive Course if you start off with something else to begin to get the hang of Twi pronunciation, and then use this course in conjunction with some of the other materials that are available. I didn't start learning Twi with Comprehensive Course (but I do not yet consider myself to be an accomplished speaker) and this is definitely a case where a little bit of knowledge goes a long way.

Rating:
Summary: Start with something else, then buy this.
Review: In its two parts and appendices, Comprehensive Course packs in the information. Part 1 (17 chapters in 80 pages) concentrates on the spoken language, with an appropriate amount of grammatical instruction interwoven with oral and written exercises. Part 2 (19 chapters in 40 pages) focuses in greater detail on technical grammar points. Finally, in the appendices, a variety of common idiomatic expressions, proverbs and Akan names are explained. There is also a 15 page list of vocabulary (in English-Twi, but not in Twi-English) at the back of the book.

The chapters in Part 1 cover a broad spread of subjects: greetings; finding out where someone lives and what they do; travelling and directions; telling the time; clothes; the body; and buying things, to name a few. The structure of these chapters is not uniform, but typically each contains: a dialogue section (with the Twi and the English translation side-by-side); a list of relevant vocabulary; notes on basic grammar; an excellent explanation of relevant cultural points; and a short written exercise, say, a translation or word substitution exercise (for which no answers are given).

By separating out the detailed grammar study into Part 2, Professor Dolphyne allows you to concentrate on the spoken language first, where you only encounter essential grammar as the need arises, and to leave the more technical stuff for later (or ignore it altogether). I do not find it disruptive that most of the grammar appears separately, and this may be a pleasant approach if you are not really interested in the rules of grammar, but the risk, I suppose, is that you will then use the Part 1 chapters more like a phrasebook where you are just learning to memorise selected phrases, rather than learning to use the language.

The main problem I find with Comprehensive Course is that one of its strengths - the sheer volume of instruction that it contains - is also its principal weakness. I find that in working through the book, it does not give me enough opportunity to really digest new material and that, having finished a chapter, I am then moving on to a new area without feeling as though I have had the chance to consolidate what I have just learned.

The book comes with a 60 minute cassette tape which contains the Twi from all of the dialogue sections from each chapter (each one lasts about 2 minutes), and some of the vocabulary, although seemingly selected at random. There is no polite way of saying it, the quality of the recording is absolutely dreadful. There is an enormous amount of background "hiss" on the tape and the speakers are either too quiet or too muffled to be heard with real clarity. To simulate the experience, you should put your head next to a roaring air conditioner and then try to listen in on a quiet conversation on the other side of the room.

It is easier to follow the tape when played through headphones at full volume. As you do begin to get more accustomed to the poor sound quality, it is helpful that a number of male and female speakers were used to make the recording, so you are not in danger of copying any one individual's particular speech traits. But, when you are beginning to learn a language, and particularly a tone language, you need to hear it spoken slowly first of all, with the words broken down into their component parts and repeated, before you hear the same passage at conversational speed. Aside from the quality of the recording, with Comprehensive Course you get it once and quickly. Most of the vocabulary lists and other exercises are not covered on the tape. None of the English is recorded either so, at least until you are familiar with a particular dialogue, you have to have the book in front of you when listening to the tape.

Although this is intended to be a beginner's course for non-Twi speakers, it is not a good source for an absolute beginner, especially given the limitations of the accompanying recording. If you are determined to learn Twi, this is well worth buying because there is a lot of very good teaching here, but I think you will get much more out of Comprehensive Course if you start off with something else to begin to get the hang of Twi pronunciation, and then use this course in conjunction with some of the other materials that are available. I didn't start learning Twi with Comprehensive Course (but I do not yet consider myself to be an accomplished speaker) and this is definitely a case where a little bit of knowledge goes a long way.