Modern Tagalog: Grammatical Explanations and Exercises for Non-Native Speakers

Rating:
Summary: A good approach
Review: I bought this book in the Philippines some time ago and I have found it to be very informative and useful. It contains lots of info!

Rating:
Summary: Great refresher for native speakers also!
Review: I moved to the US about 14 years ago and I am making plans to return home for a little while. I purchased this book to brush up on my Tagalog grammar and within the first chapter, I began to remember so many concepts that I forgot. Speaking Tagalog is one thing, writing is another and this book is PERFECT for helping you remember grammatical rules for writing and conversational as well. It's easy to follow and concepts such as pronunciation and conjugation are explained thoroughly. As a native speaker, I highly recommend this book although I should mention some drawback for non-native speakers.

Drawbacks for NON-NATIVE speakers: (1) Although the exercises are very helpful, it might be tougher for a non-native speaker since there are no correct answers listed in the book. (2)If you do not have a Tagalog-English dictionary or are still trying to build your Tagalog vocabulary, this book will not be as effective. I strongly suggest having a Tagalog-English dictionary handy when working through this book. (3) There is no audio companion to this book. The proper pronunciations are explained VERY WELL however in my experience the best way to learn a language is by hearing it as well as reading it. If you have exposure to a Tagalog speaker this book is PERFECT for you.

Rating:
Summary: From one of Dr. Teresita Ramos' student
Review: I read this book for a class taught by herself at the University of Hawaii. This is a good book for looking at the structure of Tagalog. It is a bit technical goes into linguistic structure of Tagalog (now officially called "Filipino") For non-native speakers, the pre-requisite for this book is at least two years (or four semesters) of combined introductory and intermediate Tagalog, with these, this book shouldn't be that hard. It is full of exercises,course content, and explanations that a gramaphobe would like. Most of the classmates I took this class for were native speakers and most are very bright and she constantly bounced the material in the book with what the students said and what they know which was quite fun.

Rating:
Summary: A good approach
Review: This book is just what it says. Basic grammatical explinations. For more advanced learners of Tagalog it could be used as a very useful tool to understanding how the language works. Begginers will probably find it very difficult to use. It has indepth explinations for all the grammatical rules, however a working vocabulary in Tagalog is helpful. Many of the examples are not translated into English.

Rating:
Summary: NOT FOR THE INTRODUCTORY BEGGINER
Review: This book is just what it says. Basic grammatical explinations. For more advanced learners of Tagalog it could be used as a very useful tool to understanding how the language works. Begginers will probably find it very difficult to use. It has indepth explinations for all the grammatical rules, however a working vocabulary in Tagalog is helpful. Many of the examples are not translated into English.