Teach Yourself Indonesian Complete Course

Rating:
Summary: Your guide to real Indonesian conversation
Review: This new version is vastly different from the 1965 version by Mr Kwee, which is good, but heavily based uppon grammar rather than communication! The new version is the most functional, up-to-date text book for learning Indonesian on the market today, to my knowledge, and a valuable addition to your tool-kit if you are planning to visit Indonesia or study Indonesian. The approach is communicative and based around dialogues that reflect the way people speak as closely as possible. That is one of the great strengths of the course. Another strength is that you are only learning what you really need to know, but without skimping on the all-important grammar which is presented in a very user-friendly way with plenty of exercises to check undrestanding and to reinforce usage. Each unit looks at both formal spoken Indonesian and more colloquial spoken Indonesian, but the key is that the focus is on the spoken language and developing useful skills in that area. Of course, written language is also covered, but Indonesian poses few problems to learners compared to most other languages! Another major feature compared to the Kwee version is the addition of audio CDs which are excellent! The quality is very clear and there is plenty, (and I mean plenty!) of material for developing speaking skills in the form of simulated dialogues. If I have one minor complaint it is that sometimes the pauses on the CDs during the simulated conversations are not long enough to fill in your part, but then again, if there were long pauses on the CDs I would probably be complaining that the recording time on the CDs had not been used to the full. As a linguist myself, I sometimes feel that the explanations are a little too simple, but I am sure that this is a good thing for non-linguists or lay-persons who need to get to grips with a language in the least complicated way possible. Admittedly, Teach Yourself Indonesian doesn't take you very far in the language but it is a great start and will give you a basic and useful knowledge of the language that you will be glad of on your travels. If you are contemplating learning Indonesian and you want to delve much deeper into the language than a phrasebook can give you, but you don't want to be burdened by the grammar based approach you might have had when learning languages at school, then this course is for you! I highly reccomend it, both as a first level introduction to idiomatic and colloquial expression in Indonesian, and as an introduction to Indonesian life and culture. I have seen a great many language books in my time, but I have never seen one as good as this for teaching communicative and functional language. The methodology is truly innovative and allows for painless, gradual assimilation of the language.

Rating:
Summary: Real Indonesian and real good!
Review: You know, I have been to Indonesia quite a few times, usually on surfing trips with the gang and you get to pick up a few things from what you learn in a phrase book or from the people you hang around in bars with. Well last year I went home with an Indoneisan wife so I decided to go to our local community center to learn a bit of the lingo and this is what they were using. The teacher loved this course in fact she could not praise it enought for its real language and authenticity. I ordered the Cds to go with it to study at home and I'm telling you these make a great course even better. The speaking exercises the get you to memorise and then use a conversation are great. They are real tough going at first but the results you get are great. Thoroughly recommended for anyone going to Indonesia. Grabbing my surf board now...