Product Description
Conical hats, lacquerware bowls and flag T-shirts are fine - you can compare them with everyone else's. Or get talking and bring home souvenirs that no one can match. Open this phrasebook and make this trip your own.

Our phrasebooks give you a comprehensive mix of practical and social words and phrases in more than 120 languages. Chat with the locals and discover their culture - a guaranteed way to enrich your travel experience.
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Customer Reviews (3)

Review from a Vietnamese who teaches Vietnamese on Sundays
I give this book the same review as I gave to "The Rough Guide to Vietnamese Dictionary Phrasebook 3 (Rough Guide Phrasebooks)"

I'd say you'd be better off showing your intended audience the pages rather trying to say them as the instructions, in blue text, are terrible.

I was researching for material and ideas to use for my Vietnamese language class.Luckily this book was available at the local library, so I didn't have to waste money on it as it does not meet my needs.

I've been teaching my son, a teenager, to read Vietnamese for the past 12 months.I thought I was being too critical of the book so I asked my son to read the text in blue, for the basic phrases that he knows, to see if he can guess what it is in actual Vietnamese.He read it and said, "Oh my god, that's terrible."

I give the book 3 stars instead of 1 because its size is convenient for traveling, and it does have what you need in case you're lost somewhere.

Avoid this book
I speak Vietnamese well and purchased this to help me learn to read and write.

The pronunciation keys are off and there are many grammatical errors in this book. There is no accompanying audio help. This seemed like it was rushed to print.

I recommend the The Rough Guide to Vietnamese Dictionary Phrasebook 3 (Rough Guide Phrasebooks) instead.

Nicely done, but fairly useless
The book is well put together, but it's impossible for an English speaker to understand the various intonations used for vowels -- a book with an accompanying CD would be much more useful.Also, the type is so small that those of use over 40 need a magnifying glass to read it! ... Read more

Product Description
This simple and effective introduction to Tagalog will teach you everything you need to speak, understand, read, and write in Tagalog.This program assumes no background in the language, and it explains each new concept clearly with plenty of examples, making it ideal for beginners or anyone who wants a thorough review.Living Language Tagalog includes:

·A course book and six audio CDs
·Two unique sets of recordings, one for use with the book, and a second for use anywhere to review and reinforce
·Natural dialogues, clear grammar notes, vocabulary building, and key expressions
·Plenty of practice, both written and recorded
·Notes on culture, cuisine, history, geography, and more
·Real life “discovery” activities and internet resources
·An extensive two-way glossary ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Wish it were better
Occasionally examples are used making use of grammatical constructions you haven't learned yet.You'll have to hunt around the find the explanations.

As annoying as that inconvenience is, the lack of accent marks is a real bummer.Yes, the intent of the course is to get the learner to hear and speak and not just read, but this isn't Pimsleur, the conversations (which are quite good, by the way) are detailed, and reviewing them without having the discs handy is, to my mind, a serious detriment.

far and away the best option for beginners
This is the best source for learning Tagalog that I have found. The structure of the language is difficult and counter-intuitive for English speaking learners, but this book manages to be grammatically thorough without becoming abstruse. The dialogues are interesting and the CDs are excellent quality.Books that teach more advanced Tagalog (Wolff's, for example) will be a quantum leap in difficulty, but a foundation course like this one is a confidence builder for going on to more difficult material. ... Read more

Product Description
This new book offers research that will affect further study of tone in Vietnamese and other tonal languages. ... Read more

Product Description
Spoken by over 80 million people across the world, Vietnamese is rapidly becoming a prominent business language in Southeast Asia, America, and Europe. Designed to facilitate translation and understanding for speakers of either Vietnamese or English, this dictionary is an ideal reference for businesspeople, NGO workers, students, and adventurous travellers who want to delve deeper into one of Asia's oldest cultures. It includes: entries covering both northern and southern dialects; a unique food index, for deeper exploration of Vietnam's rich cuisine; vocabulary covering Vietnamese culture, politics, history, geography, and technology; a brief introduction to Vietnamese tones, grammar, and the writing system; and, approximately 15,000 entries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Good buy.
I married into a Vietnamese family and this book and tape will go a long way. My son enjoyed hearing the counting from one - ten in Vietnamese. We have taught him how to count to ten in Vietnamese and he liked hearing a child's voice counting. Soon we will be singing more Vietnamese songs.

Vietnamese Children Songs - Book/CD
I bought this book for our son (1 year old) who is growing up bilingual. He loves the music and moves his arms to it (his version of dancing); the tunes are very catchy and you can listen to them many times (even on repeat) and still enjoy them. The songs are a mixture of American (translated to Vietnamese) and Vietnamese songs; I mostly enjoy the Vietnamese one's.

One of the two singers (Kelly Vu) does not get all the Vietnamese tones right (or as my wife puts it: she sounds a bit like me). In any case, it is sung in the Southern Vietnamese accent. The book contains the lyrics (very good), it's black-and-white inside. Overall, good - our son really likes it.

Buyer Beware
I waited 30 days to receive this product to which I have still not received. I emailed the company and they stated they are in the process of refunding my money which that too I have still not received. Beware when purchasing from this company, you may not see your purchase nor your money.

Pleasant and catchy melodies
Very pleasant, catchy sweet melodies, clear voice. The accompanying nicely illustrated booklet provides words and English translation. Overall, it's a great resource for introducing Vietnamese American children to the Vietnamese language and music. Highly recommended.

Very Very Cute!!!
It's just perfect!!Very very cute.The book and cd help the children learn some lovely songs in vietnamese and it is just perfect for any school or home trying to teach the children a bit about the vietnamese language and culture. ... Read more

Product Description
Comprehensive ESL Vietnamese includes 30 lessons of essential grammar and vocabulary -- 16 hours of real-life spoken practice sessions -- plus an introduction to reading.

Upon completion of this Level I program, you will have functional spoken proficiency with the most-frequently-used vocabulary and grammatical structures. You will be able to:

* initiate and maintain face-to-face conversations,

* deal with every day situations -- ask for information, directions, and give basic information about yourself and family,

* communicate basic information on informal topics and participate in casual conversations,

* avoid basic cultural errors and handle minimum courtesy and travel requirements,

* satisfy personal needs and limited social demands,

* establish rapport with strangers in foreign countries,

* begin reading and sounding out items with native-like pronunciation. ... Read more

Product Description
Prepare travelers for their next vacation with In-Flight, a 60-minute program available in 23 languages. Each audio CD covers 400 essential words and phrases—from greetings and polite expressions to the vocabulary necessary for hotel check-in, dining out, and getting around. The accompanying invaluable pocket-sized “Boarding Pass” is a handy cheat-sheet for on-the-go reference.

Living Language In-Flight courses provide the perfect way to make the most of travel time and learn the essential words and phrases to get to the hotel, eat at a restaurant, and make a good first impression. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not for first time speakers
With no background in Vietnamese, outside of a few lines from Full Metal Jacket, I would not recomend this CD. It is too dificult to pick up with only one play of the phrase. I prefer other language CD's that re-play every phrase twice. ... Read more

Product Description
This intermediate text is designed for advanced intermediate students preparing for research or work in Vietnam or with Vietnamese-language materials. Through reading exercises, it acquaints students with variety of Vietnamese writing styles, in addition to more advanced vocabulary and cultural knowledge. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

advanced reader with exercises
This is a reader and textbook for advanced and upper-intermediate learners.

Pre-requisite for this book is any intermediate-level textbook such as:Chung Ta Noi... Conversational Vietnamese: An Intermediate Text or Contemporary Vietnamese: Intermediate (Southeast Asian language text series, Vietnamese language series). Those are probably the best two.

In total there are 9 chapters in the book, each chapter a has high amount of reading material as well as exercises.

The type of reading material varies greatly in each chapter: articles, posters and signs, adverts, letters, etc.
The topics are just as varied: culture, politics, literature, society, people.

There is also a large number and variety of exercises in each chapter: reading comprehension, putting the correct word in the correct place in the correct form,vocabulary exercises, sentence structure, writing, etc.

The chapters follow certain themes:
ch1 - The Land of Vietnam
ch2 - Health, Road safety issues, Demography
ch3 - The Environment
ch4 - Politics, Diplomacy, Law
ch5 - Economy, Social Economy, Finance, Investment
ch6 - Current Affairs
ch7 - Vietnamese Culture and Society
ch8 - Vietnamese Women
ch9 - Introduction to Vietnamese Literature

There is little new grammar introduced, since the intermediate level should have covered most of what you need, instead the focus is on improving your reading skills and building vocabulary.
The only new grammar you learn to use are those introduced and expressed in the readings- these help you to fine-tune you skills.

Also, there are many gray-scale photos throughout the book which gives it a nice touch.

There is a very large number of vocabulary to learn so expect at least 9 months to complete this book, I think one month per chapter is manageable for most learners.

This is an excellent book to use and since there are not many advanced textbooks on Vietnamese available we are very lucky to have such a good book so easily available. Warmly recommended !





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Product Description
In this moving story Grandma Nana spreads laughter and wisdom amongst her cherished children. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Bilingual and Multicultural Books!
This is a great book for my students from the African continent.The book comes in French and Somali so I can cover many students from that region.Grandmothers are very important to their cultures so it is very refreshing and nice to see books created to enhance literacy and cultural development for these students.I'm going to get it in Vietnamese also. ... Read more

Product Description
Easy Thai is the perfect introduction to learning the spoken language of Thailand.This basic and simple approach uses lessons which incorporate review lists and exercises with answer keys. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

the shakiest three stars in history
This book is somewhat misnamed- it doesn't really qualify as an introduction to the Thai language, but just to its writing system. With 44 consonants and 32 vowels there is certainly lots to introduce. This book has many deficiencies- poor quality printing (especially the Thai part), a confusing, substandard system of transcription, nothing that shows how to hand-write Thai letters, and, as other reviewers have noted, the almost unbelievably poorly chosen vocabulary that the authors have used to illustrate Thai spelling.But there is one feature that redeems it a little bit- the book gives the actual order of the letters and exercises in using the Thai dictionary system.Since any learner who wants to read the language will have to learn to use a dictionary, and this is the only work I've seen in English that offers any help in this,it gets a very reluctant three stars. Try out 'Teach Yourself Thai'- for help in handwriting.

excellent for learning to read and write basic Thai

While this is not the best book to learn Thai communication from,
it is excellent for learning how to read and write Thai script.

You can finish this book in a month or so with daily practice, so in just one month you can learn to write and read basic Thai.
Very (!) few books can claim to do that in any Asian language.

The book covers the 44 consonants most commonly used, the 32 most important vowels, and the most important tone rules.

Most beginner's books actually do not cover exactly all consonants and vowels used in Thai, because some of them are only used in 3-4 words or only occur in texts/situations that the beginner is highly unlikely to come across.

So if you struggle with learning the script, this book is a very good supplement to your regular textbook studies.

But for learning basic Thai communication, the books is a very bad choice as: the vocabulary is impractical, the grammar not well covered, and there are far too few excercises.

So for learning to communiate in Thai: No
For learning to read and write Thai: Yes

Flat-out the worst book on learning Thai I have ever seen
That's pretty much all I've got to say. You won't learn Thai from this book. You might learn... actually, I have no idea what you'll learn, but whatever it is, it could only be described sarcastically, & it couldn't accurately be denominated 'Thai'.

An astonishing achievement
First off, the title is a horror.One as a rule avoids language books with the word "Easy".Besides that, the title is seriously wrong.It only teaches one thing, the horrendous Thai alphabet.So the complaint that his sentences are unreal, which they are, is totally beside the point.There's not even "Hello" in here!!But what Allison does teach, he does better than anyone else.

I have the Chiang Mai YMCA's book on reading Thai and Sriwalai Ponmanee's 'Writing and Reading Thai' also but I always refer back to Allison's book.

But why after re-printing the book 20 years later does he stick with that dumb title?

Is there such a thing as Easy Thai?
The answer to the question in the header definitely is "No, there is no such thing"! So, do not think you will learn much more from this book than sentences like "In Lamphoon there are rice farmers". These sentences are not really the first you would like to know when you plan to visit Thailand. Nevertheless you have to start somewhere, and this book is good as a first acquaintance with the (very complex) Thai language.
I used it before I went to Thailand for the very first time, and it did teach me a bit of the Thai alphabet and some basic things like counting (useful in bargaining). The title will always remain misleading, as I know now (after several years of harsh study) that there definitely is no such thing as "Easy Thai"!
Neverthless recommended to give learning the Thai language a first try. ... Read more

Product Description
This work contains over 2,500 entries to guide those students and scholars interested in the languages and literature of Vietnam. The books, monographs, and journal articles considered are those written in the Western languages (especially French and English). Meticulously researched and indexed (under such general headings as folk literature, language, the language of ethnic minorities and numerous sub-headings), this bibliography is both the first of its kind and an invaluable tool of reference. ... Read more