Product Description

Bestselling language courses now with audio CDs!

From Danish to Spanish, Swahili to Brazilian Portuguese, the languages of the world are brought within the reach of any beginning student. Learners can use the Teach Yourself Language Courses at their own pace or as a supplement to formal courses. These complete courses are based on the very latest learning methods and designed to be enjoyable and user-friendly.

Prepared by experts in the language, each course begins with the basics and gradually promotes the student to a level of smooth and confident communication, including:

Up-to-date, graded interactive dialogues
Graded units of culture notes, grammar, and exercises
Step-by-step guide to pronunciation
Practical vocabulary
Regular and irregular verb tables
Plenty of practice exercises and answers
Bilingual glossary
The new editions also feature:

Clear, uncluttered, and user-friendly layout
Self-assessment quizzes to test progress
Website suggestions to take language study further

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #752150 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 2
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

About the Author

David Matthews

taught Urdu for over 30 years

Mohamed Kasim Dalvi

is an experienced language teacher

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Customer Reviews

Urdu asaan nahin hai, magar yeh kitab achi se achi thi.
On the box it says that the goal of this book was to reach "all-around confidence". It did that and more. This book covers a variety of subjects while following the story of John and his wife Helen as they travel through several sites Pakistan and North India. There were even several situations and vocabulary words that they covered that I thought I would never need to use, but found myself using in conversation shortly after. Also, the culture notes were a very nice touch as well. And as a Muslim I really liked the Islamic culture notes they brough up also.

I am a USAF military linguist and I was 100% sure that the best way to learn a language was to be in a class all day, or immerison in the specific country, or among friends. This book proved me wrong. The content is difficult, especially after the 5th chapter because they remove the English transliteration and you are stuck reading the Urdu script and can only "cheat" by going to the back of the book. It seemed like every five chapters it got REALLY hard and seemed not gradual enough in the level of difficulty. But it took me three weeks to finish this book (I will admit, that was way too fast) and afterwards I was speaking and thinking in Urdu and the overall goal of "all around confidence" was definatley met.

That being said, I want to share the downsides, which are few. The errors that a lot of the reviewers talked about, I didn't notice until the last few chapters, and most of the students will probably notice this because by that point they are familiar with the Urdu script and it won't be a problem. Also, I learned Arabic script first from "Teach yourself Arabic Script" and "Very Simple Arabic Script" so I can't comment on their Urdu script introduction, which is needed for the rest of the book. You can't fake it past chapter five without knowing the script!

Finally, I would like to add that if you are *really* serious about learning Urdu, this is THE book to get, but still there is a long way to go. I *highly suggest* following up by getting "Urdu - An Essential Grammar" by Ruth Schmidt afterwards. I was so confident in Urdu after this "Teach Yourself" course but the Grammar book will make your realize that there is still a whole bunch more to be learnt and clear up the fuzzy spots. But overall, I very highly recommended "Teach Yourself Urdu Complete Course" very, VERY well done.

Mere khayal se bhi hai ke vuh achhi chiz hai!
I agree that Teach Yourself Urdu is excellent course for those wishing to learn the Urdu language. Although the course is centred around vocabulary and structures required by travellers, it provides an excellent start for those who would eventually like to learn more advanced Urdu. Concepts taught are constantly reinforced through the use of dialogues and examples, both of which serve to standardize the flow of Urdu in the learner's mind and to make the reader as comfortable with written Urdu as possible. I am at the tenth lesson in the 15 lesson book and can already recognize parts of headlines on BBC Urdu or even entire headlines. Bahut shukria TY!

The best book available to teach yourself Urdu !
Thanks to both Mr Matthews and Mr Dalvi, learning Urdu has become accessible at last ! You will not find a better book. I am learning Urdu right now with the assistance of a Pakistani student and althought it is not so easy, this book takes the trouble to make everything so clear and simple.