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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
At the start of this book it says the language guide is based partly on one that is given to those who are deployed to Romania and don't have time to learn the language which I thought would mean it would be thorough yet easy to learn from.
First impressions were very good. It has a section with facts about the country and some good background about how Romania became what it is today, both politically and from a cultural point of view. There are photos of some of the main cultural/tourist attractions and even though the pictures are in black and white you really do get to see how splendid most of these buildings are.
So I turned the page to start the vocabulary section of the book. This was when I realised that whatever year that part of the book was written it was before I was born (I'm 26) and hadn't been updated at all since then. It was obviously taken wholesale from whatever book it was previously in and just copied into the new one. The font was like something out of the 60's and the vocabulary itself was antiquated to say the least. "Where can I find a water pump?" had me in stitches. Also "Where is your tractor?" made me laugh. I know a lot of Romania is rural but when you visit for a holiday are you really going to need to ask anyone either of those?
There was a lot of vocabulary about obtaining smoking material such as "Where is the tobacconist?" and "Give me a match." There were many "Give me" sentences and I thought how rude that was but at the bottom of the page it did add that you should always say please. Also you could ask for a wet shave, though I can't imagine that if you're staying in a place where you need a water pump there are many traditional barbershops.
I would be interested to see if other books in this series are as old fashioned and have equally amusing phrases in them.
Some of the vocabulary was good and covered signs you might see on the roads, asking directions and whether things were clean/dirty/expensive/cheap etc.
But the pronunciation guide told you nothing of how to pronounce actual Romanian words. Instead it told you how to read the pronunciations that were next to the Romanian words. Using this book, you could pronounce the words in it but if you came across a word that wasn't in the book, you wouldn't really know how to pronounce it correctly.
If this book was updated and a pronunciation guide to actual Romanian was added this would be a very good basic guide. As it stands it is okay but obviously you are limited in what you can say or read that isn't included in the text.
However, if you want a wet shave by a water pump after riding to a tobacconist on a tractor, this guide was made for you.
First impressions were very good. It has a section with facts about the country and some good background about how Romania became what it is today, both politically and from a cultural point of view. There are photos of some of the main cultural/tourist attractions and even though the pictures are in black and white you really do get to see how splendid most of these buildings are.
So I turned the page to start the vocabulary section of the book. This was when I realised that whatever year that part of the book was written it was before I was born (I'm 26) and hadn't been updated at all since then. It was obviously taken wholesale from whatever book it was previously in and just copied into the new one. The font was like something out of the 60's and the vocabulary itself was antiquated to say the least. "Where can I find a water pump?" had me in stitches. Also "Where is your tractor?" made me laugh. I know a lot of Romania is rural but when you visit for a holiday are you really going to need to ask anyone either of those?
There was a lot of vocabulary about obtaining smoking material such as "Where is the tobacconist?" and "Give me a match." There were many "Give me" sentences and I thought how rude that was but at the bottom of the page it did add that you should always say please. Also you could ask for a wet shave, though I can't imagine that if you're staying in a place where you need a water pump there are many traditional barbershops.
I would be interested to see if other books in this series are as old fashioned and have equally amusing phrases in them.
Some of the vocabulary was good and covered signs you might see on the roads, asking directions and whether things were clean/dirty/expensive/cheap etc.
But the pronunciation guide told you nothing of how to pronounce actual Romanian words. Instead it told you how to read the pronunciations that were next to the Romanian words. Using this book, you could pronounce the words in it but if you came across a word that wasn't in the book, you wouldn't really know how to pronounce it correctly.
If this book was updated and a pronunciation guide to actual Romanian was added this would be a very good basic guide. As it stands it is okay but obviously you are limited in what you can say or read that isn't included in the text.
However, if you want a wet shave by a water pump after riding to a tobacconist on a tractor, this guide was made for you.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
13 reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Pragmatic if not scholarly
5 July 2006
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book can give English natives who do not master phonetic transcription of any kind a very useful idea of how to pronounce Romanian by reading and not listening--as close as native English speakers can get it. As long as students of Romanian possess no theoretical basis such as phonetic transcription (either American or European) which can help with reading a foreign language, and want to get a crash course in everyday phrases, this book provides an almost ideal approach to the learning of spoken Romanian--it is "nice and easy", as promised.
To those who want to learn it for more serious purposes, though--such as getting a better grasp of the language, writing correctly, or even taking academic courses in Romanian--I would suggest them to supplement with more serious books, such as the Teach Yourself Romanian Complete Course, for example.
To those who want to learn it for more serious purposes, though--such as getting a better grasp of the language, writing correctly, or even taking academic courses in Romanian--I would suggest them to supplement with more serious books, such as the Teach Yourself Romanian Complete Course, for example.
28 of 31 people found the following review helpful
5 Stars for REA books!
13 Mar 2005
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This little 90 page book is incredible. It may be small but it's stuffed with hundreds of usefull words and phrases for the traveler or simply for the curious mind. Not to mention is prefaced with a breif history of the country and some interesting stats on the current republic of Romanina. You will also find some lovely black&whites of certain land marks and notable locations; like Dracula's castle. This book is incredibly helpful with those interesting accent and stress-markers that are so different to the English language. (Now I know why they say English is the most difficult language to learn!) The easy to read, easy to follow phonetics make pronunciations virtually fool-proof, without having to buy tapes.
If you are looking for a casual, easy to use, non-threatening, introduction into this beautiful and culturally diverse language, I highly recommend this book. It is the perfect stepping stone in your quest to being able to communicate in or at least understand the basics of Romanian!!
If you are looking for a casual, easy to use, non-threatening, introduction into this beautiful and culturally diverse language, I highly recommend this book. It is the perfect stepping stone in your quest to being able to communicate in or at least understand the basics of Romanian!!
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
like the title says. "Nice and Easy"
4 Dec 2005
Format:Paperback
i bought this book because my girlfriend's family is from romania and she speaks the language. i wanted to learn the language so her family would see me trying to fit in and... well, let me fit in. after i got the book, i pulled out my phone and sent a text in romanian. she replied back in romanian. the only problem with the book is it does'nt go very deep. it's pretty short. i'd love it if the same people wrote something bigger in the same format. the pronunciation guides were great. if you're just looking at getting started at learning romanian, or you just want to impress a romanian/american girl (cuz they're so hot) buy the book.
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