14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

Maltese Cross, 21 Sep 2002

This review is from: Maltese (Teach Yourself) (Paperback)

This must be the worst book in the "Teach Yourself" language series. It must be almost impossible for anyone to learn Maltese from this book. For example: There is no vocabulary listed at the back. There are no lists of vocabulary associated with each chapter. There are no lists of common things such as numbers, days of the week, etc. (numbers are written in the form of a paragraph on P119 - difficult to follow and useless as an aid to memorizing). There are no verb tables. The guide to pronunciation lists unhelpful advice as "unvoiced rolled alveolar; voiced labiodental fricative" and so on. The only helpful tips are "orthographic" notes on the letters h and "gh".
It is difficult to know why it is still in print. The usual high standard of TY language books is badly let down by this book.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Report abuse | Permalink

Maltese (Teach Yourself) 0340627476 Joseph Aquilina Teach Yourself Books Maltese (Teach Yourself) Welcome Maltese Cross This must be the worst book in the "Teach Yourself" language series. It must be almost impossible for anyone to learn Maltese from this book. For example: There is no vocabulary listed at the back. There are no lists of vocabulary associated with each chapter. There are no lists of common things such as numbers, days of the week, etc. (numbers are written in the form of a paragraph on P119 - difficult to follow and useless as an aid to memorizing). There are no verb tables. The guide to pronunciation lists unhelpful advice as "unvoiced rolled alveolar; voiced labiodental fricative" and so on. The only helpful tips are "orthographic" notes on the letters h and "gh".
It is difficult to know why it is still in print. The usual high standard of TY language books is badly let down by this book. J Grainger 21 Sep 2002

Overall: 5

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jqOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jqOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jqOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; }

Official Comment

As a representative of this product you can post one Official Comment on this review. It will appear immediately below the review wherever it is displayed. Learn more

Make this my Official Comment

The following name and badge will be shown with this comment:

(edit name)

After clicking on the Post button you will be asked to create your public name, which will be shown with all your contributions.

Is this your product?

If you are the author, artist, manufacturer or an official representative of this product, you can post an Official Comment on this review. It will appear immediately below the review wherever it is displayed. Learn more

Otherwise, you can still post a regular comment on this review.

Is this your product?

System timed out

We were unable to verify whether you represent the product. Please try again later, or retry now. Otherwise you can post a regular comment.

Since you previously posted an Official Comment, this comment will appear in the comment section below. You also have the option to edit your Official Comment. Learn more

The maximum number of Official Comments have been posted. This comment will appear in the comment section below. Learn more

Receive e-mail when new posts are made

Prompts for sign-in

Guidelines

Comments

Tracked by 1 customer

Sort: Oldest first | Newest first

Showing 1-2 of 2 posts in this discussion

Initial post: 21 Jan 2012 10:00:08 GMT

Charles Earle says:

The days of the week in Maltese are listed on page 123. There are some verb tables, starting on page 214. The verb conjugations are explained in considerable detail in the book, though admittedly not entirely thoroughly, but this is a difficult topic. Lesson 9 (broken plurals) has a long list of vocabulary. "Voiced labiodental fricative" is explained on page 15 as corresponding to English v. I did not find the expression "unvoiced rolled alveolar" in the book. I found "voiced rolled alveolar" on page 14, where it is explained as being a rolled r. This reviewer's criticism is therefore incorrect.

Report abuse
Do you think this post adds to the discussion?

In reply to an earlier post on 21 Jan 2012 20:16:36 GMT
Last edited by the author on 21 Jan 2012 20:17:17 GMT

J Grainger says:

The point, however, is who, learning a language, needs to know that a particular sound is a voiced labiodenatal fricative (or whatever)? The information is irrelevant to a beginner (especially teaching themselves). Go to any bookshop or library and try and find ANY language learning books that even mentions such information. At the same time ask friends and family and see how many have the faintest clue what the terms mean. None would be my guess.

Look at the general layout of the book and you'll agree it's the worst laid-out language teaching book you've ever seen.

So, buried in the book somewhere you found the days of the week. But as stated there's no vocab list at the end of the book or with each chapter. Can you name one other book where this information is absent? Of course you can't!

Report abuse
Do you think this post adds to the discussion?

‹ Previous 1 Next ›

Official Comment

Is this your product?

Is this your product?

Comments

Review Details