Language World

Philippines

Platform: Mac OS, Windows 95 / 98 / Me
Media: CD-ROM
Features:

• Tagalog language learning software
• Study vocabulary, phrases, culture, and more
• Recording tool lets you practice with native speakers
• Games and challenging quizzes make learning fun
• On-screen help available in more than 70 languages

This unconventional language-learning series offers games and quizzes that make the learning process fun, relaxing, and, as such, more successful. Ideal for beginners, Talk Now! Tagalog (Filipino) includes such topics as vocabulary, phrases, culture, and more. A handy print and picture dictionary produces entries with both text and pictorial references. This interactive software title also features a recording tool, so you can compare your pronunciation to that of native speakers (microphone required). Quizzes and a challenging memory game let you test your newly acquired skills. You can also track your scores and print awards to celebrate. Best of all, you can change Talk Now! Tagalog's onscreen help and menus to the language of your choice. With more than 70 languages from which to choose, this software makes learning Tagalog accessible to everyone.

Or Buy in: UK or Canada

Very good quick reference, but don't expect depth, July 4, 2001
Reviewer: sho50 from California
This little book has enough phrases to enable an absolute beginner to get around. There is a truly basics-only grammar section and many categories of phrases that are really quite useful, and it is very compact, so it is easy to carry around, and thus likely to actually be used.

However, its conciseness is also its greatest limitation. The "dictionaries" (glossaries) are much too small to be of practical use. The "basic grammar" sections, likewise, are so abbreviated that they leave more questions than they answer. Nevertheless, you can get the gist of how the language is constructed.

This is definitely NOT a Tagalog textbook; to try to use it as such would be very frustrating. But it is a fine on-the-street, quick reference for the novice traveler, restaurant goer, shopper, or lover, etc.; just enough for the quick, basic phrases needed to get along, but not so much as to overwhelm or weigh you down.

Excellent Travel Reference, June 4, 2000
Reviewer: dave_j from USA
If you are a non-Tagalog traveling to the Philippines, this book is a must. A concise dictionary, lots of useful phrases organized by topic, a pronunciation guide, even an introduction to Filipino grammar! Small size makes it easy to carry.

A very effective tool for learning to SPEAK Tagalog., February 17, 1998
Reviewer: kbeeson@imap4.asu.edu from Phoenix, Arizona
As a foreigner to the Philippines who had to learn Tagalog as a second language, this book helped me the most. The lessons are simple, clear, and easy to apply in your everyday conversations. Make this the first book you buy, and it may be the last.

Excerpted from Beginning Tagalog : A Course for Speakers of English by Jean Donald Bowen. Copyright © 1989. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved FROM THE INTRODUCTION: "Beginning Tagalog has been designed to meet the specific needs of adult native speakers of English who wish to learn spoken Tagalog, though students with other language backgrounds may be able to follow the course with profit. With fairly intensive class scheduling, and assuming laboratory assignments and home study, the text can be covered in one academic year. The text is designed to accomplish two aims. The first is to impart oral control of Tagalog and, by means of an acquaintance with the major patterns of the language, to provide the means for additional independent study that will lead to a full mastery of the structures and a vocabulary that is sufficiently broad to meet the needs of most students. The second aim is to provide accurate, up-to-date information about the patterns of Filipino culture that will enable a student to understand the social customs, standards, values, and aspirations of the Filipino people, in order to prepare him for sympathetic, enlightened, and useful participation in the context of Filipino society. . . . The text consists of 25 units and appendices. In the first half of the text, the student plays the part of hearer and speaker, with only incidental reading of oral dialogs and drills. From Unit XIII on there is a reading section designated for each unit, correlated with the primarily spoken materials, but designed to promote facility in the orthography and distinctive patterns of the written language. . . The basic format is as follows: A. Basic Dialog B. Cultural and Structural Notes C. Pronunciation Exercises (to Unit XIII) D. Drills and Grammar E. Cumulative Drills F. Visual-Cue Drills G. Comprehension-Response Drills H. Readings (from Unit XIII)"

good introductory-level text, June 9, 1999
Reviewer: jblanke1@osf1.gmu.edu from Fairfax, VA USA
I found this book complimented my other books well in learning Tagalog. There are many gramatical explinations and good vocabulary builders. The focus is not pure memorization but to develop your skills in the language and understand how it works. The text is probably better for a more structured learning environment. It is not geared towards the "Teach yourself" learner.

4000 entries. Contains basic words, slang, other entries, July 7, 1999
Reviewer: A reader from Utah
Excellent. A basic Tagalog/English dictionary. I used it when I was learning Tagalog among the Philippino people in the Bay Area. A complement to the two other books by Ramos. Great for basic interpretation and understanding Tagalog words, assuming one understands grammar and conjugation of verbs, etc.

NOT FOR THE INTRODUCTORY BEGINNER, June 9, 1999
Reviewer: jblanke1@osf1.gmu.edu from Fairfax Va, USA
This book is just what it says. Basic grammatical explinations. For more advanced learners of Tagalog it could be used as a very useful tool to understanding how the language works. Begginers will probably find it very difficult to use. It has in depth explanations for all the grammatical rules, however a working vocabulary in Tagalog is helpful. Many of the examples are not translated into English.

Dated, but useful, April 24, 2002
Reviewer: Linas Kondratas from Vilnius, Lithuania
This dictionary is specifically intended for beginning students, it contains a limited vocabulary(I guess about 7000-8000) English entries, each entry is given from 1 to 4-5 Tagalog equivalents, different meanings of English entry words are shown by synonyms, eg. english_entry - (english_synonym1) tagalog_meaning1, (english_synonym2) tagalog_meaning2, (english_synonym3) tagalog_meaning3 etc. Accent place and glottal stops - an important feature of Tagalog - is clearly shown. The list of affixes appears to be very useful.

In short introduction the author relates the troubled circumstances of the WWII in which this short dictionary was born.

Of course the dictionary is dated, however since it deals only with the very basics of the language which change but very little with the time, it can be quite useful for the contemporary student.

The ONLY book on Tagalog Verbs, May 18, 2000
Reviewer: Tim Curtiss from Simi Valley, CA
When I study a language, I go for the verbs. Tagalog verbs are extremely difficult, as there are many different forms each verb root can take. This book helps a lot to show the different forms a particular verb root can take and what they all mean. My only complaint is that it does not have enough verbs in it, only 200.

Tagalog, the official language of the Philippines, is spoken by more than 20 million people. As a beginner you will find Teach Yourself Tagalog a comprehensive course with grammar exercises, culture notes, and dialogues.