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| sjappie | Saturday 16th of April 2005 07:11:38 AM |
| Some useful books - Some interesting books if you want to learn Bengali: William Radice - Teach yourself Bengali Probably the best known book on Bengali. It starts with explaining the entire bengali alfabet, which may seem a bit intimidating at first, but is essential if you want to get anywhere in learning the language. Each chapter starts with a short conversation or text, then on to some grammar and finally some exercises. The exercises are often a bit simplistic in contrast to the conversations. Radice has focused on completeness rather than having an easy learning curve. It contains tons of information, but don't be misled by the 'teach yourself' motto on the cover. Eurotalk - Talk now Bengali An interactive CD in the Talk now series. This is basically a generic course that was translated to Bengali among lots of other language. It mainly covers vocabulary essentials like numbers (1-20 only), body parts, colors, time, food, countries and shopping. It is set up as a number of games in which you memorize the words in a playful manner. It is good for learning a few words, but nothing more than that. Not really worth the money in my opinion. Bengali Lonely planet phrasebook A small book to take with you during your stay in Bangladesh / Bengal. It contains useful phrases and a glossary that are fortunately also written in both bangla and transliterated script. Samsad student's bengali-english dictionary This dictionary is comprehensive enough for the beginner student. It can be ordered here: http://www.simindia.com/bangla.htm for a few dollars. English-Bengali dictionaries are usually not useful, due to their poor quality. B.Nasrin & W. van der Wurff - Bengaals voor Beginners deel I & II This is a good bengali course at a more leisurely pace than Radice's. Unfortunately only for dutch speaking people. | |
