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Complete Norwegian Beginner to Intermediate Course: EBook: New edition
Do you want to be able to listen to, speak, read and write Norwegian confidently? Do you want the convenience of being able to learn at home or on the move? Whether you are starting from scratch, or are just out of practice, Teach Yourself Complete Norwegian – Touch & Listen will guarantee success!
Touch & Listen ebooks are a groundbreaking new approach to language learning that include recordings of pronunciation and conversations within the pages of the books themselves – right where you need them.
In the past you used to have to juggle separate books and CDs/MP3s to master listening, speaking, reading and writing. Not anymore. Thanks to the latest enhanced ebook technology, you can learn and practise all four language skills plus grammar and vocabulary from a single ebook that you can read and listen to on your tablet device or smartphone. First, touch the on-screen play buttons and listen to native speakers conversing on scores of current topics. Then rewind. Or pause. Whatever you need to do to make sure you’ve fully understood what you have just listened to. When you are ready, complete the activities with the convenient notes feature. You are in control. It’s that simple.
STRUCTURE The course is structured in thematic units based on real-life situations and with an emphasis on communication, so that you effortlessly progress from introducing yourself and dealing with everyday situations, to using the phone and talking about work.
NOT MUCH TIME? Get started with a 1-minute introduction to the key principles of the language.
GRAMMAR Follow easy-to-manage steps to give you a clear understanding of the language.
VOCABULARY Use clearly marked lists to make it easy to find and review the most useful vocabulary.
DIALOGUES Touch & Listen to everyday dialogues to help you speak and understand fast.
PRONUNCIATION Don't sound like a tourist! Perfect your pronunciation before you travel.
INSIGHTS Look out for lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author’s many years of teaching experience.
FEATURES Make full use of the wealth of convenient ebook features, including highlighting, making notes and a built-in dictionary.
PROGRESS Rise to Level B1 of the Common European Framework for Languages: Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions.
TEST YOURSELF Use the unit tests to keep track of your progress.
515 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2010
73 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 15, 2017
NOTE: despite what it says in the title, the "audio support" for this edition (ISBN13: 9781444195040) is in the form of a phone app, through which you then download audio files to your phone. There is no CD, and the audio can't be played on a computer. You have to have a modern smartphone with 226MB free space (for iPhone at least).
I might up this rating as I get further through the book, but I'm on Chapter 4, and am feeling increasingly weary. The author makes a point of saying – in the introduction – that learners shouldn't be afraid to work things out for ourselves. To this end, the book incorporates the "discovery method ... a sort of DIY approach" (as though teach-yourself isn't already DIY enough), which we're told is more likely to result in more thoroughly embedded learning. Sounds sensible, but this results in a number of frustrating features: incomplete vocab lists (this is deliberate: earlier editions have complete word lists) – of course, we're supposed to work things out for ourselves, but I've been left floundering over some words and expressions that aren't in the appended dictionary (or a separate dictionary I have) – e.g. it took a lot of googling to find the correct meaning(s) of "skal" – present tense of å skulle; grammar seems to be presented first, and explained later, sometimes quite a lot later (e.g. demonstratives are explained 16 pages after they're first used), resulting in further confusion; text in Norwegian, with no translation – meaning you have no way of knowing whether you've truly understood or not. I have no problem working hard to learn a new language (this is my 5th), but this book isn't yet suiting my learning style – which is being able to check and double-check my comprehension.
All this said, the accompanying audio files are good (ignoring the ridiculous conversations the characters have) – particularly the feature that allows you to slow down (or speed up) the rate at which people are speaking. When very slow (0.5x), they all sound drunk, but at least you can pick out individual words. Other options are 0.75x (which works best for me), 1x (i.e. normal speed, which I find too fast), 1.5x and 2x (neither of which I've tried yet). It's a shame the audio can't be downloaded to a laptop, but it's been no bother (for me) to play it on my phone. The worksheet-type questions also work well for me, although the space given to write your answers is ridiculously, and unnecessarily, small; and there are errors (p.48, for example, is littered with them); This is unforgivable in a text book.
Could work if you already have some grounding in Norwegian and don't mind a lot of head-scratching, and have reliable internet access (for all the googling you're going to be doing). Oh, and a smartphone.
I might up this rating as I get further through the book, but I'm on Chapter 4, and am feeling increasingly weary. The author makes a point of saying – in the introduction – that learners shouldn't be afraid to work things out for ourselves. To this end, the book incorporates the "discovery method ... a sort of DIY approach" (as though teach-yourself isn't already DIY enough), which we're told is more likely to result in more thoroughly embedded learning. Sounds sensible, but this results in a number of frustrating features: incomplete vocab lists (this is deliberate: earlier editions have complete word lists) – of course, we're supposed to work things out for ourselves, but I've been left floundering over some words and expressions that aren't in the appended dictionary (or a separate dictionary I have) – e.g. it took a lot of googling to find the correct meaning(s) of "skal" – present tense of å skulle; grammar seems to be presented first, and explained later, sometimes quite a lot later (e.g. demonstratives are explained 16 pages after they're first used), resulting in further confusion; text in Norwegian, with no translation – meaning you have no way of knowing whether you've truly understood or not. I have no problem working hard to learn a new language (this is my 5th), but this book isn't yet suiting my learning style – which is being able to check and double-check my comprehension.
All this said, the accompanying audio files are good (ignoring the ridiculous conversations the characters have) – particularly the feature that allows you to slow down (or speed up) the rate at which people are speaking. When very slow (0.5x), they all sound drunk, but at least you can pick out individual words. Other options are 0.75x (which works best for me), 1x (i.e. normal speed, which I find too fast), 1.5x and 2x (neither of which I've tried yet). It's a shame the audio can't be downloaded to a laptop, but it's been no bother (for me) to play it on my phone. The worksheet-type questions also work well for me, although the space given to write your answers is ridiculously, and unnecessarily, small; and there are errors (p.48, for example, is littered with them); This is unforgivable in a text book.
Could work if you already have some grounding in Norwegian and don't mind a lot of head-scratching, and have reliable internet access (for all the googling you're going to be doing). Oh, and a smartphone.
March 1, 2014
Not perfect, but definitely better than Routledges's 'Colloquial Norwegian'.
November 12, 2020
I would marry this baby boy. Best Teach yourself book ever. You will definitely learn a lot. I would recommend it it to start your journey with norwegian.
Sue is a bitch.
Sue is a bitch.
March 29, 2020
Excellent resource! The iOS app with the audio lessons is a little buggy, though (hence only 4 stars). Despite this drawback, the book is super well structured and pleasant to read. I’d highly recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews