This is the third, revised edition of Stuart Robson's highly successful guide to the grammar of the Javanese language, which is spoken by around 80,000,000 speakers on the island of Java. The book progresses from simple to more complex topics, facilitating a steady increase in language proficiency. Fresh examples have been added, as well as a section entitled "How Do You Say It In Javanese?" arranged under 120 headwords and taking the viewpoint of speakers of English wanting an equivalent to an English idiom. There is an introduction and a note on the language levels of Javanese, important for social interaction. The book will be of interest to students of Indonesian studies who want a deeper knowledge of communication on the island of Java, researchers considering fieldwork in Java, linguists making comparative studies of Indonesian languages, and outsiders undertaking employment in Java. [ Language, Linguistics, Indonesian Studies]
An Australian scholar, Stuart Robson has been involved with Asian Studies for over 40 years. A resident of Victoria, Australia, he has lived and taught overseas, and has a number of publications to his name. He currently teaches Indonesian at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He is a member of the Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology. His other interests include Theravada Buddhism, archaeology, and classical Javanese music.
This a handy little guide. I found the contents accurate and helpful and really enjoyed reading the example sentences. Has lots of info on verbs, affixes and particles and talks about some of the initial hurdles I've had. One warning I wish the book made very clear is that Javanese can vary a bit and in a way you can't rely on these kinds of books for everything, you'll need a real teacher to help you with the dialect you want to learn. But all in all this book is wonderful and more helpful than misleading (referring to what I said before).