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Afrikaans: Thematic Vocabulary and Short Stories (with audio): Learn the words and reading for confident communication
Thematic Vocabulary and Short Stories (A1-B1 Level)
This book comprises both the most needed vocabulary and short stories for beginners.
Afrikaans vocabulary – improve your word basis
Designed to enrich the word basis of learners who are serious about learning Afrikaans, the book has around 1,500 words sorted into 45 themes under the umbrella of 12 main topics along with word-matching exercises.
Thematic topics cover areas like Personal Information, Accommodation, Environment, Business, Transportation, Education, Health, Bureau, Societies and Politics, Entertainment, Food, and General Words.
Short stories – improve your reading skills
To improve your reading comprehension and become better at expressing or writing in Afrikaans, you need to read! 10 short topics about various everyday topics will enhance your reading skills.
At the end of the stories, you will have a set of
A. Vocabulary ExerciseB. Writing PracticeC. Speaking Practice
Stories are voiced by native speakers. Audio tracks can be streamed at www.lingvora.com.
This book comprises both the most needed vocabulary and short stories for beginners.
Afrikaans vocabulary – improve your word basis
Designed to enrich the word basis of learners who are serious about learning Afrikaans, the book has around 1,500 words sorted into 45 themes under the umbrella of 12 main topics along with word-matching exercises.
Thematic topics cover areas like Personal Information, Accommodation, Environment, Business, Transportation, Education, Health, Bureau, Societies and Politics, Entertainment, Food, and General Words.
Short stories – improve your reading skills
To improve your reading comprehension and become better at expressing or writing in Afrikaans, you need to read! 10 short topics about various everyday topics will enhance your reading skills.
At the end of the stories, you will have a set of
A. Vocabulary ExerciseB. Writing PracticeC. Speaking Practice
Stories are voiced by native speakers. Audio tracks can be streamed at www.lingvora.com.
186 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 22, 2021
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 22, 2023
I purchased this book along with the other Lingvora Afrikaans book because my partner is an Afrikaaner and I am trying to learn Afrikaans to speak to his family. I'm a native English speaker from the US, but I currently live in Korea. There aren't a lot of books to learn Afrikaans in the first place, but there are even less in Korea. There are about 5, in fact, and I bought 3 of them. I deeply regret purchasing this book.
The issues are legion, and mostly the same as Lingvora's other Afrikaans book. But I'll list them here:
1. The book is not written by a native English speaker, and also lacks a native English-speaking editor. Or an editor of any kind, apparently. Here are some examples of the English in the book:
"Either you down in a sea of vocabulary you do not understand, or you get lost in length story." (pg. 1)
"At the end of each grouped thematic words, matching exercise is provided on purpose to help you memorize the words faster." (pg.1)
"One may ask a question how we know whether a vowel is short or long vowel. By dividing the word into syllable, we can find out the position of the vowel." (pg. 7)
"Let's make some review" (throughout).
"Solve crossword puzzles" (throughout).
"The family Jordaan" (pg. 149).
2. The pronunciation guide is wrong in both English and Afrikaans.
"d [dee] as in dull, tea." These words are not pronounced the same in English.
"o [oo] as in open." This..might be true in British English? Or like, Indian English or something? but this is not true for American English.
"r [er] as in rain." Not true. Afrikaans rolls it's r's, like the Spanish R.
"v [vee] as in vocal." Not true. V makes an [eff] sound in Afrikaans.
"w [wee] like in world, violen." W makes a [vee] sound in Afrikaans. World and Violen are not pronounced the same in any English dialect. Also, violen isn't even a word? Does the author mean violent, violet, or violin? No idea.
3. The author is clearly not a native Afrikaans speaker, and thus there are mistranslations throughout.
Vroulik is translated as female, but it actually means feminine. (pg. 11)
Mr. is translated as "mnr" and ms./mrs. is translated as "mev." That's like saying Mr. means Mr. and Mrs. means Mrs. Mnr and Mev are abbreviations. The correct words are Meneer and Mevrou. (pg. 12).
Adolescent is translated as "tiener" which is actually teenager. (pg. 15)
Family is translated as "gesin" which technically isn't wrong, but there are two words for family in Afrikaans. You need to know them both because they refer to different parts of your family. You can't learn only one.
To bring up is translated as "grootmaak". It's actually "om groot te maak" (pg.16)
To grow up is translated a "grootword". But it's actually "om groot te word" (pg. 16).
I could keep going, but I'm only 6 pages in.
4. Generalized typos/mistranslations/No idea what's happening??:
"Waar kan jy die kunswerke van Claude Money sien?"
"Where can you see the artwork of Claude Money?" (pg.177).
"Waar is Magaliesburg glee?"
"Where is Terwolde located?" (Terwolde is neither an English nor an Afrikaans word??) (pg. 159).
"Waat maak hulle van die vrugte?"
"What do they make from fruits?" (Fruits is incorrect English/a typo). (pg. 159).
I could go on. But you need a native Afrikaans speaker to proofread this book in order to use it to study. Just save your money and skip it.
The issues are legion, and mostly the same as Lingvora's other Afrikaans book. But I'll list them here:
1. The book is not written by a native English speaker, and also lacks a native English-speaking editor. Or an editor of any kind, apparently. Here are some examples of the English in the book:
"Either you down in a sea of vocabulary you do not understand, or you get lost in length story." (pg. 1)
"At the end of each grouped thematic words, matching exercise is provided on purpose to help you memorize the words faster." (pg.1)
"One may ask a question how we know whether a vowel is short or long vowel. By dividing the word into syllable, we can find out the position of the vowel." (pg. 7)
"Let's make some review" (throughout).
"Solve crossword puzzles" (throughout).
"The family Jordaan" (pg. 149).
2. The pronunciation guide is wrong in both English and Afrikaans.
"d [dee] as in dull, tea." These words are not pronounced the same in English.
"o [oo] as in open." This..might be true in British English? Or like, Indian English or something? but this is not true for American English.
"r [er] as in rain." Not true. Afrikaans rolls it's r's, like the Spanish R.
"v [vee] as in vocal." Not true. V makes an [eff] sound in Afrikaans.
"w [wee] like in world, violen." W makes a [vee] sound in Afrikaans. World and Violen are not pronounced the same in any English dialect. Also, violen isn't even a word? Does the author mean violent, violet, or violin? No idea.
3. The author is clearly not a native Afrikaans speaker, and thus there are mistranslations throughout.
Vroulik is translated as female, but it actually means feminine. (pg. 11)
Mr. is translated as "mnr" and ms./mrs. is translated as "mev." That's like saying Mr. means Mr. and Mrs. means Mrs. Mnr and Mev are abbreviations. The correct words are Meneer and Mevrou. (pg. 12).
Adolescent is translated as "tiener" which is actually teenager. (pg. 15)
Family is translated as "gesin" which technically isn't wrong, but there are two words for family in Afrikaans. You need to know them both because they refer to different parts of your family. You can't learn only one.
To bring up is translated as "grootmaak". It's actually "om groot te maak" (pg.16)
To grow up is translated a "grootword". But it's actually "om groot te word" (pg. 16).
I could keep going, but I'm only 6 pages in.
4. Generalized typos/mistranslations/No idea what's happening??:
"Waar kan jy die kunswerke van Claude Money sien?"
"Where can you see the artwork of Claude Money?" (pg.177).
"Waar is Magaliesburg glee?"
"Where is Terwolde located?" (Terwolde is neither an English nor an Afrikaans word??) (pg. 159).
"Waat maak hulle van die vrugte?"
"What do they make from fruits?" (Fruits is incorrect English/a typo). (pg. 159).
I could go on. But you need a native Afrikaans speaker to proofread this book in order to use it to study. Just save your money and skip it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review