Colloquial Romanian: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series (Book Only))

This book does an excellent job of introducing the student to the Romanian language in reasonable, readily digestible stages. Explanations of grammar are accessible and comprehensible. Language study is integrated with the culture of modern Romania. A table of conjugations of most commonly used verbs at the end of the book is very helpful. Recordings of dialogues by native speakers are available for free on-line. Still, I do wish audio support was a bit more extensive.

I am using the book as one of the references for full time language study. Instructors regularly indicate that the materials are dated -- no longer current with spoken Romanian beyond the basics. Good reference and verb section.

There aren't many Romanian courses available that go beyond the basic so this course is to be welcomed.The good things are that it is well set out and explanations are clear. The dialogues are mostly good containing useful vocabulary although a few more transactional situations would have been better. The recordings are good and the speakers are clear with pleasant voices even though the intonation of at least one of them is really flat. Guess you can't always have good actors. It covers a lot of ground in terms of grammar and if you can plough through to the end of the book you'll be well equipped to do other more advanced courses.There are two things which I really don't like about this course. One is not specific to Romanian but to all the courses in this series. The brief is to get up to intermediate stage in one book. Well, I'm a language teacher of many years experience and I don't think it works. Languages are like musical instruments and cars. You learn how to do with repeated practice until you can do it without thinking. You can't do a quick dialogue and two exercises and think you know the past tense. So bare in mind that these courses give you knowledge but not enough practice of it to allow you to speak the language. You'll have to go away and do that yourself.The second thing is specific to this book. The vocabulary lists are quite hopeless and get worse as the book progresses. There is nearly always at least one important word in any given dialogue which is not in the vocab list and if it's not there you can guarantee it won't be in the back either. It's not so bad in the earlier dialogues when translations are given for everything. In the later lessons you don't get that. I wouldn't hate to have had to do this book in the days before on-line dictionaries and google translate. Sometimes vocabulary is given for the wrong text. Sometimes colloquial phrases not found in the lists are even hard to find in dictionaries. The idea in some of the later lessons of giving at the start of the lesson long (yet still incomplete) lists of phrases used in the texts and dialogues is ill conceived. Put them with the relevant dialogues, please.As a keen learner of Romanian I would also have loved to have some indication of the stressed syllable. It's quite important. Luckily I found a good online dictionary that indicates stress (dictionarroman.ro). In the chapter on the imperfect for example there is no mention at all of the fact that the endings are stressed! If you don't know that you just sound wrong.On the whole though I'd still say it's worth adding to your collection if you're learning Romanian.

This course offers a great introduction to the Romanian language, with a good balance of grammar and interesting texts. Romanian language is difficult, particularly as a beginner there can seem to be as many exceptions as there are rules. This textbook and accompanying online audio do an excellent job at striking the balance between grammar and useful dialogues/reading practices.This book would offer a solid foundation for further study or a good base for those wishing to have a basic grasp for practical purposes such as business or tourism.

Good to learn how to pronounce words but learning it with out Audio is not easy.

Quality and content and speedy delivery all first-class. Would recommend this book!

Great learning aid.Perfect if you're planning to visit Romania or living there.Excellent book, wouldn't be without it!