Colloquial Panjabi by Mangat Rai Bhardwaj, 0415101913, Lowest Book Price Finder

Customer Reviews:

Pointless purchasing the book without the audio cassette/cd

The book itself is very thorough and the author goes into extensive detail about how and why words are used. However, it became obvious that I was not going to pick up much at all without the CD for pronunciation guidance. It also appears that it is very difficult to get hold of the CD so I would not advise this book as a learning aid on its own.

Gets you talking quickly

I am no linguist, but I love learning with this book. Within two weeks of receiving this book I was having understandable exchanges in Punjabi with non-english speakers.
This is not a phrase book, yet neither is it a dry dissitation on grammar and conjugation. The author introduces words and phrases through conversational exchanges and then breaks down the sentences to show literal and intentional translations, explaining sentence structure and how the rules differ from English. This is a very interactive way of learning.
I haven't listened to the tapes, so sometimes I get pronunciation wrong and need to be corrected. Personally I like this, since it takes the pressure off being perfect before I use a sentence and gives Punjabi speakers an opportunity to help in my education.

Colloquial Panjabi - Some thoughts

In terms of modernity, the course (the book and the recordings) is miles ahead of any competition, but it is not for the users who are afraid of exercising the muscles of their brains or wish to learn "Tourist Panjabi" only. The author seems to be inspired by the modern Generative school of linguistics. He says very clearly that the course is meant for intelligent and dedicated adult learners who wish to use Panjabi in all sorts of, and often unpredictable, situations. The dialogues and exercises deal with many different types of situations, rules of grammar and pronunciation are explained expertly and in great detail, hundreds of Panjabi words dealing with various topics are given in the Vocabulary section, a long list of Panjabi verbs is also given, and the user is actively encouraged to imagine new situations, find appropriate words from the Vocabulary section/dictionary to generate new appropriate utterances. The section dealing with the Panjabi script is the best introduction to the writing system of a North Indian script I have come across.

The course has a well-planned architecture and does not appear to consist of chunks assembled together. The lessons move from the grammatically less complex to the more complex. The cassette recordings have not only the dialogues and exercises but also explanations and exemplification of the subtleties of pronunciation, especially Panjabi tones, which could not be presented on the printed pages. The extremely natural-sounding and dramatic dialogues present real life situations and have a touch of tenderness and gentle humour. The Grammatical Summary and the Vocabulary section should be a boon to any leaner of Panjabi.

Sadly, the author does not tell the user "where to move from here" because no courses for the learning of Panjabi at a higher level exist. I have been looking for one for the last four years and have not been able to find any. What about Bhardwaj himself writing one!

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