The best out there so far
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There are so few romanian learning resources for english speakers out there, but this method is by far the best. It is superior to "Teach Yourself Romanian" (which looks like a first draft for "Colloquial" by the same author Dennis Deletant). I found "Teach Yourself Romanian" confusing and full of mistakes, whereas "Colloquial Romanian" is a polished language method, with a strong emphasis on grammar - which is the only way one can seriously master a language. Tapes are of a passable quality ("Teach Yourself" has a better tape). The only major missing item is an English-Romanian glossary, which "Teach Yourself Romanian" has. Trebuie sa mai invatam limba romaneste ! Lore te iubesc!
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Excellent for linguists, no use for the 'get-by' tourist
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As somebody studying French and Spanish at university, I found this book ideal. The author takes a 'grammar up' approach, so you actually get a sense of how the language works and how to manipulate it, rather than just learning phrases one by one and not understand their different components. I feel this approach has equipped me with a feel for the language and that I've got a solid ground work for further study. Having said that, some of the grammatical explanations are rather brief, ideal for someone who is used to studying languages and who doesn't need the terminology explained, but probably rather scanty for everyone else. At any particular point, rather than explaining the details (eg exactly how verbs are inflected), examples are given (eg one verb is listed) and you have to work out what the rule is that applies universally. Perfect for me, because I love that kind of thing, but most likely too vague for most people. In terms of vocab, the book is once more aimed at giving you a good working vocab, not teaching you the words you're most likely to need on holiday. Overall, if you want to gain a relatively high competence in Romanian then this definitely the book for you, but if you're just interested in learning phrases for a holiday, then I wouldn't bother.
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Good course - more than necessary for a short trip.
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I found this course easy to use and useful. In a two week holiday in Romania we were able to communicate reasonably effectively and I only spent three weeks learning the language in preparation. The most significant criticism would be that the course is not ideal for those (like me) who really wanted a "Get By" type course. In order to be able to get by in Romanian I had to delve deeper into grammar etc than I would ideally have liked. The cassettes are good and I would not have liked to attempt the course without them.
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