Colloquial Welsh: The Complete Course for Beginners

by Gareth King

Colloquial Welsh provides a step-by-step course in Welsh as it is written and spoken today. Combining a user-friendly approach with a thorough treatment of the language, it equips learners with the essential skills needed to communicate confidently and effectively in Welsh in a broad range of situations. No prior knowledge of the language is required. Key features • progressive coverage of speaking, listening, reading and writing skills • structured, jargon-free explanations of grammar • an extensive range of focused and stimulating exercises • realistic and entertaining dialogues covering a broad variety of scenarios • useful vocabulary lists throughout the text • additional resources available at the back of the book, including a full answer key, a grammar summary and bilingual glossaries Balanced, comprehensive and rewarding, Colloquial Welsh will be an indispensable resource both for independent learners and students taking courses in Welsh. Course The complete course comprises the book and audio materials. These are available to purchase separately in paperback, ebook, CD and MP3 format. The paperback and CDs can also be purchased together in the great-value Colloquials pack. 978-0-415-46113-9 (please note this does not include the audio) CDs : 978-0-415-46128-3 978-0-203-42701-9 (please note this does not include the audio, available from www.tandfebooks.com ) 978-0-415-47056-8 (available from www.tandfebooks.com ) Pack : 978-0-415-46127-6 (paperback and CDs)

Genres: Language, Nonfiction

328 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 1995

Reviews

[Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colloquial Welsh is a really good primer on the Welsh language, geared to the contemporary spoken language but including information about the more formal written language as well. It is quite informative and includes a variety of exercises and reading passages. The tone is often cheeky and entertaining. I enjoyed working my way through the material, slowly but surely, usually covering each chapter twice to absorb the information better.

Though much of the book is excellent, it does have some drawbacks. The biggest one is that the glossary at the back of the book does not begin to cover all the words included in the text. Sometimes Gareth King specifically states that he wants the student to try to pick up the meaning from context. Which is all well and good if you live in Wales and might be exposed to more of the language in your everyday environment. For me in America, this was a big frustration. The book also lacked an English-to-Welsh section, which made reverse translation difficult if I couldn't immediately recall a Welsh word. So you will most likely want to use this book along with a Welsh-English dictionary.