Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1153037 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-18
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 3
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

Good basic introduction, but a little dry
It's true that the level of Norwegian you reach through this short course isn't very high, and the language is spoken rather slowly. But for a complete beginner, this is about right - you learn enough basic structures and vocabulary to make yourself understood in Norway. No beginner's course will ever fully equip the learner to understand the range of language they will be exposed to in the target language country, so it would be unfair to dismiss Teach Yourself Norwegian Conversation for failing to help the learner achieve fluency.

What does let it down slightly is the slightly dry style - but publishers have often struggled with creating engaging audio material for language courses. It is otherwise well structured, offering lots of listening material around set topics, as well as a really useful third CD with general hints and practise which is not topic specific. A good introduction, and for many people much easier than a full-blown Norwegian introductory course with a coursebook to work through.

Very good
I am a complete newbie when it comes to Norwegian, so I bought this and I achieved a huge comprehension on my trip to Norway, the only thing that was hard is that I went to a place where they speak a different language, so it's sometimes hard to assume some words sounds the same when they don't, but now when i watch TV in norwegian I can at least know what they are talking about...

Very good choice for those that can't seem to find the time to go to a school to learn it. The best part is that you can learn while you are doing something else.

Note: As stated on product description, this is for complete beginners or people who have very little knowledge of Norwegian. I doubt someone will benefit as much if they already know a fair amount.

Conversations are way too slow
After finishing this course one has no chance understanding spoken language. Dialogs on first two CDs are so slow that even my friend who doesn't speak Norwegian at all said it was too slow for her. I'm on intermediate level, so I wanted something complimentary to improve my conversation skills. But I found out that even dialogs on third CD, which are supposed to be spoken at normal pace, are slower than dialogs on "På vei" CD, which I used for learning. For anyone knowing any Norwegian, this course is of no use, and complete beginners shouldn't expect to learn too much.