Product Description

This synopsis refers to the coursebook. A double CD pack accompanies the book and is available for purchase either separately (ISBN 9780340958865) or as a pack with the book (ISBN 9780340958858).

TEACH YOURSELF URDU is a complete course in spoken and written Urdu. If you have never learnt Urdu before, or if your Urdu needs brushing up, is the course you need.

David Matthews and Mohamed Kasim Dalvi have created a practical course that is both fun and easy to work through. They explain everything along the way and give you plenty of opportunities to practise what you have learnt. The course structure means that you can work at your own pace, arranging your learning to suit your needs.

The course contains:

- A range of graded units of dialogues, culture notes, grammar and exercises

- A step-by-step guide to pronunciation

- Urdu-English and English-Urdu vocabularies

- An introduction to Urdu script

By the end of the course you'll be able to cope with a whole range of situations and use the language confidently.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25603 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 381 pages

About the Author
David Matthews taught Urdu and Nepali at the School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS), University of London for over thirty years. He has written 17 publications on aspects of Urdu and Nepali language and literature and also worked towards his own PhD on the Urdu of the medieval Deccan. He takes an active part in the activities of Urdu-speaking communities of the UK and Europe, and he has a special interest in the teaching and examining of Urdu in British schools. He is a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain. Mohamed Kasim Dalvi has been Head Urdu and co-ordinator for Community Languages for a London Borough. He is currently Chair of Examinations (Urdu) for Edexcel and teaches at SOAS Language Centre.

Customer Reviews

clear and invaluable self study tool
As a language teacher myself, I really appreciate the thought that has gone into producing this course book. The language structures and vocabulary are systematically and progressively introduced so that you don't get swamped by too much new stuff at a time. And new language learned is recycled in later chapters so that it sticks in your head. A typical chapter contains 3 dialogues (the book follows the adventures of John in Karachi) which are also on the CD. After a translation and vocabulary glossary, a few grammar points are explained after each dialogue. There are a couple of written/oral/aural exercises that go with each dialogue. There is a word glossary at the back, as well as keys to the exercises.

This is NOT an easy course. But if you take it slowly, a few pages at a time, and review what you have learned often, it offers a very thorough grounding in Urdu. The topics are useful, covering everyday conversation and situations. In my opinion, the CD is essential as Urdu pronunciation is rather tricky for English speakers. It also helps you to memorise the dialogues.

I agree, the Urdu print is small for beginners and there is no guidance for handwriting. As I already had a grounding in Arabic, this was no big deal for me. For complete newcomers to the script, try the Teach Yourself book on this topic.

Easy to understand and well layed out.
My opinion of this book is quite mixed. I like the way that the chapters and pages are layed out. The dialogues are great. The only real problem that I had with this book is that the Urdu script is very small. For a person who can already read Urdu I am sure it is fine but for someone who is trying to learn it can be difficult to distinguish the similar looking letters.

A helpful aid
This book is a good starting point for picking up basic grammer and sentence structure covering areas such as greetings, directions etc.

The urdru script is very small and often difficult to read - especially as later chapters do not include phonetic translations.

Helpful if you are taking classes as well but may be a struggle alone - the tapes are worth getting to help pronunciation