4 comments about Estonian Textbook: Grammar Exercises Conversation (Indiana University Uralic and Altaic, Vol 159).

1. Juhan Tuldava did a excellent job when compiling this Estonian Grammar Textbook. Many textbooks fail to have the methodical and logical methods that this textbook possesses. This book is good for both beginners and American-Estonian readers, as well as being a useful grammatical and educational tool for those who immigrated to the states as children and need some grammatical structure to their oral competence. Containing both colloquial expressions and language, pronunciation guides, Estonian-english dictionary, as well as guide to idiomatic and more formal language, this will give the reader a very firm understanding of the Estonian language. In every chapter this textbook includes grammatical concepts, a text to sharpen reading abilities, vocabulary lists of and average length of 50-100 words, expressions, and excercises to increase competence. The texts are often written in humorous terms and are enjoyable to read. Even for those with no interest in a thorough study of Estonian grammar will find they can expand their repertoire of conversational phrases and common sayings conveniently indexed. If you have any interest in learning more about the Estonian language indepedently or in a classroom setting, this is the ideal book to buy.



2. I can only agree with the other reviewers, this course is exceptionally good. Due to both a personal interest in languages and a work that include language coverage, I've gone through well over 300 language courses in my days. Even though it's a though race, I would say this is best language course ever written. The amount of vocabulary introduced to the learner exceeds most other course; after finishing this course you will know about twice as many words as after finishing the average Colloquial course and three times as many as after an average Teach Yourself course. The Estonian language, being one of the few languages in Europe not belonging to the Indo-European language family, has got a grammatical system that might seem daunting for English speakers - and for most other Europeans. Tuldava succesfully manages to introduce all of the Estonian grammar in this course, and he has split it up into the right portions of new grammar in each lesson. You constantly feel that you are progressing while never feeling overwhelmed. The lay-out is clear and userfriendly, the vocabulary lists of each lesson are put into two nice tables. And finally, there are many exercises AND answers to all the exercises (surprisingly enough, many authors of language courses ignore giving the answers to the exercises).
   
   If there was a Nobel Prize for writing language courses, I believe it should go to Tuldava. Prospective authors of a language course would do well to use this course as their model.



3. I agree with the other reviewers that this is the best and most approachable grammar of the Estonian language available for English speakers.
   
   BUT... beware that some of the phrases, vocabularly and grammatical constructions are a bit old-fashioned. Furthermore, the book could be a bit better organized. Namely, some chapters in this book cover relatively trite grammatical concepts (e.g. the nominative plural), while others are more involved (the passive perfect and passive voice). Also, Tuldava introduces the singular and plural partitives fairly late and hence, doesn't include them in the earlier vocab lists (which I think is fairly inefficient).
   
   Regarding those lists, each chapter presents the reader with very long vocabularly sections so that, in my opinion, if this is used as an exclusive text then it would quite easily overwhelm the learner with vocabularly.
   
   So, this is a must-have for any English-speaking learner of Estonian, but mostly as a grammar reference to be used in conjunction with a more up-to-date text.



4. After hearing good reviews from friends while studying in Tallinn, I finally found a copy of 'Estonian Textbook' on Amazon - it was sold out in all the bookstores I checked, including Raava Raamat (equivalent of Borders).
   
   I'm impressed by the 'bite sized' lessons which don't take a lot of time or energy to complete, but contain a very detailed outline of grammar and a decent amount of vocabulary. The satisfaction of being able to understand the short reading passage at the end of a lesson without looking at the vocabulary alone is well worth the book's price tag.
   
   Väga hea!

No comments about A Handbook of Estonian: Nouns, Adjectives and Verbs (Indiana University Uralic and Altaic Series).

5 comments about Colloquial Estonian: A Complete Language Course (Book Only).

1. I wouldn't really recommend this book to anyone. It is one of the shortest of all the courses in the Colloquial series. Given the fact that English is more closely related to almost any European languages that to Estonian, this book never stands a chance of teaching you Estonian. Parts of the pronunciation. especially concerning the difference between -b, d, g- , -p, t, k- and -pp, tt, kk, is never explained despite being crucial to the grammar of Estonian. Get this one wrong and you won't be understod. Due to the shortness of the book, the vocabulary you'll learn is not that extensive and the grammar explanations are too short for you to get a real understanding of Estonian grammar. As one of the best language courses in any language, the Estonian Textbook by Juhan Tuldava, is also available from Amazon, I would definiely recommend you to consider buying that course instead of this one.



2. If this was a drug or a food it would be recalled and you would get your money back. How they can charge this amount of money for such a product is beyond me. Lack of time is hardly an excuse because it's been in print for over ten years. Below is a copy of the letter I wrote to the publisher. They passed it on to the author who conceded all but one of my points and had the grace to ask for my money to be returned out of his royalties (which I have not yet received...).
   
   
   I have recently purchased your book Colloquial Estonian. I have worked through the first five chapters and am concerned at what seem to be some rather serious shortcomings in the text, the main ones of which I have listed below:
   
   Page 5 Letter š - no explanation of this is given at all. It is also mentioned on page 37 without explanation.
   
   Page 16 Exercise 4 number eight. The answer in the back uses the word "ka". This has not been given yet. How can the student be expected to know this?
   
   Page 18 and 20. There seem to be two forms natukene and natuke. Why is this difference not explained?
   
   Page 22 Exercise 2 no. 2 the form Piretit is given in the answers in the back, this form is not explained.
   Likewise the form teda in question 4 (which also uses the unexplained word ka).
   
   Page 23 Exercise 3. You mention the two words teada and tunnen for to know. Your explanation leads one to believe that they are similar to savoir and connaitre in French. However, all the examples look like the connaitre meaning (i.e. to be acquainted with), and no proper explanation is given when to use teada and tunnen in this exercise.
   Likewise in the answer to 4, it is not clear why the form teda is used here.
   
   Page 24
   Explanation of the illative case:
   "The short form adds -sse to the genitive stem, but in this lesson we will only concern ourselves with the short form"
   I'm not sure I understand this - is the first `short' a misprint for long?
   
   Page 26 Exercise 6
   The answer uses a new verb soita - how is the student expected to know this? Especially since he has already had one verb for to go and would normally expect to use that.
   Further, the answers in the back use the long form of the illative which we have been told we will not be concerning ourselves with this lesson - if I have correctly understood the text on page 24.
   
   Page 33 Exercise 1 question 4 nine glasses of milk. How is the student expected to find the partitive for milk?
   
   Page 36 You use the term "weak grade" referring the student back to the introductory notes on pronunciation. I cannot find this term there.
   
   Page 43 Exercise 1 no errors here, but it might have been an idea to give some times requiring the "pärast" form...
   
   Page 47 Exercise 4 question 4 "ta on lubanud" - this form has not been explained.
   Page 47 Exercise 5 question 4, answer in the back uses the word "kohta" - how is the student expected to know this word?
   
   Pages 48 - 9
   Language in action
   How is the student expected to do these exercises? Presumably it means finding words for left, right north, south etc. How is he to know which cases they govern? This seems a totally unreasonable exercise (and no answers are given anyway).
   
   Page 54
   Ara minge! my understanding of your explanation of the polite imperative is that this form should come from the conjugated present tense not the infinitive. Either I don't understand something, or something has not been explained.
   
   Page 55
   Exercise 2 question 3. The answer in the back again uses a form the student has not had yet.
   
   Page 57 Exercise 1
   The instructions read: "Translate these questions into Estonian and answer them first positively, then negatively."
   The answers you give in the back are merely negative and "positive" forms of the question and don't fit the models you have given of affirmative and negative answers.
   Further in the answers section you give forms the student has not had!!
   eg. 4 on teili linna naidanud
   Question 3 prompts for plural `you' but the answer in the back is in the singular
   
   Page 58 Exercise 4 question 3. vanem (older) - you don't give comparatives until the next chapter.
   
   I have only reached this far in the book, but the quantity of inaccuracies seriously compromises its usefulness. What is the point of giving the student exercises that include material he has not had yet? I would remind you that the price of the book on its own is nearly twenty pounds, and with CDs and cassettes is nearly 40 pounds, and at these prices I believe the consumer is entitled to a properly thought out and proof read book. (Running headers might have been useful too).
   
   Perhaps I should have judged the book by its cover, where on the back cover you misspell Tallinn (explanation of the cover photograph). I might also question the wisdom of choosing a Russian Orthodox church for the front cover.
   
   I would appreciate hearing your comments and shall also draw these issues to the attention of my bookseller.



3. My Estonian Language teacher hates this book, I would follow her advice. Your first clue should be the Russian domes on the cover. No native Estonian would dare put this on their cover. Think about it. Try E Nagu Eesti.



4. This series has some problems, including the occasional typo, lack of grammatical explanations and generally loose editing, but as a companion to more antiquated but grammatically rich texts available for English speakers (such as Tuldava's Estonian Textbook), this series provides a nice set of colloquial updates for those tackling Estonian.



5. Just read an article in an Estonian newspaper about this. I've heard complaints before as well.
   They re-printed this for the 7th time with the same mistakes they've had in it for years (since 1994 I suppose!). And on the CD the person doing the reading isn't a native speaker at all.
   Would definitely not recommend.

No comments about Talk Now! Estonian.

No comments about Teach Yourself Estonian Complete Course (Book Only).

No comments about Teach Yourself Estonian Complete Course (Book + 2CDs) (Ty: Complete Courses).

No comments about Teach Yourself Estonian (Teach Yourself Complete Courses).

1 comments about MLS Easy Immersion Estonian Pro.

1. When I discovered that the CD had to be in the computer to use the software, I returned the item--that was unacceptable. Since I returned the item, I didn't examine or use it thoroughly. The small part I did examine and use I found very helpful for speaking the language, however, unless I missed something, there appears to be no user instructions accompanying, or on, the CD (when I opened the CD, I was looking for a section that described the contents and how to use them; I didn't see any). One must familiarize oneself with the language instruction on the CD by exploring the contents, and, if I remember correctly, one will discover a help button which does provide some user instruction.

1 comments about Eastern European 12 Language Phrasebook (Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovenian and Ukrainian)(Phrasebooks S.).

1. This guidebook is a handy, compact reference for simple survival and simple courtesy-based conversation. It is suited for the traveler who intends to visit the countries that feature these 12 languages, but not for the student who is trying to learn one particular language. Alternatively, the book will serve well the student of a language who needs a quick reference for simple phrases, should he stumble.
   
   The book features simple greetings and situational phrases, such as at the airport or the restaurant, along with a brief history of each language. It also has a section devoted to telling time, which I found lacking, since it did not cover all the times of the day (just the times within 9 o'clock, and how to say "noon," "afternoon," and "evening," for example). One of the book's strengths is its phonetic pronunciations for each translated phrase. Although I found some pronunciations were incorrect (in the Lithuanian section), it will help you in a bind.

4 comments about Estonian-English/English-Estonian: Dictionary & Phasebook (Hippocrene Dictionary & Phrasebooks).

1. I am sure this dictionary is fine, but I have not received it yet- a month after ordering it! In the meantime I have been on holiday to Estonia and have been back a week as well!
   Come on Amazon we expect better service than this from you.



2. This book is excellent for those who need an Estonian-English dictionary.
   
   By the way, review the BOOK, not Amazon's service.



3. This version of the dictionary is easy to use. It also incorporates common phrases which are very helpful.



4. The Hippocrene dictionary was the first Estonian-English/English-Estonian dictionary that I bought. I was continually frustrated by the absence I words which I wanted to check, in both Estonian and English. The TEA pocket dictionary, published by TEA Kirjastus in Tallinn is much more reliable. Now that I have a copy, I can't even remember where I have abandoned the Hippocrene dictionary.
   
   The TEA dictionary is not available yet through Amazon. You'll find it only if you go to TEA's Estonian website and register as a user.
   
   OK, Amazon, stock the TEA publications! They are very good!