No comments about Complete Nepali with Two Audio CDs: A Teach Yourself Guide (TY: Language Guides).

No comments about Conversational English-Nepali Dictionary (Sri Garib Dass Oriental).

No comments about A Foundation In Nepali Grammar.

No comments about Ratna's Basic Nepali Dictionary: English-Nepali and Nepali-English - Script and Roman.

No comments about Talk Now! Nepali: Learn.

3 comments about Nepali for Trekkers: Language Tape and Phrase Book.

1. I put the casette on my car stereo and listened to it about 100 times before my trip. When I got to Nepal, I had developed an "ear" for the sound of the language (the tape has a Nepali native speaker pronouncing the words) but not much vocabulary or grammar. The phrases in this book are, as promised, oriented towards trekking (asking directions, hiring porters etc..) so they are not quite what you need for social chit-chat. However, in conjunction with the vocabulary in the back of "The Nepal Handbook" by Kerry Moran, I had a good foundation for basic communication. I spent six weeks in Nepal and learning a little bit of language really made the trip a whole lot more fun even though you could get along fairly well there speaking only English. I was definitely glad that I took the time to use this language tape since it helped me pick up the language a lot faster once I got to Nepal, but don't expect it to stand alone as your only source for learning Nepali language.



2. I put this tape in my car stereo and listened to it about 100 times before my trip. When I got to Nepal I found that I had developed an "ear" for the sound of the language (a Nepali native speaker reads the words)but was pretty weak in vocabualry and grammar. As advertised, the phrases are oriented towards trekking-- hiring porters, asking directions, buying supplies, things like that-- so it's not quite the same vocabulary you need for social chit chat. However, in conjuntction with the vocabulary and grammar in the back of "Nepal Handbook" by Kerry Moran, I had a good foundation for very basic converstaions. Learning a little Nepali truly enhanced my trip since it made me stand out from the thousands of other tourists. I was glad I had taken the time to listen to this tape since it definitely helped me be able to pick up vocabulary faster once I was in Nepal, however, it's not quite sufficient to stand alone as the only source for learning the language.



3. I am using the tape in my car to learn vocabulary and find the pronunciacion clear, and definitely useful as Nepali sounds are different enough from English that it is difficult to know how to read a word correctly. I like to learn many words, then phrases at the beginning of my study of a language, and this tape has been helpful, even in it's limited nature. 4 Stars because it is good - and accurate to it's title

1 comments about Course in Nepali.

1. David Matthews's A Course in Nepali is a very well written textbook, it does not assume any previous knowledge of the language. The book starts with the Nagari script step by step into the complexity of Nepali grammar. Grammatical explanations are very detailed and thorough, readers are expected to take some time to patiently digest each lesson. The exercises are also well designed, closely correspondent to the content of each lesson. There are not only conversations (like the Teach yourself Nepali), but also reading passages from different genres, and translations of the passages are also given for readers for checking comprehension. But I have to say, this book is not an easy textbook, it tends to cover all important grammatical points of the language, making the book very dense, without previous experience of Indic languages, this book will appear to be difficult(I have background in Hindi, Urdu and Sanskrit, this book is just perfect for me) . If you are not serious about studying Nepali, or just want to learn some phrases for a short trip to Nepal, this book is definitely not for you, in that case you should buy Lonely Planet's Nepali Phrasebook. That being said, I give 4 stars to this book, because the accompanying audio material is not readily available, making practicing listening comprehension difficult.

5 comments about Teach Yourself Nepali Complete Course Audiopackage.

1. I'm sure there's lots of good information in this course, but it is set forth in an extremely difficult to use manner. There are no pauses on the CD for the student to repeat the information he is trying to learn. I am disappointed and also bummed out because no other course exists.



2. Finding resources for under-studied languages like Nepali is extremely difficult. It's a shame that this is one of the few books out there that teaches Nepali.
   
   I don't like the organization of the book. It doesn't teach you vocabulary, grammar, or phrases in a logical order.
   
   Learning the script was difficult since the book doesn't contain very much information on how to do so.
   
   This book should be used with another book about Nepali. But I have to warn you that the Nepali words aren't always transliterated the same way in two books.
   
   Brandon Simpson



3. Book cam on time brand new but recycle material. This book is written by a professor who has very strong back ground both English and Nepali literature.I am Nepali and I bought this book for my dearly wife who's mother tongue is not Nepali. Now with help of this book she is learning Nepali faster than I thought.



4. If you order the correct package, the "complete audiopackage," you will receive the audio CD's. This is a great Nepali language course if you are a dedicated student. The course requires you to learn Devanagari script and if you're not going to do that, then you don't want this course. I am an experienced language learner and would have preferred a little better organization in teaching the grammar and verb conjugation. It is a little confusing in that respect. Overall, I think its a great course for the money.



5. The Teach Yourself Nepali products are a little confusing, so be careful when ordering:
   
   * Teach Yourself Nepali Complete Course Audiopackage (Paperback) -- This is the one you probably want, the course book and 2 CDs. Note the "Audiopackage" in the title.
   * Teach Yourself Nepali Complete Course (Paperback) -- This is the course book only, without the CDs. (If you click on the "Paperback (2)" link it will take you to the one with the CDs, or back if you're on the Audiopackage page)
   * Teach Yourself Nepali (Teach Yourself Complete Courses) [AUDIOBOOK] -- I have to assume that this is a reading of the book, not the 2 CDs that accompany the course book in the first package, although I haven't seen the item.
   
   I've just received the Audiopackage, and will update my review once I've spent some time trying to learn a little Nepali.

5 comments about Nepali-English/English-Nepali Dictionary and Phrasebook (Hippocrene Dictionary & Phrasebooks).

1. There are two ways to represent Nepali words. first you can write them in Devanagari, which would require that you learn to read Devanagari ( the Sanskrit-based alphabet which they use) or you can use the closest-equivalent transliterated word using the English alphabet. this one just uses the transliteration. If you are serious about stuying Nepali, you would benefit more by getting the Devanagari version ALONG WITH the transliteration - I hope they do this for future editions....



2. and this is a good book.
   But I wish it would give a solid elementary grammar lesson instead of skipping around like these language books do.
   Nepali language books are few in number.



3. Book is concise and well organized. Solved my immediate translation problems. it is a good companion to the Teach yourself course.



4. There's nothing here that you can't get in a more comprehensive phrasebook and guide combo. I took this to Nepal on a 31-day trip, and I checked it twice while bored and waiting.



5. I bought this dictionary because we are hosting 2 Nepali refugees. I needed something to help us communicate with them, the concept of this phrasebook is great, but it is just too small. It does not have enough words to use on the day to day basis.

4 comments about Nepali Phrasebook.

1. The dictionary in the back was helpful, but the organization of the book is not very good and it is awful in explaining pronunciation. After studying it faithfully and trying it out, my Nepali friends, finally, asked in English, "What are you trying to say?" I also learned that some of the information was inaccurate. I hate to speak badly of it, since it is about the only Nepali language travel book on the market, but, hopefully Lonely Planet will consider an overhaul.



2. And you find better ones. Lonley planet again fails to deliver with yet another product. The organization is poor, bad choice of phrases, etc..

   Heres a tip: skip the book, goto Nepal, meet some Nepali's talk with them, learn a little, then go to the millions of bookstores in Khatmandhu and find a book that fits your needs.

   It may be this one, but I doubt it.




3. I was surprised that the two reviews prior to mine gave such a bad rating. Well, I'm half-Indian, I was born in the north-east of India near the Himalayas with very close contact with Nepalis in my early childhood and I couldn't actually see what the problem was with this book! It's small, compact, glossy, useful and very cheap, I mean what else do you want if you are only looking for the basics.

   However, I can read and speak Hindi and know basic customs (which are actually explained in the phrasebook, for example food etiquette) so perhaps that made a difference. Hindi is closely related to Nepali and written in the same Devanagari script. You can actually learn the Devanagari script from this phrasebook which I find sets the Lonely Planet phrasebooks above most phrasebooks. If you don't want to learn the script, then the phonetic tranliteration system used is the correct one generally used by linguists, which ensures a word is correctly pronounced by the student, even when reading in English. This is why I prefer Lonely Planet phrasebooks as once you master the basics of script and pronunciation along with basic grammar (yes, it has a solid basic grammar section as well) you actually have a good base to further learn the language if you want.

   I found the phrases in it very useful. You get a very good starting point for customs, ordering food, hotel rooms etc. As I said, it's also in a nice, very small size. Amazing actually how much information is packed in considering how small the phrasebook is.




4. My Nepali boyfriend gave me this little book to learn his language, since when I met him, I had nothing good to say about his country because I knew nothing about it. I was grateful for alot of things in the book, like grammer, sentence structure, who you speak to, cultural tips, etc. But I found the pronunciation guide horrible. They do not explain the differences between many sounds, and only explain certain consonants. They introduce the Devanagari script rather suddenly with no explanation. It would be helpful to know HOW to read it and understand what is written instead of just recognizing it by sight and nothing else, although that is good too.

   The dictionary was helpful in the back, but very limited. It only went over words mentioned in the book, and didn't broaden words from outside of what was reviewed. I liked the book as a starter...but even my boyfriend admitted that some things were not said right. (Not as they speak it today, it's too old-fashioned, etc.) I kept having to go to him and ask him things, and the whole point of me having the book was so he wouldn't have to try and teach me. (hahahaha)

   So, I guess I would recommend it to people who know nothing about Nepali, but be sure to have someone to ask questions. It's bad enough when you are running blind with a language you haven't heard of before.