No comments about Vocabulary Builder Nepali.

No comments about A Descriptive Grammar of Nepali and an Analyzed Corpus.

No comments about A Foundation In Nepali Grammar.

No comments about Modern Literary Nepali: An Introductory Reader (Soas Studies on South Asia).

No comments about A comparative and etymological dictionary of the Nepali language.

No comments about An Introduction to Basic Nepali Language.

1 comments about A 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 ordered this langauge program in anticipation of my trip to Nepal. It's a solid language program that uses the same format that was used when I learned French in Jr. High and High School.
   
   However, learning a language well, as this program intends for its students, is not a solitary venture. I realize now I should have ordered a cd/dvd program that would teach me the basics such as hello, goodbye, how are you, what's your name, my name is, where is, how much, etc., etc.
   
   If you have a group of friends to practice consonant & vowel sounds, verb tenses, and formatted dialogues, then this is a great program.



2. Okay, I used a latin phrase because I do not yet know how to say " buyer beware!" in Nepali....
   
   Here is the rub: I bought this book thinking it *came* with the CDs but it does not. It is meant to be used with 2 CDs, but they need to be purchased separately. I see from one of the comments below that I am not the only one who made this assumption. I ended up phoning the publisher, McGraw Hill, to order the CDs. I see now that Amazon has added them to this section as well, presumably after I sent some feedback ( for which I give positive credit Amazon - they have always been responsive to me...)
   
   Now, I am studying the book like crazy, still working on the Nagari chapter. It seems as though learning the syllabary is the way to go, but this is a daunting task. If you are not willing to learn the syllabary ( making the flash cards etc) then this book is clearly not for you: most of the examples in the later chapters consist solely of text that is written in Nagari.
   
   A quick word about nagari script: there are 11 vowels, 33 consonants, and also 150 "conjuncts" as well as 11 sets of diacritical marks used to connote which vowel goes with a consonant. so, it is not for the faint at heart!
   
   And so, I have yet to get the Cds in the mail but I await them with bated breath....



3. 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.



4. 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



5. 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 comments about The 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.

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

1. I like this book, but after learning some phrases, I was told by Nepali people that I know that these phrases are not used in everyday life. They told me that those words were not really the way they speak. I guess the book must use more formal language.



2. 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....



3. 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.



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