Customer Reviews (1)

Tagalog English Dictionary
This is the best Tagalog English Dictionary I have seen.It has far more words than the next best dictionary out there.I highly recommend it if you can get it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

lousy.
This is a bad product, for a number of reasons. Firstly, much of the Tagalog here is painfully formal - using the translations in this book I was laughed at in the Philippines for using "deep Tagalog." This "deep Tagalog" is not only much more difficult to learn, but often socially inappropriate. Commonly used words and phrases that are in the real world accomplished with a few easy syllables are presented here as long and inappropriately linquistically complex diatribes.

Indeed, social status as subtely expressed through language is important in the Philippines, and visitors are not expected to always get this right. Still, it is not correct to think that erring on the side of the formal is always best; it can be just as awkward to be overly formal as it is to be overly colloquial. But the translations in Language 30 go beyond that. It's more like learning the Queen's English and then being sent to mid-America. It just isn't going to work, and you, the tourist, had a much tougher learning curve in the process.

The Language 30 Series to me seems to be cheaply done and forumlaic - the publishers take pretty much the same words in each region's language and have a native speaker translate them with little concern for context, and this leads to numerous errors. Language 30 seems to see language as just a bunch of individual words with little concern for the nuances of a language. For example, there are different words in Tagalog for rice depending on if it's cooked or if it's raw ("bigas" and "canin"). Using the wrong one will simply yield confusion. But to Language 30 rice is just rice. And if you can't even order rice when you've finished this language course, well, basically, you're screwed! The book and tapes are full of stupid little errors like this, the result of the authors not caring enough to understand even the most rudimentary aspects of the language being taught. Beyond that, the native speakers speak too quickly and often indistinctly. Keep the booklet handly, because you'll have to examine each syllable and rewind a lot!

Really, for a quick and dirty quide the Lonely Planet book is quite good. I started with Language 30 and then learned to sing numerous Filipino popular songs, really a great way to hone a language. After a couple months in country (after getting over the original embarrassment for my Language 30 Tagalog and having to unlearn much of what I'd learned) I was in good shape. So it is possible to learn some vocabulary from this set, which is why I gave it two stars instead of one. But you've been warned.

Not a bad value, but a bit tedious
This set is a decent value. For your money, you get a fairly broad range of phrases and vocabulary. However, the organization of information assumes that you can keep interest listening to a bunch of discrete phrases repeated one after the other with no conversations or anything remotely natural. If you can, in fact, maintain interest while listening to these tapes repeatedly, then you'll do well with this set. If, on the other hand, you need something more dynamic, you might do well to look elsewhere.

Hindi Isang Mabutie aklat
Ang basic Tagalog Aklat ay Basic Tagalog para sa Foreigners ang Non-Tagalogs iyon ay isang mabutie Aklat . 5 stars para sa Basic Tagalog.

Mabuhay Republica Ng Pilipinas Ang Pinoys

Ok guide for learning phrases
Mabuhay!This set is perfect for those of you who want to possess a very basic command of Tagalog or want to have some phrases handy while visiting the Tagalog-speaking regions of the Philippines.

The sections arecategorized by situations, such as introductions or at the hotel, and to alesser extent - vocabulary words like time and food.

Even if you'relearning Tagalog "in-depth," the cassettes will come in handy asan aide to your pronunciation.But be warned, this shouldn't be relied onas a full course.

Good for travel or basic introduction for further study.
This cassette-book has all the basic words and phrases needed for travel to the Philippines. ... Read more

Book Description
This handbook can be used by both beginning and advanced students of Tagalog.It is organized for easy use and contains verbs that a student would most likely encounter. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

just a bunch of verbs
I don't know how those 501 verbs books work for all those other languages available right now, but I suppose I expected this book to show different types of verbs in Tagalog AND explain how they are used.There is a paradigm of different verbs inflected by aspects and modes, but with no explanation as to how the verb would be used.I was quite disappointed.

The ONLY book on Tagalog Verbs
When I study a language, I go for the verbs.Tagalog verbs are extremely difficult, as there are many different forms each verb root can take.This book helps a lot to show the different forms a particular verb root cantake and what they all mean.My only complaint is that it does not haveenough verbs in it, only 200. ... Read more