Conversational Tagalog: A Functional-Situational Approach

By Teresita V. Ramos

Book Overview

Conversational Tagalog is an introductory-level text that was created for adult foreign/second language learners of Tagalog. It is designed to give practice in idiomatic Tagalog conversation by focusing exercises on simple language functions. The lessons are developed to encourage the interactional nature of communication. The book provides situations that are relevant to the lives of adult students. The situations force students to think about the meanings and consequences of what they say. Cultural notes guide students and give them a sense of when, how, and with whom it is appropriate to use the forms contained in a certain set of dialog material. Conversational Tagalog explores various ways of teaching language through actual and simulated activities, always working toward communicative competence. Grammatical explanations and exercises are based on what appears in a dialog and are not predetermined in the construction of the dialog.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0824809440
• ISBN13: 9780824809447
• Release Date: April 1985
• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 1.29 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

OK, but with reservations

For self-instruction, this book is just OK. It does provide a decent introduction to the vocabulary and grammar, but don't expect to be able to speak or understand much Tagalog at the end. The grammatical explanations are confined to describing the forms of the word, but almost nothing is said about HOW the forms are used (especially the different verb forms, the heart of the language). You will have no idea how to use an actor-focus verb versus an object-focus verb. On the other hand, I do like the vocabulary lists at the back that are arranged by topic. Ramos' strong point is providing some information about Filipino culture. This one not bad given some limitations; you could do worse. But for serious learners, I recommend Pilipino Through Self-Instruction, by John Wolff, et al., from Cornell.

O ano ba kumusta kayo?! This is a nice way to learn!

This was a wonderful. It is a great way to learn to speak tagalog and unlike other products almost everything I say, my Tagalog speaking friends understand just exactly what I'm talking about. If you buy this book you should Definitely buy a tagalog-english/english-tagalog dictionary because this book was designed for a class room that has a teacher to explain pronunciation and different words. It has a tagalog-english glossary in the back, but if you are like me (still learning) you will be looking back there (in the glossary) at least 4 to 5 times per page that you read and there is only a 50% chance that the word you will be looking for is there. By the end of this book you will have a better understanding of tagalog sentence structure, be able to speak conversationally in a variety of situation (not all situations), and will be impressing your filipino friends and their famlies. O sige, Diyan ka na. Pupunta ako sa aklatan. Paalam

good introductory-level text

I found this book complimented my other books well in learning Tagalog. There are many gramatical explinations and good vocabulary builders. The focus is not pure memorization but to develop your skills in the language and understand how it works. The text is probably better for a more structured learning environment. It is not geared towards the "Teach yourself" learner.