Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 A great investment December 10, 2006
Michael A. Cristof (Northville, Michigan United States)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
After buying this book almost six years ago, I can say that this was probably one of the best investments I ever made! The book assumes you have no knowledge of the language and then slowly builds skills by having a lively dialogue in each beginning chapter, vocabulary, and uses the theme of the chapters and dialogue by having an end of chapter reading. (I had some exposure to the language because my dad is from there) As the chapters continue, the end of chapter readings become longer and more difficult, but the author prepares you to understand them. There are also about 10 to 15 assignments per each chapter (20 chapters total). This book really gravitated my interest in the language and after visiting the country three times since I purchases the book, I attribute my ability to communicate effectively in romanian to this book.
 It has its virtues May 14, 2006
Ben Hoffman (Annapolis, MD, USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is very useful for learning Romanian -- explained very clearly, with lots of useful exercises -- but not sufficient for self-study. There is no answer key, and not every point of grammar is exlpained fully.
Great Book, but uses old spelling Rules. November 7, 2005
Alexander E. Maas (San Diego)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
This book is, as the other reviewers said, the best book available. Make no mistake about it, Romanian grammar is complex and even this author, tries as he may, cannot necessarily come up with any neat grammatical rules that explain various conjugations and declensions. There is a complete free Romanian grammar on the web, written by a linguist. This has many grammatical points often unknown by Romanians, even. However, this grammar is very complex, as it is written by a lingist.
Unfortunately, because "Discover Romanian" was printed in 1995, it uses the old spelling rules, which I believe Colloquial Romanian does not. It uses sint (with a circumflex over the i) instead of sunt. This is actually how the word is pronounced, but it is no longer spelled this way. I will not go into an explanation of how these rules changed, but just be aware of it from other books or Romanian language site.
Additionally, you can find a complete set of CDs for this book, but you cannot find them on Amazon, unfortunately. Do a websearch, and you will find not on these CDS, but a workbook and a biliguingal reader that are also available.
Thd CDs are a great bargain, at $50, as they cover all 20 chapters. That is certainly better than some of these tapes that are about $15 for one tape or so.
I hope this was helpful.
The best Romanian textbook available on Amazon.com June 14, 2005
Easydamus (Diego Garcia)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
After buying Colloquial Romanian (which is a good product, but get the CD's), a horrible Romanian-English/English-Romanian dictionary, and Hippocrene's brief pamphlet on Romanian grammar, I was about to give up trying to learn Romanian. I happened to find this book while browsing on Amazon. I ordered it and I've been very pleased. I'm about half-way through it and I've been impressed with how much I'm able to read now. The book is designed for use in the classroom, but it is also very good for self-study. It is extremely comprehensive and explains many grammar rules that the Colloquial Romanian book would have you figure out on your own. You'll understand all of those spelling changes and the regular conjugation of verbs after reading Discover Romanian. It has an appendix of conjugated verbs, a Romanian to English dictionary, and an English to Romanian dictionary. If you're serious about learning Romanian, the price shouldn't stop you. This book is worth it.
Romanian for Americans who speak English May 6, 2003
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
This is the best book of its kind and is well worth the price if you are serious about learning REAL Romanian. Although there are other texts for learning Romanian, this is the only one written for American language learners and is full of information about every facet of Romania and its culture. The author is a Romanian American and college professor who really knows how to communicate the grammar and linguistic 'tricks' of this somewhat complicated language. It is also fun and includes lots of photos and drawings as well as many exercises, a dictionary and verb conjugations. My only preference would be to have answers to the exercises in the student text.
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