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Colloquial Slovene: A Complete Language Course (Colloquial Series (Book Only)) | 
 enlarge | Author: Andrea Albretti
Publisher: Routledge
Category: Book
List Price: $34.95
Buy New: $27.67
You Save: $7.28 (21%)
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 691473
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 338
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0415089468
Dewey Decimal Number: 491.8482421
EAN: 9780415089463
ASIN: 0415089468
Publication Date: October 5, 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Colloquial Slovene is easy to use and completely up-to-date. Specially written by an experienced teacher for self-study or class use, the course offers you a step-by-step approach to written and spoken Slovene.
This paperback in the Colloquial Language Learning Series is available individually or as part of a pack. For more information, please refer to the cassette pack listing for this language.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Not worth your money October 2, 2006
Gwilym
As some of the other reviewers point out, this book leaves a lot to be desired. The vocabulary is so limited as to make any efforts at real communication almost impossible. The very complex grammar is hardly described at all, the learner has to figure it all out for himself without any help from the author.
1. Compared to other Slavic languages, Slovene share all the complex grammar they have and some additional featurel (the dual system). For this reason, you would expect Colloquial Slovene to be slightly longer than courses for closely related languages, such as Colloquial Serbian or Colloquial Czech, not considerably shorter and with an almost non-existent coverage of the grammar. This is a serious flaw, as you will end this course without the slightest idea about how such a crucial thing as verbal aspect works. If you're familiar with Slavic languges, you know that this means that in practice you won't be able to speak.
2. No hints at the pronunciation. It might fall on any syllable on the word and the accent is the only difference between many words. The same goes for long and short vowels and the schwa-sound spelled 'e'. In short, you'll have no clue about how to pronunce the words you learn.
3. The vocabulary is shorter than in any other Colloquial course I've seen. Compare it to Colloquial Czech, it's not even a third of that course!
Slovene is one of the official languages of the EU and it's a disgrace that there isn't any decent Slovene course in English on the market. Both the Colloquial Slovene and Teach Yourself Slovene have been written by the same author, and I'm sorry to say that she was not suitable for the task. All the errors listed above are found in both books.
Useless May 8, 2006
Liam
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm sad to say that this course will be of no use to those wanting to learn Slovene. The aim of this review is to illustrate its shortcomings and suggest improvements that could be made.
Problem 1 - no accents
This problem alone is enough to render the book almost useless. In Slovene, any syllable of a word may be stressed. Get it wrong and you may end up saying a completely different word. This is especially evident in the case of the letter 'e', representing different sounds in Slovene. Apart from being stressed or unstressed, it can be an open e or a closed e. It might also be a schwa sound, the sound found in words such as English 'the'. In other words, how will you pronounce the common word 'vecer' (evening)? There are eight(!) options available... And what about the word 'svet'? Is it the Slovene word for 'holy' or for 'advice'? Almost all courses and books on Slovene make use of accents to indicate the pronunciation, since it is impossible to predict. The only two exceptions are this book and Teach Yourself Slovene by the same author. I never thought I'd say a language course in which you will have to guess the pronunciation of each and every word.
Problem 2 - Very limited vocabulary
The reviewer Gwilym mentioned how very limited the vocabulary of this course is compared to Colloquial Czech. The same goes for almost all the Colloquial courses on Slavic languages. Colloquial Czech, Colloquial Ukrainian, Colloquial Bulgarian, Colloquial Slovak, Colloquial Russian are all excellent courses with a well-suited vocabulary. Colloquial Serbian is decent enough. Only Colloquial Polish and Colloquial Croatian are a bit off the mark and then Colloquial Slovene that cannot even be compared to the other courses.
So only 1 star to this course, that star is for a decent (but not great) explanation of the grammar. Two stars off for the very limited vocabulary and two more for the lack of accents.
I'm glad that Routledge offers many excellent courses in Slavic languages and I can only hope that they will one day publish a Slovene course worhty of their reputation.
 Good but far from enough June 27, 2005
Slavic World (Zagreb)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Slovene is a hard language, possibly the hardest of all the Slavic languages due to an unusually rich (read: complex...) grammar. This is one of the few Slovene courses available in Englisg, and unfortunately it's not enough.
The vocabulary introduced in this course is the main problem. While the average language course in the Colloquial series introduces well over 1000 words, this course is well below 800. Compared to some of the other Colloquial books on Slavic languages, the vocabulary is down by 50%. This means that the learner is left with a very limited vocabulary.
The grammar is introduced at a very slow pace. There are obvious advantages to this approach, but at the same time it means that it only touches upon the most basic points, and is likely to leave the learner confused when he approaches actual Slovene.
You'd better buy the tapes, because this book does not show the stress of words nor the different pronunciations of the letter 'e'.
To sum it all up
What is good with this book
- It is easy to use.
- The dialouges are modern and relevant
What is bad with this book
- The grammar is incomplete
- The vocabulary introduced is very limited
This book would not be bad at all as part one of a course in Slovene, or as a short introduction, but it is not a full language course. Those who have used other courses in the Colloquial series should not expect this book to be an equally extensive course
 As Spoken in Slovenia June 17, 2003
Kurt Rasmussen (Torrance, CA United States)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
I was born and raised in Los Angeles California, but my wife was born and raised in Slovenia (Andol and Ljubljana). For years my in-laws have been trying to teach me Slovene; my accent was just too much for my wife. We traveled to Slovenia and I made a major leap forward (immersion) and now my wife can tolerate my accent. After the trip to Slovenia, I found this audio cassette course and decided to try it. My wife and in-laws are very impressed with the differing styles of speech and the accurate phasing that one would normally hear in and around Ljubljana. Although the course might move a little too fast for someone without any exposure to the language, it is the right pace and style for a serious student. My diction has greatly improved. I converted the tapes to audio-CD and spend time mimicking the exact style of the different persons speaking in each lesson. This has greatly reduced my accent. This is not a dry classroom lecture series. It is everyday people talking and having fun -- it reminds me of the relatives in Slovenia.
Great course November 2, 2002
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This language course is the best for the Slovene language that I know. The dialogues depict everyday situations and sound very natural. The only little drawback is that there are no indications of pronounciation (accent). Therefor for correct pronouncion the cassettes are a must.
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