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An Essential Course in Modern Portuguese Revised Edition

By: R C Willis
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Nelson Thornes
ISBN: 017445046X
ISBN-13: 9780174450467
Released: 06 Jul 1998
RRP: £19.25
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

An excellent book for Portuguese grammar and translation - By: , 18 Mar 2006
This is a truly excellent book to learn the grammar of the Portuguese language. The language contained in it may appear a little stilted. However, the book was created for a readership that wants to learn the language "properly", that is to say, the old-fashioned way through grammar & translation. It does not employ the modern communicative approach & you should not expect it to teach the same sort of "survival" language as a TY or Colloquial Portuguese book would do.

The book teaches more or less alll the necessary grammar & can stand as a dependable, reliable & useful book in its own right. It is definitely one of the best written in the English language.

Personallly speaking, the progression in this book has been pitched at exactly the right level. By the end of the book, you should be able to translate a passage of reasonable difficulty.

The reasons why it has been awarded four stars instead of five are as follows: Firstly, the book was written a long time around forty years ago & can appear rather dated now. Secondly, the pronunciation section may deter the more casual reader. Some experience in linguistics would be necessary to understand fully the content in this section at the beginning. But thirdly, & most importantly, the lack of answers to the questions makes it impossible to determine whether your answers are correct. I think the latter is enough for the book to be deprived of a star, which is a shame, as it is outstanding in other respects.