Beginner's Bengali (Bangla) with Audio CD

A new Bengali learning book from Hippocrene Press has been published by Hanne-Ruth Thompson, author of the magisterial 700-page "Bengali --A Comprehensive Grammar" as well as other Bengali language books. This is "Beginner's Bengali". This is definitely one of the best Bengali study books in the not-too-enormous field of Bengali. It starts with information for total beginners up through a strong basic knowledge, along with plentiful exercises, and encouraging comments and information about study methods. Thompson's approach is informed by many years of classroom teaching of Bengali, a real affection for the ins and outs and peculiarities of the Bengali language and shows a very clear understanding of what the stumbling blocks are for a foreign learner and how to deal with them. It is a book which demands real study and focus from the learner, but is definitely a valuable resource when learning a language which is both dimly familiar and grammatically confounding for a speaker of Romance languages. The book features a CD of readings. It also has a wealth of well-organized and culturally useful information, such as Exercise Answer keys, Bangla Grammar Overview, Using Bangla Dictionaries, basic dictionaries of Bangal and English, a clear explanation (!) of the Inherent Vowel, verb charts, Common Verbs, a complete list of Muslim and Hindu family relations, Months and Seasons. These are what you would hope to find in a good language book, though you might not get all of them. There are additional features, some of which, to my knowledge, are not available elsewhere, such as unless you seek out Bengali A Comprehensive Grammar. These are lists of peculiarly Bengali forms like Common Compound Verbs and Common Conjunct Verbs. If you ask a Bengali for a list of these he/she will draw a blank but they are constantly in use and yet can be hard to find in dictionaries. My only complaint could be that the audio in the CD has, for some odd reason, way too much reverb in the men's recordings. Not the women's, at least. We are using this book in our New York Bengali class. I cannot recommend one single book more highly.

So a bit of a disclaimer: Firstly i am not done with the book yet, I am at around chapter 4, but I will update my review when I'm finished. Another disclaimer is that I am at a advanced level of Hindi, so I'm not sure how much that effects my review. If you are a serious learner of Bengali, this book is absolutely awesome! The book starts out with a section on reading and writing the Bengali script. It is a very basic introduction to the script. I think the Teach Yourself Bengali did a better job at teaching the script, but still the introduction is quite good. the book continues with dialogues and grammar. The dialogues are long and filled with a lot of good phrases and then they follow with an English Translation. One thing I really like about the book is that it also translates the exact word order so you know where to put the word. This really helps with a language like Bengali since the word order is different. The audio is great and the voices are very clear. And this is just my opinion but I absolutely love the way Bengali sounds, it is super sweet and so fun to listen too! Another feature I love is the review exercises, they aren't extremely hard but not super easy either. They are perfect. Another thing I want to point out is you can tell how much the author loves Bengali while reading this book. You can tell she really loves the language and wants others to learn it. I think this book is great and I am so glad I got it. I can't wait to finish it! I have used many books for Bengali and this one so far has been my favorite. Hippocrene, please add more Indian languages! :)

There is nothing wrong with the book. I was looking for a book for beginners and not for advanced students.

This is the most recent resource and the best for covering the basics of grammar, while also including useful stories and conversations that help you apply the skills you are leaning. I'm nearly finished with the book and it has helped me so much! I found pronouncing the letters of the alphabet a bit confusing, but not too hard. Once you start to get the hang of it, it's so useful. You have to learn the alphabet (Unit One in the book) in order to really use the book. My advice is even if you don't understand everything at first, just go with it and you'll get it eventually. I've asked a bunch of people in Bangladesh if this is a good resource and what they think about it and everyone that I show the book to is impressed with it. Lastly, there are a few problems and errors in the book/recording. They don't have much influence on your ability to learn Bangla form the book, but I thought I'd through that out there, so you're prepared if you come across something that doesn't quite seem right. Overall, this book is a must if you want to take your learning beyond just memorizing a few phrases.

I have been casually studying Bengali for the past 10 years and have seven or eight books and a few tapes on learning Bengali; some by native Bengali speakers, some by native English speakers. This book and CD are, by far, the best I have found. I am no longer a beginner, but going back and studying this book is filling in gaps in my knowledge. The CD is excellent; the speakers enunciate clearly and the vocabulary grows at a manageable pace. Well worth the price. Highly recommended.

This is not a beginners book this book is actually for Someone who already speaks Bangla ...even the cd only speaks in Bangla

Good basics but typos, spelling mistakes and missing signs, also, there was only 1 CD included. Audio is a little fast in the beginning, the voices are echoing and not all words from the written dialog are included in the spoken version (sometimes different words are said too).

The book contains a lot of resources to learn Bangla. Well written.

Bon complément. Pas une méthode pour apprendre, mais il s’y trouve une foule de bonnes choses qui justifient l’achat.

A good introduction to Bangla and I look forward to when I have a chance to dive deeper into the language. There are good recommendations and exercises to get more comfortable with the script and the language especially if you are only familiar with the Romance languages.

This coursebook is very comprehensive and user-friendly and It is highly recommended.