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"Teach Yourself Esperanto" by Cresswell and Hartley

de dothedeerdance, 2010-decembro-26

Mesaĝoj: 11

Lingvo: English

dothedeerdance (Montri la profilon) 2010-decembro-26 01:33:29

Saluton cxiuj ridulo.gif

I recently recieved my (borrowed) copy of Teach Yourself Esperanto, and I've skimmed a few chapters but its just not holding my interest the way online Lernu courses do. Perhaps this is because I'm a technological teenager, but I would love to hear any of your opinions on the T.Y. Esperanto book by Cresswell and Hartley. Did it help you?

I suppose the best way would be to try and do a mixture of various courses to get a range of vocab and various explanations of grammar.

So, why not give a review of Teach Yourself Esperanto by Cresswell and Hartley?

RiotNrrd (Montri la profilon) 2010-decembro-26 01:54:32

It was the book that I used to learn with. I find learning from a book easier than using online resources, so I used it instead of the Lernu courses.

It doesn't take that long to get through, and it covers all the bases pretty well. I still consider it my primary resource for answering questions.

Polaris (Montri la profilon) 2010-decembro-26 04:57:17

I really love the Teach Yourself Esperanto book. It's out of print now (and SO expensive to get used copies) that I truly value my copy. I find the explanations of the trickier grammar points to be well-explained. I also appreciate the exercises. What I'd REALLY like to see is an Intermediate Esperanto book written along those same lines.

Genjix (Montri la profilon) 2010-decembro-26 10:50:47

I have PDF copies if anyone wants to get in touch with me.

Also there's an Esperanto FTP server:

ftp://bogobogo.homeftp.net
user: esperanto
pass: zamenhof

That's the best resource of Esperanto media I've ever found. Has everything that exists (movies, books, audio, ...)

To the OP, I learnt Esperanto from TY book in 2 weeks. It's nothing to do with being a technological teenager- learning a language needs effort. You can try to pick it up too if you prefer but it'll take longer (but be more fun)

erinja (Montri la profilon) 2010-decembro-26 13:20:26

I didn't like the TYE book. I never bought it; I browsed through it in stores however. I think it's largely a question of taste. Esperanto isn't really that hard and there are a lot of effective methods you can use to teach it, and the method that TYE used wasn't really my style.

Some people love it; I don't. I wouldn't say it's a bad book at all, just not my style.

If you don't like TYE but you'd like a paper learning reference, I recommend Richardson's Esperanto: Learning and using the international language.

Some people also really like Montagu Butler's Step by Step in Esperanto (I am not really familiar with it so I can't give any more opinions here).

Regarding "Gerda Malaperis", you can get it in book form or you can read it online. I guess it will help your language progress, but I didn't read it till I was already fluent so I don't know. I found the story incredibly boring but some people love the story, so that's a matter of taste too. Just know that if you read it and find it boring, you're not alone.

Miland (Montri la profilon) 2010-decembro-26 14:26:08

Teach Yourself Esperanto is how I first came to Esperanto. One of the correspondence courses run by EAB is based on it. I still use it for reference.
The book by Cresswell and Hartley was revised by J.H. Sullivan in the 90s. Unfortunately it is now out of print, and IMO the time is ripe for a revised edition.

Miland (Montri la profilon) 2010-decembro-27 11:54:11

formiĉjo:
Miland:The book by Cresswell and Hartley was revised by J.H. Sullivan in the 90s.. IMO the time is ripe for a revised edition.
So, you're volunteering?
Apart from other commitments at the moment, I don't know who owns the rights. I suspect that it would take an official approach by EAB, if it were possible at all.

Genjix (Montri la profilon) 2010-decembro-27 20:53:30

Look, copyright exists to debatably 'protect' authors. If a book exists in limbo then take it and modify it how you wish! Spread it around the net for free. No one is harmed by an unpopular out-of-print book being popularised and revised.

ceigered (Montri la profilon) 2010-decembro-28 04:40:59

yeah but provided the author/owner is still alive there's not much you can do, is there? (I mean, even if they're not working on it, for some it would be an unwelcome surprise to see your work being taken by someone else and modified sans your permission - a good reason for creative commons etcokulumo.gif) That said, some legally debatable copies are floating around on the net as is, and 2nd hand copies are available, but it won't be long before whoever owns the rights to it will have to do something in regards to a revision otherwise the copyright will indeed be protecting very little - either the book will already be too available illegally or something better will come around......

That said, 1993 ain't that long ago... 2020, however, it might be a little too late...

sudanglo (Montri la profilon) 2010-decembro-28 09:24:40

The reason why TYE has been so effective over the years (it came out sometime around 1960) is that it was available in general bookshops - unlike many Esperanto texts which were, and still are, only available through Esperanto associations.

Therefore many people came to Esperanto, without any prior knowledge of the Esperanto community, by discovering it in their local bookshop or library.

The Teach Yourself series of books (on many subjects) was very popular and in their time these books were inexpensive and a natural starting point for study.

Nowadays we have the Internet and of course the resources for learning at Lernu.net, so the situation is somewhat changed.

People can now stumble across Esperanto through their random browsings of the Net. In today's world, if their curiosity is aroused about any subject, then they will most likely turn first to the Net.

I would imagine that starting off with one of the Lernu courses and pursuing the subject though the online Grammar PMEG, most people would need little further instruction about the mechanics of Esperanto. The rest is practice.

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