Teach Yourself Urdu

On the box it says that the goal of this book was to reach "all-around confidence". It did that and more. This book covers a variety of subjects while following the story of John and his wife Helen as they travel through several sites Pakistan and North India. There were even several situations and vocabulary words that they covered that I thought I would never need to use, but found myself using in conversation shortly after. Also, the culture notes were a very nice touch as well. And as a Muslim I really liked the Islamic culture notes they brough up also. I am a USAF military linguist and I was 100% sure that the best way to learn a language was to be in a class all day, or immerison in the specific country, or among friends. This book proved me wrong. The content is difficult, especially after the 5th chapter because they remove the English transliteration and you are stuck reading the Urdu script and can only "cheat" by going to the back of the book. It seemed like every five chapters it got REALLY hard and seemed not gradual enough in the level of difficulty. But it took me three weeks to finish this book (I will admit, that was way too fast) and afterwards I was speaking and thinking in Urdu and the overall goal of "all around confidence" was definatley met. That being said, I want to share the downsides, which are few. The errors that a lot of the reviewers talked about, I didn't notice until the last few chapters, and most of the students will probably notice this because by that point they are familiar with the Urdu script and it won't be a problem. Also, I learned Arabic script first from "Teach yourself Arabic Script" and "Very Simple Arabic Script" so I can't comment on their Urdu script introduction, which is needed for the rest of the book. You can't fake it past chapter five without knowing the script! Finally, I would like to add that if you are *really* serious about learning Urdu, this is THE book to get, but still there is a long way to go. I *highly suggest* following up by getting "Urdu - An Essential Grammar" by Ruth Schmidt afterwards. I was so confident in Urdu after this "Teach Yourself" course but the Grammar book will make your realize that there is still a whole bunch more to be learnt and clear up the fuzzy spots. But overall, I very highly recommended "Teach Yourself Urdu Complete Course" very, VERY well done.

I agree that Teach Yourself Urdu is excellent course for those wishing to learn the Urdu language. Although the course is centred around vocabulary and structures required by travellers, it provides an excellent start for those who would eventually like to learn more advanced Urdu. Concepts taught are constantly reinforced through the use of dialogues and examples, both of which serve to standardize the flow of Urdu in the learner's mind and to make the reader as comfortable with written Urdu as possible. I am at the tenth lesson in the 15 lesson book and can already recognize parts of headlines on BBC Urdu or even entire headlines. Bahut shukria TY!

This is a great book. Not only do you learn how to pronounce a word or sentence but you also learn how to read and write it. The book also gives you culture tips about Pakistan and India. It also show how to make up a sentences and the chapters are broken down by following a character's jounrney in Pakistan. If you know how to write in arabic you would find writing in urdu somewhat the same but if you don't know how to write in arabic don't worry, the book also show you how to wite the begin, middle, and end part of a letter. I find this book most enjoying and I highly recommend it to anyone who would like to learn this language.Khuda Hafiz

If you want to learn Urdu seriously enough, this is a book for you. This book not only covered basic spoken Urdu for survival if you are a tourist in Pakistan, but also teach Urdu grammar and script. More.. it has hundreds words of vocabulary list at the end of the book. A real complete book of the language ... and I do not think I need to buy more book on Urdu language beside this one.. Okay, maybe if I want to learn more then 1000 Urdu words definitely I need a comprehensive Urdu dictionary beside this book :D

Thanks to both Mr Matthews and Mr Dalvi, learning Urdu has become accessible at last ! You will not find a better book. I am learning Urdu right now with the assistance of a Pakistani student and althought it is not so easy, this book takes the trouble to make everything so clear and simple.