Burmese (Myanmar): An Introduction to the Spoken Language, Book 1 (Southeast Asian Language Text)

Not a bad textbook, but very old school. The book could have been half the size, with half the explanations, and more examples given. The recording in it is also in desperate need of an update. It sounds like it was recorded by Thomas Edison. I'd gladly have paid the price I did for this book with those improvements. Without them, it was a bit of a stinker.

This is a great text for getting your head around Burmese script in a systematic, structured manner. Each chapter introduces new heads or rhymes complete with examples and numerous exercises to practise what you've learned. There are real life examples of text found in newspapers which provide fodder for some very useful scanning exercises. It's highly advisable to download the mp3s which accompany the text, as getting the pronunciation of certain challenging heads / rhymes is of supreme importance if you want Burmese to understand you! Besides that, some of the author's remarks are very humorous.I think the book could be a bit more engaging than it is, though, which is why I only gave it 4 stars. I found myself skipping certain exercises as I found them rather dry and not overly useful. There could be more variety in the exercises as well. Also, the maps at the back of the book could be better quality than they are.For a motivated learners, this is the best, most comprehensive book on the market for learning Burmese script.

I really cannot recommend this text enough.For anyone who has about a year (or two) of spoken Burmese underneath them, this book is perfect for transitioning from colloquial speech to the foundations of literary written style. Okell makes the transition a very easy one by utilizing authentic elementary and grade school lessons taken from actual Burmese school textbooks. He then adds additional exercises and explanations for EVERY word or phrase in the text. In this way, one could almost use the text by one's self without the help of an instructor, since every literary quiddity is broken down into its separate parts and compared to its colloquial(and easier) form.Also, a big plus for me is the reference grammar and reference vocabulary. This is perfect, since you won't have to carry around an extra dictionary when referencing words within the text.It may seem surprising, but the basics of literary style are not that difficult. Once the new vocab is understood (and memorized), it's amazing how much more I can read now. After finishing the book one is ready to move onto more difficult things like trying to understand newspaper writing.

I'm about a quarter way through the book but it's good so far. This is the best resource I've found and used. It might be a bit slower going than the Burmese language book by Gene Mesher, but it's much better because of the practical exercises and the really useful pronunciation explanations. It's leaps and bounds better than anything else out there, I'd reckon, because Okell is truly an expert.

Easy to use and followI was told my Burmese was pretty good when I went there for my third trip.I had no previous experiance learning a foriegn language prior to this.

A reformatted version of Okell's pedagogical magnum opus. I want to start here and collect them all (the language learner's Pokemon deck).

This is really a great learning tool. I would have preferred they taught how to pronounce the numbers in the lessons in intro to script but it is taught early in the intro to spoken language so it kind of makes up for it. Overall I had a great time with the lessons I am going through and I having sill having a great time and the audio files really does act as a FANTASTIC supplement. I must recommend you not buy just intro to script or intro to language as they specialize in their individual subject only. It may seem like a shame that you must buy two books and read them at the same time but it is definitely worth it because Okell does an excellent job in teaching in the script and the language and keeping them as separate books was probably the only way to teach script and language the best.

The best on the market to learning Burmese!

Great for beginner and intermediate students

Das Buch ist auf Kommunkation aufgebaut, leider gibt es keine bunten Bilder, so dass alles ein wenig trist wirkt und die Seiten sind vollgepackt mit Texten, dies könnte so manchen abschrecken.Positiv finde ich den Anhang mit Vokabellisten und grammatischen Erklärungen zu den jeweiligen Lektionen.

Ottimo manuale di lingua birmana, sebbene non facilissimo da seguire. Presuppone uno studio attento e pedissequo della lingua, per cui non consigliabile a chi necessita solo un' infarinatura.

Perfect for someone learning Burmese, the layout is excellent and easy to follow