Colloquial Bengali

by Mithun B. Nasrin, W.A.M Van Der Wurff

Overview

Colloquial Bengali provides a step-by-step course in Bengali as it is written and spoken today. Combining a user-friendly approach with a thorough treatment of the language, it equips learners with the essential skills needed to communicate confidently and effectively in Bengali in a broad range of situations. No prior knowledge of the language is required.

Key features include:

• progressive coverage of speaking, listening, reading and writing skills

• structured, jargon-free explanations of grammar

• an extensive range of focused and stimulating exercises

• realistic and entertaining dialogues covering a broad variety of scenarios

• useful vocabulary lists throughout the text

• additional resources available at the back of the book, including a full answer key, a grammar summary and bilingual glossaries

Balanced, comprehensive and rewarding, Colloquial Bengali will be an indispensable resource both for independent learners and students taking courses in Bengali.

Audio material to accompany the course is available to download freely in MP3 format from www.routledge.com/cw/colloquials. Recorded by native speakers, the audio material features the dialogues and texts from the book and will help develop your listening and pronunciation skills.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781317306122
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/14/2015
Series:	Colloquial Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Mithun B. Nasrin is a Bengali teacher, journalist and writer. She recently published Shornopurir Rajkumari, a fairytale about Bandladeshi politics. W.A.M van der Wurff, a teacher of linguistics at Newcastle University, previously co-authored with her an introduction to Bengali language in Dutch. His other work has included detailed studies of Bengali grammar. Their joint aim in life is to celebrate the beauty of Bengali language, culture and cooking.

Table of Contents

Introduction, The sounds of Bengali, The Bengali script, 1 apnar nam ki? What’s your name? 2 era ki apnar mamato bhai? Are these your cousins? 3 onar kOeTa baRi ache? How many houses does he have? 4 kalimondirTa kon dike? In what direction is the temple of Kali? 5 apni ki ki dekhechen? What have you seen? 6 apni ki khaben? What would you like to eat? 7 apni ki ranna korchen? What are you cooking? 8 dækhabo? Shall I show it to you? 9 ei cekTa ki ekhane kæsh kore nite pari? Can I cash this cheque here? 10 ekhane keu thake na? Doesn’t anyone live here? 11 tarpOre ki holo? What happened next? 12 apnara skule ki ki poRten? What did you study at school? 13 jomi hal dewar jonno ki bæbohar kOren? What do you use for ploughing the land? 14 flaiT dOshTae chaRle kOTae riporT korte hObe? If the flight leaves at ten, at what time should I check in? 15 nObobOrshe ar ki ki kOra hOe? What else is done on New Year’s Day? Transliterations of Bengali-script texts, Bengali script – summary, Numbers, Bengali grammar – summary, Translation of reading texts, Key to exercises, Bengali–English glossary