Wonderful book for beginners in Albanian, January 18, 2002

This book is the best I have found for learning Albanian from scratch. I am in Kosovo and needed a crash course; Mesoni Shqip turned out to be the perfect book. I have two Albanian interpreters here and both agree it is the perfect book for the beginner. The lessons are managable and follow each other logically. The nuances of the language are easy to discern in the lessons without there being a great deal of unnecessary explanation. The book offers a great deal more than just expressions as you would find in a phrase book. I am actually able to learn the mechanics of the language to a useful extent. You will appreciate this book if you need to learn Albanian quickly.

Learning Albanian made simple and accessible., June 3, 2000

Cezar Kurti's "Learn Albanian" is a very useful tool for those who are interested in learning the Albanian language. It is broken up into 40 lessons, with two review sections as the 10th and 20th lessons, respectively; also, the last two lessons are just translating passages to put to use what all the previous lessons have taught. While it is covers a great deal of the language, it must be noted that no one book can fully cover all the grammar and vocabulary of a foreign language. Nevertheless, all the major aspects are well covered, and will allow for sufficient usage when learned. The lessons themselves follow the paradigm of starting off with a passage in Albanian, with its translation below. This is proceeded by grammar lessons, exercises for the grammar, and concludes with vocabulary. The paragraphs cover a variety of situations that one would most likely encounter and need to use the language - restaurants, hotels, etc.. It is effective in helping the learner to become aware of how Albanian is expressed in conversation. Another "bonus" to the paragraphs, is that a good deal about Albania and its history is learned as well. The grammar lessons are broken down in each section to provide the learner with just enough information that (s)he will not be overwhelmed. And the vocabulary is thorough for each section. There is even a brief Albanian-English/English-Albanian dictionary at the very end. The main reason that I did not give a 5th star to this book, is that I felt - even though the grammar exercises were mostly readily comprehendible - there should also be an "answer key" as a means of confirmation. But overall, this book is very worthwhile. To learn more Albanian vocabulary, I also recommend the pocketbook "Albanian-English/English-Albanian Dictionary & Phrasebook" by Ramazan John Hysa - this for more practical vocabulary. But for in depth vocabulary, I also recommend "Albanian-English Dictionary" (Hippocrene Comprehensive) and "Oxford English-Albanian Dictionary".