Colloquial Albanian has been carefully developed by an experienced teacher to provide a step-by-step course to Albanian as it is written and spoken today. This third edition has been thoroughly updated throughout to reflect changes in culture, and also offers new readings and exercises, as well as revised dialogues.
Colloquial Albanian: The Complete Course for Beginners has been carefully developed by experienced teachers to provide a step-by-step course to Albanian as it is written and spoken today. This third edition has been thoroughly updated throughout to reflect changes in culture and also offers new readings and exercises, as well as revised dialogues.
Combining a clear, practical and accessible style with a methodical and thorough treatment of the language, it equips learners with the essential skills needed to communicate confidently and effectively in Albanian in a broad range of situations. No prior knowledge of the language is required. Each unit presents a wealth of grammatical points that are reinforced with a wide range of exercises for regular practice. A full answer key, a grammar summary, and a bilingual glossary can be found at the back, as well as useful vocabulary lists throughout.
Key features include:
- A clear, user-friendly format designed to help learners progressively build up their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills
- Jargon-free, succinct and clearly structured explanations of grammar
- An extensive range of focused and dynamic supportive exercises
- Realistic and entertaining dialogues covering a broad variety of narrative situations
- Helpful cultural points explaining the customs and features of life in Albania
- An overview of the sounds and alphabet of Albanian
Balanced, comprehensive and rewarding, Colloquial Albanian is an indispensable resource both for independent learners and students taking courses in Albanian.
Audio material to accompany the course is available to download for free 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.
Introduction to the Albanian language
Introduction to the Albanian sound system
1 Si jeni?
How are you?
2 Unë jam anglez, po ju?
I am English, and you?
3 Në kafe
At the coffee shop
4 Suvenire nga Shqipëria
Souvenirs from Albania
5 Apartamenti im
My apartment
6 Në dyqan
At the store
7 Në restorant
At the restaurant
8 Pushimet
Vacation
9 Në rrugë
On the street
10 Interneti
Internet
11 Në kryeqytet
In the capital city
12 Si e kalove fundjavën?
How did you spend your weekend?
13 Te mjeku
At the doctors office
14 Intervistë për punë
Interview for a job
15 Letërsi
Literature
Appendices
Key to selected exercises
Albanian-English glossary
Grammatical index
Linda Mëniku is a native speaker of Albanian from Tirana, Albania. She is a professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Tirana, where she specialises in discourse analysis, text linguistics, Albanian as a foreign language, and media discourse. She also teaches Albanian at Arizona State University, Critical Language Institute.
Héctor Campos is an Associate Professor Emeritus at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, USA. His main area of research is Romance and Balkan Linguistics. He has published articles on the structure of different Romance languages and has done work comparing the syntax of Albanian, Greek and Aromanian in contact with other languages. As coauthor with Linda Mëniku, he has also published Discovering Albanian and Advancing in Albanian.
