A Comprehensive Course in Twi Asante for the Non-Twi Learner

Author: Florence , Abena Dolphyne Price: $ 19.76 (new) $ 15.98 (used) Medium: Paperback (145 pages) Publisher: Ghana Universities Press 1998-10-20

Editorial Description

Asante Twi is the most widely spoken of the dialects of the Akan language, and Akan is spoken by about forty four percent of Ghana's population as a first language. It is also used as a second language by many others. The author, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Ghana, has written the bookto introduce a non-Twi beginner to the spoken language, which forms themain focus. Dialogues are as natural and as close to current every day usage as possible. "...another book that should be very helpful to students and examiners in the Twi (Asante) language." (West Africa)

Reader Reviews

I can't believe this
I was not happy because I never received the cd that came with the book. Someone I knew bought the same thing and they let me listen to the cd that I never received and It was not clear they did not explain anythnig just started reading and paused a lot in the cd. The moral of this story is I was very unhappy

A comprehensive course in Twi Asante for the non-Twi learner
I am trying to learn basic Twi, as I will be working in Ghana later this year. By ordering the book, I had hoped to acquire basic language skills to increase my communication skills while in Ghana.

To this end, I found the 146 page book to be worthless. How can a "comprehensive" course be so short?

It is accompanied by a disk that is difficult to hear, as it seems to be recorded from a simple tape recorder. The content is not repeated so that I had to "reverse" the disk constantly, and still was unable to comprehend what was being said.

In conclusion, this book is a thorough disappointment. While I tend to have an affinity for foreign language, I did not even come close to mastering basic greetings.

I would advise anyone looking to learn Twi to find an alternative resource.

Don't bother buying this book
Don't waste your time buying this book. They promise a cd or audio tape with the book, but didn't send it. So we returned it, and they sent it a second time, also without the cd. It is virtually impossible to learn this tonal language without a cd or tape.

Good, but you need a native speaker or audio...
I bought the book, and it is okay. For the most part it is correct. My wife is Ghanaian, and finds it very amusing when I pull out phrase from the book. [...]

Buy it in Ghana
As far as instruction goes, this book is not great, but it just about the only one out there. First of all it does not give much information on phonetics and neglets to instruct the learner that the letter combination re- in a certain tense change is not pronounced. It just signifies that the vowel sound in the subject should be pronounced longer. This is just one example.
In addition, Ghanaians would be more than happy to teach you Twi, and this is the best way to learn and meet people.
My advice, to those who can, is to wait and purchase this book in Ghana. It can be purchsed at the University of Ghana-Legon bookstore for about US$4.00.