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xvii How to Use This Book It is my hope that this textbook will provide an easy route to communication in Euskara. This text is not a comprehensive descriptive grammar, and for that reason I suggest the user also acquire Alan King’s book, The Basque Language, as well as the Basque-English, English-Basque Dictionary that Gorka Aulestia and I published, in order to satisfy those moments when the immediate desire to learn more about a subject is paramount. Aurrera! is intended to provide a step-by-step learning experience. This means that material is presented in amounts that, while challenging for the neophyte, will not overload the student with too much information. The vocabulary and grammar that appear in each chapter are designed to build on the contents of the previous chapter, so the student will achieve the best results by following the lessons in the order given. Every chapter begins with a text, either in dialogue or story form. The lines of the text are numbered so the student can quickly find the corresponding line in the English equivalent provided in the answer section at the end of the chapter. Experienced instructors will find many ways to include the opening text in classroom activities . However, those students who are learning on their own may appreciate a few suggestions in this area. The dialogue texts can be practiced as memorized exercises, especially early on when the lines are short enough to lend themselves to memorization. Repeat them aloud several times until you can read them without stumbling over any word. It helps to focus on one section of the text at a time, because it’s easier to master a small piece than tackle the whole. You may also assign a companion to read one part of the dialogue while you produce your part from memory. After you have studied the chapter, you may gain additional practice by attempting to give the English equivalents of the dialogues and the texts xviii h ow to use th is book without looking at the translations. If you desire a more difficult challenge, work from the English equivalents and try to produce the Basque lines. The Hitz eta esaldi berriak (New words and phrases) sections consist of lists of words used in the initial text along with other vocabulary and phrases that will be encountered in the drills and activities of each chapter. Chapters often contain two and sometimes three separate texts, and most will be followed by a word list, unless all the words in that text have already appeared in a previous list. Various methods for studying vocabulary are offered throughout the book. A combination of methods often works best, so try out different activities while studying vocabulary. For many beginners, Basque words appear quite difficult at first, because there are so few similarities to English, except for the few borrowed words you will encounter. Allow yourself sufficient time for studying vocabulary, and quiz yourself (from Basque to English at first, and then from English to Basque) as you study each list. There is also a glossary at the end of the book with definitions of all the Basque words in the textbook. Where drills are provided, they will be most useful if the student performs them repeatedly over time. I have made an effort to clearly explain how the drills work, for the benefit of the student undertaking self-study. Pay special attention to the introduction of drills in chapter 1 so that you can become familiar with their purpose and format. And remember that a good study plan includes reading the entire drill aloud a few times before covering one column and generating your own responses. Practice and repetition are the keys to mastering a language. From my own language-learning experiences, I have found that devoting thirty minutes a day to study helps immensely. You can also create your own audio study practice by recording some of the drills yourself. Remember to allow enough time between lines to permit you to respond. If you do this, you should include the model, a cue, then a pause of about four seconds, and then the correct response. After the response, allow another pause of about four seconds to allow yourself time to repeat the correct response. Thus, you will have two chances to produce the correct response , once on your own and then again after hearing the response on the recorded media. Some students may worry that their...

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