Elementary Old English: An Introduction to the Language

I cannot express how glad I am that I bought Mary Sarelli's Elementary Old English. I started out my OE learning with Matt Love's Learn English with Leowfin and his Family. It is a wonderful approach to a first book in OE. Love's book is humorous, with an enormous amount of vocab, presented in daily living situations which might have occurred in Medieval England. I next purchased another grammar book, which while full of grammar teaching, did not present the topic well enough to suit me. I have been a language learner for years and a teacher. I have sought a well organized text and have found that in Sarelli's text. She presents material and practice lessons in an organized manner much like Matt Love. Love's book has an audio link which proved to be beyond wonderful. Sarelli's book does not have an audio link, but still I find her organization and presentation much more helpful than Pollington's. So, if you are interested in learning OE, I would start with Matt Love's book - Learn Old English with Leowfin..." and follow that with Mary Sarelli's book and then Pollington's bookwhich has much to offer with selections of writings from the past in OE. I hope this helps.

Great book. Covers grammar, pronunciation, lexicon. Reading exercises, vocab glossary, everything one could ask for

Just started with the 'Elementary Old English' book - it looks good, but trying to learn 'Old English' is no easy task! This looks like a good rudimentary book to get started, but I think you really need to 'hear' it, to really try and get a handle on it. This book is well put together & concise, but the Old English language is really like trying to learn another foreign language! Old English will have very little to none, as far as recognizable words to our modern English. One will really have to stay with it, if they want to start to get a handle on it! I got it for the challenge of seeing if I could begin to learn our ancient English language. Good-luck to one & all!

Great text book may be bare-bones but is definitely a completely useful learning tool. Easily introduces you to the material and advances at a good pace. If you are up to the challenge this is an excellent course in a difficult and unusual subject at a real bargain.

It gives the grammar early so you have most of the tools to decipher text. I wish it was was written more like a book for conversational old English. For example, it I wish there was more examples of everyday interaction of people; Like if I were to go back in time, and needed basic conversation skills. Overall, It is probably the best book for basic Anglo-Saxon but not as good as a typical Spanish book for beginners.

As the author indicates , her purpose was to provide an accessible text for the novice. And she did it! Agreed, this, unlike other introductory books is a workbook, obviously crafted by an educator. In addition to grammar, pronunciation rules, etc. rules , it provides exercises!

Old English has the reputation (among non-linguists) of being very difficult to learn. But I found this book well-organized, clear, and with sound pedagogical strategies. After a week of nightly half hour practices, I could read a few paragraphs aloud with relative ease - and understand them!

An excellent balance of entry-level readings, vocabulary, and grammar. Per the author's stated goal, this is a straightforward pedagogical grammar--OE is a difficult language, and this book will reflect the difficulties of the language. But for someone willing to put in the time and effort, it'd be hard to think of a text that does it better. Also, gobs of useful sentence drills to reinforce the essentials of each lesson.

Amateur production.