Is this a good book for a beginner?

[Alberteddu]

Hi all,

I'm sorry if someone already asked, I did not find anything about this particular edition and no one seems able to help me.
Is the book here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Icelan ... 872&sr=8-2

just a recent edition of this one?

http://aceonlineschools.com/wp-content/ ... landic.jpg

I heard it's very good, it is? Which one is better? It's better the other one, the Beginner's Icelandic (Hippocrene)? I'm not sure and I don't know what to choose.

I'm learning Icelandic alone but I still need a good book.

Also, I would like to ask: is there a good paper dictionary Icelandic-English/English-Icelandic? I found this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Icelandic-Engli ... 035&sr=8-1

But it seems like it's not that good (in this very forum I read something about it). I also found this one:

http://www.forlagid.is/?p=15743

But it's only Icelandic-English and still its price is high.

Thank you!

[zeme]

As a rule of thumb, older editions of Teach Yourself tend to be more complete and usually "better" than the simplified, newer ones. Nevertheless, I suggest you confirm that by yourself at the nearest major bookstore. If that is not an option, you can often have a quick overview of a book's content using Amazon's Click to LOOK INSIDE feature. It is worth noting that both were written by the same author and that the 2004 edition was very intuitive and fun to work with.

Another good book to consider is Colloquial Icelandic (ISBN-0415207061). It is more complete than its Teach Yourself counterpart, but also slightly more difficult to follow. Whatever you do, make sure you get the audio!