Colloquial English

This book is written in the target language, and an assumption
of prior knowledge of the language must therefore be made.
Nonetheless, the writer has tried to keep explanations simple and succinct, allowing the context of the dialogues and exercises to show the user how the language works.
Presentation of vocabulary is another problematic issue in a book
aimed at users from diverse linguistic backgrounds. There can be
no two-way glossary at the back of Colloquial English, and instead
I must depend on the student’s having access to a good learner’s
dictionary of English – fortunately there are a number of comprehensive
and reliable works readily available on the TEFL market,
and at a reasonable price. The writer has made also paring use of the IPA phonetic alphabet (and in a broad rather than narrow transcription) where I have thought the disparity between the spelling of common words and their pronunciation warranted it; and I have listed the IPA symbols and combinations of symbols at the front of the book for reference.