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One of my strategies for learning Bengali has been to search out some childrens books in the language.
I started off with ‘A-Z’ (or rather অ – হ) handwriting books that show one letter per page, with each page filled with examples of things that begin with that letter.
Moving on from there I’ve also been learning vocabulary from a children’s Bengali word book and posting some of the word lists here.
Following Lesson 1: “About Body” (সরির সম্বম্ধিয় [sōrir sōmbōmdhiy]), posted back in February last year, I’ve finally got around to the next part (and even posted a shorter version here last week as part of my 5 Bengali words series of posts).
Lesson 2: Animals (জীব যন্ত্র [jib-jōntrō])
Cat – বিড়াল (biral)
Dog – কুকুর (kukur)
Ass – গাধা (gadha)
Goat – ছাগল (chagōl)
Deer – হরিণ (horin)
Fox – ঁখেকশিয়াল (khekosiyal)
Hog – শূকর (sukōr)
Pig – শূকরছানা (sukōrchana)
Sheep – ভেড়া (bhera)
Mouse – ছোট ঁইদুর (chotō idur)
Lion – সিংহ (singhō)
Monkey – বানর (banōr)
Bear – ভললুক (bhōlluk)
Bull – বলদ (bōlōd)
Ox – ঁষাড় (sarō)
Rat – বড় ঁইদুর (bōrō idur)
Mole – ছুচো (chuco)
Animal – প্রাণী, জিব্জনত্ত (prani, jibojontrō)
Beast – পশু (pōsu)
Elephant – হাটী (hati)
Buffalo – মহিষ (mōhis)
Camel – উট (ut)
Cow – গরু (gōru)
Horse – ঘোড়া (ghora)
Jackel – শৃগাল (srigal)
Tiger – বাঘ (bagh)
Hare – খরগোস (khōrgos)
Wolf – নেকড়ে বাঘ (nekōre bagh)
Mongoose – বেজী (beji)
Notes:
The above words as are they appear in the vocabulary book. Alternative spellings are often found, particularly Cat as বেড়াল (beral), Pig (and I believe this is the more common version) as শুয়োর (suyor), similarly Monkey as ঁবাদর (badōr), Rat is usually shown as ঁইদুর (idur) and Elephant is sometimes given as XX.
Additionally a Cow (female) is গাই (gai).
Finally, I’m sure there are differences in meaning between Pig and Hog, or Ox and Cow, but I can’t explain them.
A Tangle Of Wires 
wordpress.com/2011/03/29/language-learning-myths/
There’s some interesting discussion on methods here where lucky Fatima argues against using children’s books. But I’ve enjoyed it and found it exciting to come back to something I would have struggled with and be able to read it fluently.
http://luckyfatima.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/language-learning-myths/
Interesting blog. I’ve left a comment on the post. For me, I’ve found children’s books (either language learning primers as the above post is based on, or dual language books for kids) to be a useful addition to learning Bengali.
Hi there – I’ve not had a chance to read this properly yet, but just to let you know there was a previous post by Lucky Fatima on language learning. It was a ‘how to’ post rather than a ‘how not to’.
http://luckyfatima.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/how-to-learn-another-language/
Not sure if you’ve come across this one too – a post about learning Bengali by Gori Girl who is married to a Bengali and is learning Hindi and Bengali.
http://gorigirl.com/do-the-needful-and-learn-the-language-gori
P.S Have you discovered the gori blogs in general ? There are quite a few. I’ve posted about them.
Thanks for the links. The Lucky Fatima post is a useful refresher on structuring your learning – particularly as my Bengali stud has fallen off a bit recently.
I saw a gori blog for the first time a couple of weeks ago and subsequently saw your post on them. It’s an interesting genre.