Shalom! That's hello in Hebrew. This book explores simple greetings in and phrases in 12 different languages, with pronunciations. Readers will enjoy trying all the new words in different languages. Teachers could post words around the classroom for exposure and practice and to encourage kids to use them. The back contains a cool map with major languages all over the world and where they are spoken. I wonder why the author left English out though? ( )

This book teaches how to greet and say hello all around the world as well as what is your name. The pictures are very colorful and fun to want to look at

This book shows how to say hello in 12 different languages. It first says hello in English and then it translates it into the different languages. Really great book. ( )

Summary: Can you greet the whole wide world teaches ways to greet in 12 common phrases in 12 different languages. The book list the English language then list the ways in which it can be said in Chinese, French and Zulu. Also the book tell children that children no matter where can enjoy the same things such as play, reading and music all in different languages. My Personal reaction: I enjoyed how the book was put together so that everyone no matter the language they speak could enjoy the book. I gain from this book that different word in different means something different. Classroom Extension Ideas: This book would be great to teach children that even though someone may speak different they can enjoy all the same things. The book would be a great to help children said different words and break them down

As a would-be polyglot who has variously studied or dabbled in languages from three continents (none, alas, native to the continent that I call home... as yet) - someone who regularly bemoans the (poor) state of foreign-language education in my country - nothing would please me more, in theory, than the introduction of multiple languages to young readers. A picture-book that takes twelve phrases, and produces them in twelve languages? What could be better...? Unfortunately, while the concept here is top notch, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I don't speak all (or even most) of the languages here, but even so, I was able to pick out some inconsistencies and conflations (I won't call them errors) that will serve to mislead young readers, when it comes to the languages in question, rather than enlighten them.

For instance: the page on which the children greet their teacher, when first arriving at school, contains the informal form of the greeting (Wie geht's?, Comment ça va?, etc.) for a number of languages (German, French, etc.) that distinguish between formal and informal. It's not that it's wrong, technically speaking, to say that Wie geht's means "How are you?" (well, literally, "How does it go?" but you get the idea), it's more that, culturally speaking, a child would be unlikely to use this phrase with a teacher, or other authority figure. Oddly enough, while the informal greetings are used on the page where the children greet their teacher, a highly formal German form of the question, "What is your name?" is used (Wie heißen Sie?), when the children are speaking amongst themselves. Which, again, seems culturally inappropriate.

Another example: a page is devoted to the word "yes" in all twelve languages, ignoring the fact that, in at least one of them (possibly more, although I can't speak for Zulu, Hebrew, Arabic, or a number of the others), there is no such word. I'm referring here to Chinese, where the word given for "yes" - shi (a transliteration of 是) - is no such thing, even though it can, upon occasion, function in a similar way. In actuality, 是 is the verb "to be," and can be used to transform statements into questions, by tacking on the phrase shi bu shi / 是不是 ("it is, or it is not"). Thus the statement, "You are an American" (ni shi mei guo ren / 你是英国人), can be made into a question, "Are you an American?" (ni shi bu shi mei guo ren? / 你是不是英国人?). One answers in the affirmative or negative by either repeating the entire question, but turning it back into a statement - "I am an American" (wo shi mei guo ren/我是英国人) or "I am not an American" (wo bu shi mei guo ren/我不是英国人), or by simply using shi/是 or bu shi/不是. These do not correspond directly to a "yes" or "no," however, but mean something like "I am," or "I am not."

These misstatements, and confusing variations, mean that Can You Greet the Whole Wide World is not a book that I can recommend, from a linguistic standpoint. I like the idea behind the book, but I think young readers deserve better. They deserve a book that will expose them to the rich diversity of the languages of the world, not one that tries to fit every language into the same cookie-cutter formula. ( )