Audio Added! How Now, Brown Cow? is for use in a classroom, especially if you have access to a language laboratory. It's not necessary to know a lot of English before you begin, though it helps to know a little. The trouble with many people is that they get into bad habits, very often pronouncing English words like sounds of their mother tonguge, and the more fluently they speak, using all these incorrect sounds, the more difficult it is to get rid of them. So in a way, it will be easier for you if you don't know too much.