Reddit reviews Macedonian: A Course for Beginning and Intermediate Students
We found 3 Reddit comments about Macedonian: A Course for Beginning and Intermediate Students. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Is this the textbook? As far as I am aware, this is the ONLY good textbook for Macedonian.
Personally, I think it would be very hard, actually next to impossible to learn Macedonian to a fluent level without attending a language course (the University of Chicago, Arizona State, and Indiana University offer Macedonian language courses) or living in the country. That's because there are so few resources (both online and in book form) and only something like 40000 speakers in the US.
Here's a list of Macedonian radio stations http://tunein.com/radio/Macedonia-r101263/ . Watch out, though, some are in the Albanian language.
>I have started planning a trip and would also appreciate any ideas or tips.
Whatever you plan, definitely don't leave out Ohrid. For me, it's the only must see place in Macedonia.
Peace Corpse Macedonian course: https://www.livelingua.com/peace-corps-macedonian-course.php
Macedonian: A Course for Beginning and Intermediate Students: http://sites.utoronto.ca/slavic/kramer/3rdeditionsupplementarymaterials.html
Macedonian grammar: http://www.seelrc.org:8080/grammar/mainframe.jsp?nLanguageID=3
Macedonian E-Learning Center: http://macedonianlanguage.org/Home/RegistrationInformation.aspx
Macedonian Folk Narratives: http://www.pelister.org/mp3/folk-narratives/index.html
Macedonian short movie with English subtitles: http://aeon.co/film/tobacco-girl-a-short-film-about-arranged-marriage/
Macedonian Radio and TV: http://mrt.com.mk/
Apparently decent textbook: http://www.amazon.com/Macedonian-Course-Beginning-Intermediate-Students/dp/0299188043
You're right. You'll be in tough considering how few resources there are for foreigners who live outside Macedonia. You have a small shot, however, if you're willing to make do with some online reference material and bite the bullet by spending a little money.
Free stuff:
Both of these references are fairly detailed (especially true for the second one) and they could be useful if you want some explanation for something that you see in Macedonian grammar.
Typical online dictionaries but they're better than Google Translate.
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Unfortunately, I don't know of any free online course but it'd be worthwhile to buy a used copy of Prof. Kramer's textbook Macedonian: A Course for Beginners. This link is for the second edition and the accompanying audio is available for free downloading through the University of Toronto. The book has an answer key so you can check your progress as you complete the exercises. There's also a third edition but it's more expensive, and as far as I know its audio is obtainable only as a separate CD-ROM (if I remember correctly, the first edition of the book is still available in some online second-hand bookshops but I wouldn't get it since I gather that it didn't come with audio or an answer key). If you go on to use the textbook, it may even be worthwhile to contact Prof. Kramer herself as she might have some tips for you.
I completed the first several chapters of the second edition some time ago as I was teaching myself some of the basics before going to Macedonia but stopped my studies when my travel plans fell through. It's a solid source for starting to learn the language but I admit that I probably had an easier time with it than otherwise since I already had a background in several Slavonic languages including Serbo-Croatian which is quite similar in some aspects. This last point leads to my last suggestion which may not be at all what you want but acknowledges a certain reality...
If you were desperate to learn something before meeting some of your extended family, then you could teach yourself some Bulgarian. They'll probably understand your Bulgarian with only a little trouble as Bulgarian and Macedonian are very similar (depending on the Bulgarians you talk to, you may even hear that Macedonian is just a Bulgarian dialect (or even worse, Macedonians are just Bulgarians who don't want to admit it)). Bulgarian also has more learning resources than Macedonian (e.g. "Teach Yourself Bulgarian", "Colloquial Bulgarian") and you'll have a slightly better chance finding a tutor/class for it.
In any case, со среќа!