Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #319765 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Synopsis
Contains all the essential languages for the independent traveller, including Albanian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Hungarian, Macedonian, Polish, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovene. There is also a special focus on local dishes, holidays and festivals.

Customer Reviews

A good range but some essential phrases missing
This phrase book has a lot of useful phrases in 11 languages. A brilliant companion if you are travelling around Eastern Europe however, if you are only planning on visiting one country I would recommend getting a phrase book covering only the specific language you need. One with a dictionary included would be even better.

Many situations are covered including buying tickets, basic phrases (hello, thank you, etc), and small talk.
When using the book however I found a few essential phrases missing including "Can I have the bill please?" in the restaurant section and also "I would like one of these" in the shopping section. This second phrase in invaluable if you either don't know the name of the thing you want or can't pronounce it.

I recommend this book if you are travelling to more that one of the countries it covers. The pronunciation guide is invaluable. Pronunciation is shown in purple next to every word or phrase (language sections in guide books tend not to have this).

I used this book on a ten-day trip through the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Hungary. I found it very useful except for the few missing phrases.

It is very easy to find the section you want and the most commonly needed words and phrases are printed at the beginning of each language section.

Easy to follow
Would just like to say this book is a liitle goldmine of information, but it is true about the differences between Serbian and Croatian dialects. Not sure I agree with the lady who thought this would be a problem in Croatia, I speak Serbian and never had any trouble in the region, so dont worry! Its handy to have so many languages at hand though and good size to carry around.

Caution recommended
I bought this book primarily for my holiday in Croatia......and it's just as well that I'd bought a study guide for Croatian as well.....Grammatical differences exist between Croatian and the local dialect of surrounding regions of the former Yugoslavia........and these were not indicated in the phrasebook-had I followed exactly what was written in the book, I would have been mistaken for a Serb...not a good way to ingratiate yourselves with the locals!
On the plus side, as with 'Central Europe' , lonely planet manages to pack in all the tourist situations you could find yourself in, with the phonetics written directly beneath the native language text, with a pronounciation guide at the beginning of each language subsection.
After a week in Croatia, I found I had increased confidence in approaching the locals and was pleasantly surprised at their remarks at how well I could speak for a foreigner. This was important, as I was arriving at harbours/ bus terminals looking for somewhere to stay -you'll soon discover that accommodation touts litter these places during the summer months....I plan to use it again this summer as well!
Thus, a snip at the doors this book can open for you! Buy now!