Customer Reviews

Berlitz Turkish for Travellers Phrase Book (Phrase Books)

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This phrase book suggests constructions that are not at all the way people speak in Turkey. Instead, it contains complicated phrases which are not only difficult to remember, but which are unfamiliar to Turkish people and hard for them to understand.

For example, to get a bill in a restaurant you can say "Hesap, lutfen", which is "bill, please". Instead, this book has you saying: "Hesabi alabilir miyim lutfen.".

When I tried that, the waiter gave me a confused look, and I said "hesap, lutfen", after which he nodded and brought me the bill.

Another example: the usual way to say "where is" is "nerede". If you want to be very formal, you could say "nerededir". This, of course, is the construction suggested by Berlitz -- the unusual, informal, unexpected construction.

My recommendation: get another book.