Customer Reviews

Essential Vietnamese Phrase Book (Essential Phrasebook Series)

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The redeeming quality of this phrasebook is that it does at least have Vietnamese words. It's poorly organized, and often doesn't have the word you need, but when it and pointing are the only things you have to help you communicate with someone, it is better than nothing.

This book has 3 parts: a section of useful "lists", the body of the book which consists of small selections of phrases grouped around why you need them, and a glossary of English->Vietnamese.

The majority of the book is these phrase sections. The selection of sections and phrases included is often random and rarely useful. I get the impression that they simply translate the same content for every language they print a guidebook, instead of picking words and phrases pertinent to the country where the language is spoken. For example, they have a section on going to the dentist, two pages on going to the hairdresser, and a section on camping including a diagram of a tent and all its parts (tourists can't camp in Vietnam). They have taken care to translate "Where can I park my car safely" (though tourists can't drive cars in Vietnam). In the section on eating, they translate "What does it taste like?" I'm not sure how you can expect to get a clear answer to that one after pointing at it or trying to say it.

The glossary has 2000 words, but seems to miss the words we needed while included words I can't imagine needing.

I'd avoid this phrasebook, and Periplus in general.