Customer Reviews

Lao: Lonely Planet Phrasebook

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent book for those who wish to travel to Laos, or even those who wish to begin learning lao in small steps. I purchased this book in order to learn the language at a quicker and more simplified pace. It contains not only basic phrases that one might need to know in order to conduct ones self in the main parts of Laos but also be able to learn some of the country's culture as well. Even though studying an entirely new language can be laborious, Mr. Cummings has made it easy for anyone to be bilingual, even multi-lingual.

The Lonely Planet phrasebooks are usually a great help travelling around the world. This one however turned out to be creating more problems than solving them. The transliteration is so weird that you actually have to learn two new languages before pronouncing anything closely right. I tried the book with several english speaking lao persons and lao speaking native english speakers while travelling around the country and all had problems with the transliteration. Nothing is like you would naturally pronounce it. For example who would say Khoj if you see Khawy?
Helpful is the lao bit so you can point, in the end its how I got around. A pity, there are much better transliterations around.

Besides my Lao Dictionary, this is *the* Lao book I carry around daily with me. I wish I could post a photo of my worn out dog-eared copy. I agree w/ the one reviewer who said the transliteration is a little wacky, however the Lao script is generally "spot on". (I'll mention transliteration with Lao is a less than exact science) It's one of the few if only books outside of the books attempting to teach Lao that handle things like Grammar.. very handy for the traveler. It also throws some Lao culture in for good measure to make sure you don't do something offensive to the local people. Great book, worth the money and besides... it's so small you can fit it in your pack/bag pretty easy.

this is just a jumble of sentences without audio that is needed for htis tonal language. It's a shame that there is no decent method or grammar for Lao. Several other books have similar problems.

Teach yourself methods have recently become very flimsy because few of the buyers actually get through them, so an author can sell a lot of substandard books. But for those who want to learn this is rather cruel punishment. It would be useful if the authors tried to learn a language from a book like what they have produced.

This phrasebook looks reasonable in most respects, but it has no Lao to English dictionary. That means, if you are trying to communicate with someone who does not speak english, they cannot respond to you with words, even if they are motivated and patient enough to try to carry on a conversation.

The description of this book said it had a "comprehensive dictionary". Unfortunately, it only has half of a comprehensive dictionary. If you want a book that will make it possible to actually converse with a Lao speaker, this is not it.

The Lonely Planet phrasebooks have come a long way since the days when the foreign script portion was merely hand-written in the space beside the romanized portion. The Lao phrasebook is representative of that new generation, and it is pretty impressive. Along with all the usual categories of phrases one would expect to see (greetings, directions, lodging, food, shopping, health, numbers, dates, emergencies, etc.), the splendidly informative introduction provides an interesting background on the spoken language and script, followed by a great section on pronunciation and grammar. There are interesting cultural notes dispersed throughout the book, and a vocabulary list at the end. Its compact size makes it ideal to carry in one's pocket. On the down side the marking system used in the romanized portion to indicate Lao tones is a little confusing and under-explained, but all-in-all a great little phrasebook.

Very good book, especially for someone that don't understand a lot of English. They could always use as reference anywhere they go. Again, good book and excellent choice for someone who wants
to learn English. [reasonable] price and great book, what can I say.