Lonely Planet Baltic States Phrasebooks (Lonely Planet Phrasebook: India) [Paperback]

Jana Teteris (Author), Eva Aras (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2001 | Series: Lonely Planet Phrasebook: India

Includes Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian, with handy information on communication across the Baltics; beyond the essential: language for social interaction and making friends; and the key to easy travel with tips on dealing with bureaucracy, transport and eateries.

Editorial Reviews

Review

National Geographic Traveler, September 2006
'Lonely Planet Phrasebooks. Portable, pocket-size, cheap, and available for almost any country you might want to visit...'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications; 2 edition (June 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1864503696
• ISBN-13: 978-1864503692
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 3.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,523,125 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #27 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Travel > Guidebook Series > Lonely Planet
  • #31 in Books > Travel > Europe > Latvia
  • #37 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Russian

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this little phrase book!, September 14, 2000

By 

Baltic Books "Vic" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Baltic States Phrasebook (Lonely Planet : Language Survival Kit) (Paperback)

Actually, I love all "Lonely Planet" phasebooks and travel guides. You can't go wrong with them. These are the road warriors in our collection. They are worn, used and helpful! I want to own stock in Lonely Planet!

So you ask, "isn't there a later edition available?" Don't let that stop you. They are using a winning format and when it comes to speaking at least Lithuanian, little has changed (Lithuanian is a really, really, really old language!)

The book is concise and compact (3.5 x 5 x 1/2). It easily fits in any pocket. That is a major selling point. It is the perfect size to take along.

It has an abreviated pronunciation guide compared the single language versions and no dictionary. That comes form having to divide the space between three languages, so it can't go as in depth. Still,all the essentials are here. If you are planning a few days in each place, you'll be fine.

By the way, when you go to the Baltics, look for a copy of the "In Your Pocket Series" available at the airport or in the major hotels. It will be a great help to you. You can also find it online through a simple web search.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly Helpful, April 4, 2004

By 

Natasha "nattygans" (Phoenix Valley, Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Baltic States Phrasebooks (Lonely Planet Phrasebook: India) (Paperback)

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone spending more than a week in the Baltics! Last year, I spent a semester in Lithuania, and this book made the transition much easier! From going to the pharmacy to buy flu medication, to trying to find out where the outdoor market was, to telling a doctor that I had hurt my knee -- this book was constantly by my side and helped me be very independent while in a foriegn country. I was also able to learn a lot of phrases that I wouldn't have in my Lithuanian class. My only complaint is that sometimes the phonetic guide was a bit confusing, but this rarely interfered with my communication (if it does, you can just show the phrase to the person you are trying to speak with).

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Does the job of a phrasebook, but hardly ideal, January 3, 2006

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lonely Planet Baltic States Phrasebooks (Lonely Planet Phrasebook: India) (Paperback)

Lonely Planet's BALTIC PHRASEBOOK covers the languages of the so-called Baltic republics, Estonian, Latvia, and Lithuanian.

In terms of phrases, all three chapters cover the same ground. General matters like asking directions and shopping are included, as are more specialised things like visiting the doctor. The menu decoders are very helpful. Oddly enough, when a phrase contains a different word-form depending on what gender is spoken of, the order is "feminine/masculine" instead of the "masculine/feminine" of most phrasebooks and dictionaries.

In their coverage of grammar, however, each chapter differs. That on Lithuanian includes a discussion of noun morphology, although it only shows four out of the language's seven cases. This may enable the traveller with some prior experience with inflected languages, such as Latin or Russian, to construct sentences not found in the book. However, the chapter on Latvian doesn't give any information like that.

The book contains some general tourist information and maps for the Baltic republics, which makes it larger than it might be and somewhat redundant, as many travellers will already have a specialized guidebook for the region.

This phrasebook may not be an essential purchase for someone spending only a few days in the region. Most young people in these three countries speak admirable English, and older shopkeepers can be addressed in Russian without problems (the guidebook line that shopkeepers here take offense at being addressed in Russian seems to be a myth).