Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Hindi & Urdu Phrasebook (Lonely Planet Phrasebook: India)

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

 

 

The books in the newer series of Lonely Planet phrasebooks are all excellent, because the authors make the assumption that the reader is an educated and literate individual, who wants to know something more about the target language than just a list of supposedly common phrases. There is a tremendous amount of information packed into this handy little book. Contrary to what another reviewer said, the book makes a very clear distinction between Hindi and Urdu words. The sections on script and grammar are well done. Overall, it is probably the best Hindi/Urdu phrasebook available.

This phrasebook is excellent. It provides both Nagari and Urdu orthography. The little dictionary in the end is very exhaustive and ready-made sentences cover a wide range of needs.

Make sure you do not buy the newer version .... here is a review i wrote of the new version ...

I saw the previous version in a library and wanted my own copy. I bought the latest version - big mistake. So I went off and bought a second copy of the previous version. The publishers broke a very good product - a pity.
Why? The old version was Hindi and Urdu - the new version has Bengali also. Although the newer version is thicker, a lot of useful information
was either removed or condensed in such a manner that is very hard to assimilate. Also the number of entries in the dictionary was reduced. I only wanted Hindi. The only good point about the book that there is an enhanced culninary reader (i.e. menu decrypter!).
Buy the old one and please (publisher) - 'if it aint broke - don't fix it'

perfect - just was i was looking for this version, as it is much better, and there is an audio CD that follows the book (i already had the CD) but the new version of the book didnt have any supplemental info... it was a lot cheaper route than getting the book with the CD as part of the "Traveltalk Hindi & Urdu: Traveler's Survival Kit (Hindi Edition)" -- this is the exact same book that comes in that kit.

please buy this and save yourself confusion.

oh and read it before you land over there

This phrasebook does not make clear which words are Hindi and which words are Urdu. Not recommended for the beginner.

Very helpful pocket reference.