Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Russian Phrasebook: With Two-Way Dictionary (Lonely Planet Phrasebook: India)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This phrasebook is better than most for people who know no Russian (or very little) and who want to try to communicate with Russians. It is full of positive messages about trying, and it opens with a concise explanation of Russian grammar. Russian grammar is not something you can just master easily, but it helps to at least have an idea of how the language works - it makes more sense than just blindly memorizing phrases. The main advantage of this phrasebook it that it truly tells you the easiest way to get your point across. These are phrases that beginners actually can learn and use. Many phrasebooks are full of long sentences that are difficult to reproduce if you have little knowledge of the language, but Lonely Planet is not one of them. It also gives helpful information on how to make substitutions in the book's stock phrases, and it encourages you to put together your own word combinations. Two other good points: it's relatively low cost (a good price to value ratio) and it's pocket sized, so you can easily take it around with you on a trip. The topics covered are useful, everyday ones. In fact, there is more packed into this small book than most people will need. The dictionary is also pretty extensive. Two other things to take into consideration before purchasing this phrasebook: 1) the Lonely Planet series is geared up for young people - many of the expressions and words in the book are clearly targeted to college students and other young folks, which may be off-putting to older users, and 2) there are MANY typos and reversals in the phrasebook (did anyone actually proofread it? ). If you know absolutely no Russian, you will not recognize that these are typos and/or wrong words. This may leave you saying something other than what you think you are saying!

This is a poorly proofed, haphazard collection of slang, criminal jargon, words used in 19th Century Russia, mispronunciations, incorrect cultural facts, and some spot-on phrases that will have you sounding like an idiot in no time flat. There are much better phrasebooks out there and although this book isn't entirely bad, if you are not a native speaker, you will never know what to steer clear of and what is ok to say.

As examples: the "Dating" section of the book includes a phrase for "Nice Bum!" -- I'm not sure exactly who would be flattered by that, but its inclusion is more comical than useful.

There is also a cultural factoid that Russian men wear black shirts, beige shoes, and matching brown tie when dressing up to go out. A friend of mine from the Ukraine tells me that only gangsters and nouveau riche urchins dress like that.

Using the word "ditYO" to refer to a baby will make you sound like a hick from a remote village.

The word for Pen provided actually refers to a marker.

Referring affectionately to a lover as a "pigeon" in Russia was popular in the 1800's. You will find that mostly in literature now and not in practical use.

There is also a section on how to insult your waiter -- something that is sure to endear a traveler to the locals.

The book is not all bad, but without an intimate knowledge of the language and the culture, you won't know where the land mines are.

My husband is Russian and I am trying to acquire at least a fundamental understanding of the language for when I visit his family this New Year. This book is invaluable, and my Russian husband has read it from cover to cover and has given it a big stamp of approval - in particular he feels that the transliterations are excellent in giving the student an accurate guide as to how the words should be pronounced. He also derives a lot of amusement from the various social descriptions in the book which he feels are spot-on.
I have to disagree VERY STRONGLY with the reviewer from Austria who said that the book is filled with typographical errors - I have not found this to be at all true! Is he confused by examples where the word is written in Russian as though it should be pronounced with an 'o' but the transliteration has it written with an 'a'? If this is his source of complaint then he ought to read the introductory chapters.

Of all the books I own on the Russian language, this one is the one I've been using the most. Of the people I speak to when I use my knowledge of Russian, this book gives me the correct forms of the words where others were wrong, leading me to be corrected by my neighborhood "comrades". While other books I own are missing something that I need, this one covers just about everything. If you want to look up an english word for the Russian equivalent, you go to the great two-way dictionary in the back, and what's better, if you hear a word you DON'T know in conversation, and you nodded and faked it...you can go look up the word written in Russian using the easily understood English phonetics, and see what the word means. A great buy at amazon.com for the person who wants to learn Russian, for whatever level you are at, or aspire to reach. If you are only going to purchase one book, make it this one. I HIGHLY recommend it.

We spent 22 days in Ukraine to adopt our son. We used this phrase book constantly. In addition to helping us learn basic phrases, we liked the explanations of customs and historical vignettes.

I have literally spent over $200 on books, CDs and computer programs over the last 2 months trying to teach myself Russian. This little $8 book is the one I have been looking for.

Until today I haven't even known how to ask (in Russian) to speak to someone on the phone. It took me about 10 seconds to open this book for the first time and find it ("pazavite, pazhalsta Olga"). In the two hours between then and now, I have found the answers to every question I have had about Russian since I started. Each phrase has the English, the transliterated Russian, and the actual Russian. This is a HUGE help to learning how to read and pronounce the language. This book EXPLAINS what the different verb cases are (like, what an imperfective verb is), as well as pronouns, adjectives, gender, plurality, familiarity, inflection, capitalization, regional accents, etc. It even has a transliterated Russian to English dictionary for looking up words you hear but don't know how to spell, and the book is well referenced in its index. It is incredibly thorough and to-the-point. It has a whole section on Dating, meeting people, and discussing interests (Yes, my one and only reason to learn Russain is about 5'5", blonde, brilliant and 8 time zones away). As an example of this book's completeness, in the Dating section it includes common affectionate names, and phrases like "don't stop" and others I probably can't mention here.
In the Food section, it even mentions important details like asking about vegetarian meals. To top it all off, the book also has little boxes on many pages that explain relevant Russian history and culture.
The author also has a great sense of humor. In the Food section, there are some phrases to use if you have bad food or service. I particularly like "I'm very sorry to hear all the waiters died."
One last comment; this book is so inexpensive, you might want to get two, just in case you loose one in your travels.

da svidanya! (good bye.)

This book sounds like a great book. However, if you already know a little Russian, you will realize that a lot of the phonetic pronunciations are inaccurate. There are many instances where 'd' and 't' sounds are written wrong. Also the very common Russian sound 'ye' is often written as only 'e'.

While most Russians are accomodating and will try to understand what you are saying, you may as well get a book that at least attempts to give you the proper pronunciation of words.

Also included in this book is a section on Russian curse words. I'm not sure why anyone would need to know them but if you do, maybe you will like this book.

Our little Lonely Planet Russian phrasebook is well worn from 6 of 7 trips to Russia or other Russian speaking countries in the past couple of years. As far as I'm concerned, the "Lonely Planet" series of phrasebooks (and travel guides) are about the best.

This small guide is packed with great stuff you can use starting with a simple pronunciation guide up front. It's sections on grammar are great, incorporating phrases most people would use in real life. The phonetic pronunciations for each phrase are easy to read, accurate and intuitive.

Maybe the best thing is it's perfect size, just a hair over 3.5 by 5 inches. It will fit in a shirt pocket or anywhere else for that matter. Anyone that travels a lot overseas will tell you that size, weight, and utility are the key issues when considering anything you purchase to pack on the road.

Generally we've found the Lonely Planet series to be the first we look for when heading off to a new destination. It will be a truly valuable asset to your travels.

As the founder of Discovering Russia, a company devoted to enriching cultural and business travel to Russia, we are always looking for good travel books to recommend for our clients. "Lonely Planet Russian Phrasebook" is such a volume for those who are trying to learn more than the barest of phrases.

Many guidebooks include a few pages in the back with a Russian alphabet and brief phrase guide (including Lonely Planet's various guides to Russia). This is a good book for those looking to learn a few phrases as well as basic grammar. The size is perfect for a traveler to supplement their basic guidebook when touring.

As most with most other dictionaries, "Lonely Planet Russian Phrasebook" does NOT have clear syllable stress marks, which are very important in Russian. Also, many of the phrase choices are almost archaic in contemporary Russia (and the inclusion of vulgarity is a complete waste of space).

The "Lonely Planet Russian Phrasebook" is useful bridge between the brief phrase lists in guidebooks and a minicourse in Russia. It is useful for travelers to carry around during their journey of Discovering Russia.

Marc David Miller, Discovering Russia, New York

Okay, so I haven't left for Russia yet, but I'm looking through the book and nowhere in the book does it deal with passports, declarations, or registration, which has to be done once you enter Russia. Since you legally *have* to register within 72 hours of arriving in Russia, and presumably the only reason you'd get a phrasebook is if you were staying longer than a couple of days, it seems natural that they would at least have put to word "registration" in the dictionary. But *no*.

Other than that, I mean, the phrase book looks great. I'll be able to pick up a hot Russian policewoman after being dragged off to the jail for failing to register. :-)
'
UPDATE: After travelling in Russia, I can now say this is a BAD phrase book. Here are the main complaints:

1) Its dictionary is really terrible. Has the words for "heroin addict" and "cocaine" (guess how it's pronounced in Russia? If you said "cocaine", you win a point!) and other drug related terms, but not, say, the verb "to teach". Kind of hard if you want to ask someone to teach you Russian.

2) The overall attitude of the people writing the book. There's a page on insults in Russian. I guess this is not *that* great of a problem, but what if you're handing the book off to a Russian who's trying to communicate with you? If they read the page, they might get offended. You're in Russia to be friendly with the locals; it's not necessary to learn foul language. There are special books that you can buy expressedly for that purpose. Also, under the Food section there's a whole page for insulting people at a restaurant. Not at all useful. There isn't any phrases for saying, "That was a good meal." or "That was delicious!"

As is the case in EVERY LP Phrasebook, the travel information is worse than useless. It's not nearly as up-to-date as the actual guidebooks, so focus only on the language when using this phrasebook.

Unfortunately, until a better company comes along these phrasebooks, lame as they are, are still probably better organized than any of the other books out there. My main suggestion: bring another dictionary when you're travelling; the LP's dictionary in the back is terrible.