Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Ukrainian Phrasebook (Ukrainian Phrasebook, 1st ed) (Ukrainian Edition)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This little book is terrific for anyone interested in the Ukrainian language. It has very good explanations of the alphabet and grammatical rules of Ukrainian. It also teaches MANY useful phrases and words for the traveler, and it gives phonetic pronunciations of every word and phrase (as well as the actual Cyrillic spelling).
I have a close friend in Ukraine who has told me that my pronunciation of the Ukrainian words (as they appear in this book) are perfect.
However, be certain of your purpose for using this book. If you want to learn to speak the Ukrainian language somewhat fluently, it will take a lot more than this book (but this book is an excellent starting point).
If you are simply planning to travel to one of the major Ukrainian cities (Kiev, Odessa, etc.) in the near future, you would probably be better off with the Russian version of this book instead of Ukrainian. Everybody in the major cities still speaks Russian as their primary language. Most of them understand Ukrainian, but Russian is still the first language for most people. I understand that this is slowly changing (universities, etc. are changing EVERYTHING over to Ukrainian). And if you plan to visit a small town in Ukraine, many of them speak ONLY Ukrainian. My suggestion is to get both the Ukrainian and the Russian versions, so you will be able to communicate clearly no matter where you are.

My trip to Ukraine wouldn't have been the same without this wonderful little book. And Ukrainians were flattered that a foreigner tried speaking Ukrainian to them instead of Russian. It contains the phrases you need and easy to understand pronounciation guide. It really helped break the language barrier and I made new friends in a new country. The entire Lonely Planet series is the best among travel guides, and I've travelled a lot using various guides.

This pocket guide to Ukrainian was indispensible to me during my two week visit to this country. I carried it with me everywhere I went and consulted it almost constantly. In all that time it was always helpful and accurate. The only time it let me down was in drawing a distinction between a wild rabbit and a domestic one. Each word is given in the Ukrainian Cyrillic spelling and then in a phonetic transliteration with accented syllables in bold. Each section has an introductory piece that gives general background information. Useful phrases and sentences followed by a list of major relevant words complete each section. The end of the book has an English-Ukrainian vocabulary. A Ukrainian-English vocabulary would also have been useful, but would have repeated the vocabularies in each section. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Truly invaluable to the clueless traveler.

An excellent, handy guide for those interested in basic Ukrainian. My husband is a native speaker and this is a great help in my beginning attempts at conversation. I have tried several other books, and tapes but this one gets you going immediately.

I visited Kiev were they really only speak Russian. They do speak Ukranian but only in the area that is furthest away from the Russian border. Other than that the book was very good and I really enjoyed the tidbits of information in the book.

Very good size for carrying around. Pretty thorough and includes everything from politics, environment, dining out, dealing with police, taxis/buses, entertainment, etc. I would like to see better indications of how to pronounce their language. It does breakdown their words to give some indication of how to pronounce, however, no indication for example if a vowel is long or short or if ch is hard or soft. Their language is pretty difficult and every thing that would help would be appreciated.

Yhis is an excellent phrasebook for those intrested in learning the ukrainian language quick and easy.It is also a good travel book if you are visiting Ukraine.The only flaw in this book is that the pronounciation is somewhat difficult and it will take a little work to pronounce the words corectly.I highly reccomend this book.

I bought this to give to a friend. However, at work I was working with some Ukrainian ladies who didn't speak English. I brought this in, and it was very useful.

I have only had this book for a week but I really like how it is laid out. The book is a little smaller than I thought it would be, probably about one and a half times the size of a deck or cards, but don't let that fool you. This book is chalk full of information for a beginner as well as someone a little further along. This book breaks chapters down by subject such as Around Town and Family and even Emergencies.

If you are just starting or even haven't started learning Ukrainian, I would suggest this book. I will update in a few months for a review of how I like their teaching style.

I like my phrasebook to be very short and to cover the essentials. That's exactly what this book is.