Customer Reviews

Polish Phrasebook and Dictionary: Complete Phonetics for English Speakers : Pronunciation As in Common Everyday Speech (Hippocrene Language Studies)

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Two big complaints:
(1) The author invented his own method of phonetic annotation. The non-standard phonetics are not well-done, and create undue complexity when sussing out the pronunciations. I find myself referring back to the somewhat-helpful pronunciation guide often - even for words I know how to pronounce, because the phonetic notation has me second-guessing myself. Also, the vowel pronunciation cues are unhelpful for some American regional dialects (e.g. if "pen" and "pin" sound the same). Using IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) would have been a better choice, because those sounds are well-established standards.

(2) The book is visually cluttered and disorganized. The text is crushed between huge top & bottom margins. The phrases, translations and phonetics often break into the next column or page. It lacks guide headings to ease navigation, and the two-column newspaper layout adds to the textual chaos.

I'm sure the book is a valuable study guide, but it is ill-suited for quick reference. I use phrasebooks for reminders and to keep me focused (I tend to creolize similar languages, if I stop paying attention or start speaking too quickly). For me, phrasebooks are a crutch in on-the-go situations, but this book gives me little to lean on.