Customer Reviews

Slovak-English, English-Slovak Dictionary & Phrasebook

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I used this phrasebook while traveling in Slovakia this year. Since I know nothing of the language, the extensive list of phrases was very helpful. It's easy to use--find the general heading in the table of contents, locate the specific phrase, point to it and watch the smile of understanding appear on the face of the person you're trying to communicate with! The English-Slovak and Slovak-English dictionary in the back is also helpful in those unique situations where a phrase is not available. A few times I handed the Slovak-English dictionary to a person and they were able to communicate through it. Its small size is perfect for carrying in a back pocket or large shirt pocket. Highly recommend this book!

WHEN MY GIRLFRIEND WENT BACK TO SLOVAKIA I WANTED TO WRITE HER AND HER FAMILY IN THEIR LANGUAGE, WITH THIS DICTIONARY I FOUND EVERYTHING ABOUT PHRASES, HYSTORY, AND SPECIFIC WORDS TO BE ABLE TO WRITE SOMETHING AND LEARN ABOUT THEIR CULTURE AND THINGSLIKE THAT, AMAZING PUBLICATION.

Although this book barely qualifies as a dictionary, its collection of common phrases is very helpful. Its primary shortcoming is that it does not give pronunciation next to the phrase -- you have to figure that out from the pronunciation guide in the front of the book. I recommending having a full-fledged English-Slovak-English dictionary in addition to this book.

I'm still learning Slovak and found this very helpful while travelling there a few months ago. The font is totally outdated... I searched high and low for a good Slovak book -- they are really hard to find. The slim size of this one makes it super easy to carry and the way the topics are grouped (food, transportation, etc.) made it really easy to find what I was looking for in a second. I think it's totally useful if you're learning and especially if you're visiting Slovakia. (Which, by the way, is a true hidden gem in Europe.)

When I moved to Slovakia to teach English, I couldn't speak a word. Once I settled in and began to learn, I realized that on the occasions when I needed to ask for something, like in a deli and trying to order some cold cuts, a dictionary was almost useless. Sure, you can look up single words in a dictionary but you need to string those words together in a sentence to make yourself understood.

Here's where the Lorincs' phrasebook comes in beautifully. Phrases are broken into sections. Just to give you an example, here are some subheadings under the heading of "Accidents and Injuries": Help, Illness and Injury, Seeing a Doctor, Seeing a Dentist, Treatment. Under each of those subheadings are statement and question phrases that a visitor may find helpful when needing to communicate with Slovaks in their language.

The book also contains vocabulary of a single topic, for example: time expressions like tomorrow, next month, next year; quantities, directions, fruits and vegetables, numbers, colors, health and beauty aids, etc. Lists organized by subject are very helpful.

All in all, it's an extremely valuable book and more important than a traditional pocket dictionary, in my opinion. A small dictionary is also included as the last third of the book and is probably more than sufficient for basic travel needs.

The only reason I didn't give it five stars was because I think the layout of the text and pages is sloppy and poorly done. This is not the fault of the authors, however, and the material itself is excellent.

This is not aimed as a review. Being Slovak I want to correct some bugs I found on sample pages. These can be viewed as a minor bugs (book is very basic intro to Slovak language) but especially if you learn wrong pronunciation it can make problems to understand you. On the page of Slovak alphabet these examples suits better according to my opinion:

* bag instead of beg,
* loch or lochness instead of hurrah,
* swore (past tense of swear) instead of old, pronunciation is difficult, something like w. Actually it is diphthong (combination of two vowels) of u and o in Slovak.

if you are just going to learn a few things to say...this is the right book


if you are just going to travel there or meet someone from slovakia it is a good book....

but it is not a study book.it has limited help in it.it does not have the most accurate key for pronouncing the letters.and it does not explain its grammar very well..only a couple pages.the dictionary is very short and limited.if you need a dictionary instead of a phrase book,this is not for you.

on the good side,this is a great book if you are traveling because it can easily fit in your pocket.this book also has many many pages of useful phrases for many situations.

I LIKE THIS DICTIONARY. IT EXPLAINS THE "ODDITIES" OF THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE. I HAD PREVIOUSLY LOOKED AT VARIOUS OTHER DICTIONARIES, AND THIS ONE IS PRETTY GOOD. THE ONLY THING MISSING IS A PHONETIC PRONUNCIATION OF THE VARIOUS PHRASES AND WORDS. OVERALL, IT IS A GREAT BOOK, AND WELL WORTH YOUR TIME AND MONEY.

Useful Slovak dictionary/phrase book. Could never publish all words to cross reference, but does a fairly good job of the important words. Recommend.

I bought this book because we were having a guest from Slovakia staying with us for a month. Knowing that our guest knew some English and myself not knowing any Slovak I purchased this book to help with any translation that might arise. It came in very handy and our guest even liked using it.