South Pacific: Lonely Planet Phrasebook [Paperback]

Hadrien Dhont (Author), Lonely Planet Phrasebooks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2008

Full of cultural tips and hints on local protocol, the South Pacific phrasebook will help you through situations ranging from visiting a New Zealand marae or enjoying one of Tonga's Heilala celebrations, to joining in a Samoan kava ceremony or checking out a Hawaiian hula competition. Open up communication with local greetings and conversation starters, and discover the culture through traditional dance, legend and song.

Our phrasebooks give you a comprehensive mix of practical and social words and phrases in more than 120 languages. Chat with the locals and discover their culture - a guaranteed way to enrich your travel experience.

Editorial Reviews

Review

National Geographic Traveler, September 2006
'Lonely Planet Phrasebooks. Portable, pocket-size, cheap, and available for almost any country you might want to visit...'

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet; 2 edition (July 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 174104166X
• ISBN-13: 978-1741041668
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 3.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,087,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Treasure, November 29, 2008

By 

KC Tang (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: South Pacific: Lonely Planet Phrasebook (Paperback)

A bit surreal that you can get such a treasure trove of information with such a low price. I would not have minded paying twice to get this. As you may be aware, there're very few books out there about the Polynesian languages, and those few ones available are mostly academic monographs each of which costs you about USD$300. As the previous reviewer remarks, this 300-page book is more about the cultures than the languages, but I think it can serve as a good general introduction to the Polynesian languages (to get a feel of the sounds and the word-shapes, and to know something about those who speak these fancinating languages), before you pick the particular Polynesian language you want to master and work on it with specific books.

5.0 out of 5 stars Mostly culture, but a good practical guide to the languages as well, October 4, 2009

By 

Michael A. Duvernois (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: South Pacific: Lonely Planet Phrasebook (Paperback)

Yes, most of this thin book consists of cultural information for the South Pacific islands with just a scattering of common words and phrases in the dialects of each island. But this is just about perfect for the individual traveling from island to island. You're not going to learn the whole language, but you'll get phrases, and the phrases and phrases will be similar from island to island, but not exactly the same. And the locals will often speak a little French or English depending on where you are, and a little bit of the local pidgin. Think of folks on a cruising yacht, or Paul Theroux during his Happy Isles of Oceania writing phase.

A great little book for the island hopper. Pick up something more specific if you want to learn some, for example, Samoan.