Travel to Czech Republic

Lonely Planet Czech Phrasebook: With Two-Way Dictionary (Lonely Planet Czech Phrasebook)

Format: Paperback
Author: Eugenia Mocnay
ReleaseDate: October, 2001
Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications
Rating:

GET THE VERSION WITH THE ATTACHED CD!!!
I'm not saying this just because I'm an American and I expect everyone to speak as I do (if I felt that way, why would I be using this book?). The person who pointed out the problems with the phonetic translations in this book is completely correct. The thing is that the Czech language isn't very similar to English. If I had pronounced "prosim" (the most useful word in Czech) as "prah-sim" (the way this book leads you to believe) I would have been completely wrong. Fortunately, the version I bought also came with a CD. (The CD doesn't follow the book, but it still has the important words and phrases. ) The point is: YOU MUST LISTEN TO AUDIO RECORDINGS OF CZECH IN ORDER TO PRONOUNCE IT PROPERLY. No matter how good the phonetic transcription is, Czech is just too different from English to sound it out. .

Good, but with a few problems...
For example, according to the book, the letter o sounds like "the o in 'dot'". I am not a language specialist, but I found some flaws with this book, most especially with the phoenetics written next to the Czech text. Now this makes perfect sense within the context of the book. But in the introduction, it tells us the author "was born and educated in Czechoslovakia, and has been living in Australia since 1983. " This tells me that the guide to the vowels are based upon the Australian/British vowel system. So the Australian pronunciation of "dot" has a more pronounced "o", while the American "dot" sounds almost like an "ah. " My concerns of this were proven when I listened to recordings of certain Czech phrases by native speakers ("prosim," or "please," does not sound like "prah-seem," like the book may lead an American to deduce).

Also, vial phrases to traveling are hidden in various places in the book. The phrase "where are the toilets" is hidden on page 205, under "emergencies. . . " I don't categorize needing a toilet as a true emergency (like the phrase "it's an emergency!") But then the most complex phrases are located in the beginning of the book ("Are you here on holiday?" and "How long are you here for?") Perhaps it's just me, but as a traveler in a foreign country, I want to learn the basic phrases before in-depth conversation starters. And, with all due respect, how am I ever to understand the response to the phrase "Are you here on holiday?" in Czech?!!

This book has thousands of phrases you will never need to know. If you want to be able to ask questions and UNDERSTAND the responses, perhaps a real language book or formal class is necessary. And if you can memorize all the phrases in this book before leaving for the Czech Republic, then you probably don't need this book! By the time you find the phrase you need in the heat of the moment, the conversation is dead.

For the information in the book, it is surprisignly compact. The introduction to the language and the culture in the foreword to the book is extensive and informative.

Some of my favorite phrases:

Prilezitostne si dam kokain ("I take heroine occasionaly")
Nerozumel jsem tomu dobre ("I had a few problems with the language")

Yeah, I wonder why.

If you REALLY want to be able to use most of the phrases in this book effectively, you need a language class! This book will give you the essential phrases, but you had better find their page number before leaving on your trip, or you will have your nose buried in its 281 pages! .

CZECH Phrasebook


Wish I had ordered it in LARGE print. Very consise and compact and easy to use.

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