Travel to Germany

German: Lonely Planet Phrasebook

Format: Paperback
Author: Gunther Muhl
ReleaseDate: April, 2003
Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications
Rating:

Limited use if you speak basic German
In fact, I've made more use of the dictionary while in international chat-rooms and trying to type basic German phrases. The lonely planet German phrase book is well designed for a pocket sized two-way dictionary, but in my past three trips to Germany, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, I only pulled out the book on a few occasions.

The book is divided into some nice subject areas: practical (which includes travel and shopping phrases), social, food, and safe travel (which is more of an emergency section). I've made the most use of the food and social sections. I think most people traveling to German speaking countries will want to invest in a German language CD and learn your basic travel and shopping phrases from an audio program. German is pretty easy to learn for a native English speaker. However, having an extensive food dictionary on hand is a good idea when you are trying to order something other than "bier" or "bratwurst". (Of course, you should still treat yourself to German beer and bratwurst -- it is amazing!)

However, I still found the book to be of limited use, for two reasons: (1) despite the color coded subject areas, when I've really needed vocabulary fast, hunting through the book is still awkward, and (2) many German speakers can understand some amount of English. While I do like this book, I've found that I've not really needed it (I had two years of German as a kid). I carried my book in my small book bag, but never in my pocket. However, if you do not speak basic German, I'd recommend buying a copy of this book.
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