Product Description

One union, one currency - and an abundance of languages; Europe's intrigue lies in its variety. When you find yourself on a busy feast day in Chios, in a smoky Maltese kazin, or courtside at a Basque pelota match, don't let the moment escape - say something!

Covers: Basque, Catalan, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Maltese, Portuguese, Scottish Gaelic, Spanish, Turkish & Welsh

• join in the sport & festivals from Athens to Belfast
• menu decoders for trying the tastiest local dishes
• tools to help you break the ice and plunge in
• essential transport talk to get you from Ankara to Lisbon

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #788847 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 544 pages

Customer Reviews

compact comprehensivephrasebook with pronunciation
This book has several advantages over other phrasebooks:
* Its got most of Europe (except Eastern) covered, including Irish!
* It is small - about the size of two decks of cards.
* It has the english phrase, the phrase in the translated language and then in blue how you actually pronounce the phrase. The pronunciations are spot on - the best thing about this book.
* It has phrases on absolutely everything - I even got to use my Greek phrase for "I would not like it extracted please" when I spoke to a greek student at the Oktoberfest who was studying dentistry. Everything's covered: getting on buses, going to the laundromat, getting directions, etc. About 20 pages on each language with everything that you will need to get by for a while.
* It's cheap and all in one book.
* A must have for anybody going to Europe who doesn't speak all their languages - I think that's everyone.

Even covers Welsh!
If you plan to travel all over Europe, this book may get you through and save the time and trouble of carrying a different phrasebook for each country. It is small, just slightly larger than the average palm and full of basic phrases.
It doesn't cover every language but DOES include Basque, Catalan, Welsh, Spanish, Turkish, Italian, Dutch, French, German and a wealth of others.
WHat I especially liked:
1. The tips on how to break the ice in each country and join in conversations
2.Menu decoders and suggestions for each country
3.Essential words to get you through transportation checkpoints and on your way
4. Some of the basic sports and festivals in each country.
5. Written FOR the traveler with a strong emphasis on the most essential situations when a phrasebook might be needed.

Very Useful but Missed out on Eastern Europe
This book is a useful guidebook to many languages of Europe, however some of the omissions are a bit strange; It includes Catalan and Basque but not Eastern European, or Scandinavian languages. It's convenience lies in being able to look up the same phrases for different languages.
I suspect it covers a lot of material from other Lonely Planet Phrasebooks, such as the Spanish one, just not as comprehensively.