2 comments about Slovene Dictionary & Phrasebook: Slovene-English / English-Slovene (Hippocrene Dictionary & Phrasebooks) (Czech Edition).

1. A good book,EXCEPT that the stress in Slovene is indicated only in the Slovene-English dictionary.Unlike Czech or Slovak, where the accent ALWAYS falls on the first part of the word,here it is not given.This makes it hard even for someone who already knows another Slavic language to guess where it should be.Fr.Andrei



2. I purchased this dictionary for my uncle whose parents were born in Yugoslovia and spoke Slovenian around the home. My uncle wanted a dictionary to refresh his Slovenian vocabulary. He loves this book and uses it all the time.

5 comments about Colloquial Slovak: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series).

1. The CD is pretty good along with the book. It is very helpful to see the words on the page when you hear them and try to pronounce them. It is time consuming and I have to keep reviewing from the beginning. I have not yet finished the first CD but I review it every time before I go to Slovakia. I learned some helpful phrases.



2. As a self-learning beginner, Colloquial Slovak has proven to be my best source for learning the Slovak language.
   
   It's strongest feature is the way it builds understanding of the grammer. Grammatical concepts are added naturally into the dialogues and readings so that you can read progressively more complex sentences. I've read it several times now and started to make the fastest progress when I committed to doing the exercises, which really help in fixing things into my brain.
   
   You really need the CD to get better at understanding the spoken language, I"d highly recommend getting both.



3. I started using this book to learn Slovak with NO prior knowledge of neither Slovak nor a Slavic language, and I found it excellent. I've read other critical reviews, and I simply don't agree. Midway through the book, I went to Slovakia and people were amazed at how I spoke Slovak with almost perfect grammar and little accent, I learned everything from that book.
   Someone mentioned something about that they didn't explain verb conjugations, and I think that may be because there are so many irregular verbs that it would have been useless to explain a bunch of conjugations, have you memorize them, only to be mistaken when you go to apply them. Those are things that you find out when you learn a language, things you best acquire from speaking, you can't learn a language solely from a book, you have to converse, and this book does exactly that--sets you up with the ability to converse, and all the rest it can't cover comes from interaction.
   ALSO someone mentioned something about mistakes in the book, I never noticed any, I'm not Slovak, but when I looked at Hippocrene's Slovak products, I noticed handfuls of spelling mistakes immediately--so if there are mistakes, at least this book is better than the other resources.
   The only downside I remember is that they didn't really explain the declension paradigm; they offered it in the appendix, but they left you to your own devices on why some words change form, and others differently. Once you have a handle on that though it's ok.



4. To be used in conjunction with the book of the same title. Good pronunciations help with practicing Slovak. Moves pretty fast for a novice, though.



5. Good book. Very helpful in learning Slovak. To be used in conjunction with CD of same name. A good combo, at a fair price.

5 comments about Teach Yourself Czech Complete Course Package (Book + 2CDs) (TY: Complete Courses).

1. I've been studying Czech out of this book since July 2006. It's the only comprehensive overview of the Czech language out there, and it's great. The book is very well written and edited. It's very concise and explains everything you need to know about the language in a logical and sequential way. If you are truly devoted to learning the language in depth, this is the book for you. Be aware however, you will need to make flashcards, listen to Czech internet radio and rent Czech movies, take notes from the book, and perhaps purchase Josef Fronek's Czech-English dictionary. If you really want to put the time in - this is the book for you. But it's VERY difficult, and is like doing a Sudoku puzzle every time you sit down to read it.
   
   If you just want to learn a couple of useful phrases, check out the in-flight Czech CD or Berlitz's tape on Czech expressions. Stay away from the Pimsleur 5CD set, because it's extremely boring.



2. We will be spending one week in Prague this fall, so thought it would be helpful to know some basics of the language. This product is way over-kill for our purposes, although it might be good for someone who will be there for an extended period of time.
   
   We ended up ordering a phrase book instead--seems to be more fitting for what we need.



3. First off: Most of these bad reviews are coming from tourists who really only need to learn a couple of phrases like, "where is the shopping center?" and "will you take my picture?" This program is designed for people who want to learn the actual basics of the language and communicate effectively with native Czech-speakers. Since it was designed for that purpose, it is most definitely a terrible phrase book. But it isn't trying to be a phrase book, now, is it?
   
   In any event, I have had a lot of success with this book. It's packed with a ton of information and the grammar points are laid out so they can be absorbed as painlessly as possible. Occasionally awkward phrases (like "My, they're in a hurry") seem to be the author's attempt to stress vocabulary, not merely goofy phrase supplements. The unit that it appear in introduces the verb "spchat" (to hurry), and the phrase is actually a nice way to get it to stick in your head.
   
   That being said, this book does have one weak point in particular: there isn't nearly enough audio for it to be your only resource. Also, this isn't really a problem for me, but it seems to be a problem for some other reviewers; this book won't hold your hand while it walks you through the lessons. The back cover is misleading when it says you can progress quickly. You have to spend a LOT of time soaking up all the details they throw at you, because they do pop up later. Overall, though, the course is very comprehensive, you just need to actually spend some time studying. Of course, if you're very averse to studying, perhaps learning an entire language is not for you :(



4. My wife who is Czech, bought me this book to supplement her teaching me the language before we move back to Morava. Unfortunately this book contradicts itself page after page. If you are really interested in learning the beautiful yet complex language that is Czech, spend your money on lessons from someone who spoke Czech as their first language. This book will set your learning back a great deal.



5. I'm surprised by so many negative reviews for this book. Much of it sounds like frustration from learning Czech generally or the book not exactly matching what you expected. I've lived in Prague since 2003 and have read just about ever Czech language book on the market and I think Teach Yourself Czech is one of the best. It's somewhere between a phrasebook and reading lessons with the grammar learning implicit, at least as much as possible. The biggest problem I have with Czech language books is that they give you a list of vocabulary and then some grammar and declination rules and then a bunch of drills and they expect you to use it in conversation. It takes a very long time and lot's of practice. To form a relatively complicated sentence requires to know at least 2 or 3 or more cases and it's difficult to combine them fluently in a sentence, In Teach Yourself Czech, that's already done for you and you remember the entire phrase and not just vocab lists, and your fluency increases rapidly because you aren't trying to remember 3 different case and gender endings, you just repeat the phrases as it's listed. This book is intended for more than just being a tourist, for that I'd recommend a basic phrase book, in Prague most people speak some English. I bought the Berlizt tape with phrase book and found it very useful for basic travel and it has the same methodology of using whole phrases. Then I'd recommend moving to Teach Yourself Czech and the Lida Hola book mentioned by other. I'm still reserving my 5 star rating for the perfect Czech textbook. Something like Raymond Murphy's Essential Grammar in Use but for learners of Czech instead of English. As a language teacher living in Prague, you can't do much better than teach yourself Czech for a basic conversational fluency.

3 comments about Czech: An Essential Grammar (Essential Grammars).

1. Really! First, use this work. I know it means seemingly meaningless memorization, but then the Short Teach Yourself Czech will make a lot more sense, and you can concentrate on the colloquial expressions and phrases. Then you can polish off your knowledge with Radio Praha (which has the printed Czech of their articles and sound in RealAudio or Windows Media) and the Fronek dictionary. The Fronek IS hideously expensive, but since you're not gonna find "2,000+ Essential Czech Verbs," you'll find all you need on the irregualr conjugations and declensions there.



2. Czech, an essential grammar is exactly what it is called.
   Author managed to explain complexities of Czech language in logical, brief and easy to understand chapters. I was particularly impressed by the section, cases and prepositions, which was very well presented to anyone who would be interested in studying this very difficult language. Each section covers one element of the grammar which includes nouns, pronouns,numerals, verbs, prepositions and conjunctions In fairly short sections, the author was able to cover basic usage in plentiful examples so students can learn a simple conversation in short time.
   I have discussed the textbook with my student, Dr. Lois Potter and she found the book to be an excellent tool for her understanding of basic structures of today's Czech.
   Last but not least positive feature of the book is usage of proper and updated forms of Czech language which does not include slang or terms no longer existing in everyday communication. While Czech language is difficult by itself, many outdated textbooks make it impossible for non-native speaker to understand complicated czech grammar. In Czech An Essential Grammar, the author accomplished a very difficult task of simplifying it. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to learn Czech without being discouraged by complexity of Czech grammar.
   
   Val Berzinz, Berlitz Czech instructor



3. The Kindle Edition of Naughton's Czech, an Essential Grammar is useless. Despite multiple downloads and discussions with Kindle customer service, the book downloads to the Kindle without many accents and diacritical marks on the letters -- for example, throughout the entire book, "R" with hook/hacek -- has no hacek. Same for "r" -- no hook/hacek. The same holds true for other letters with hooks/haceks. Thus, THE BOOK IS USELESS IN ITS CURRENT FORMAT. Without the accents and hooks/hacky, one cannot learn the language. I speak Czech and can see that all the accents are missing, but a non-speaker or learner of the Czech language would not know this, and thus would learn many, many words completely incorrectly. THE PUBLISHERS NEED TO CORRECT THE KINDLE VERSION OF THIS BOOK.

5 comments about Czech-English/English-Czech Dictionary and Phrasebook (Hippocrene Dictionary & Phrasebooks).

1. Essential phrases to help make a vacation in a foreign country more enjoyable



2. This book includes a Czech-English and English-Czech dictionary, as well as a basic grammar section and even a short history of the Czech Republic. After looking at several Czech dictionaries, this is the one that I've found to be easiest to use and is best suited for a tourist or casual student of the language.



3. This is a great way to learn how things are spelled and translating from english to czech. It also helps a little with pronunciation. However, it is best when used with a language program. Such as Pimsleur or any other program that helps you learn how to speak the language.



4. If you make a trip to the Czech republic and want to understand a few words, while you are in the airport, restaurant, city centre etc. then this book is appropriate for you. It provides a brief list with the most common words you will need, when staying in Czech republic for a few days. But remember! Only the most common. If you need something more detailed, you have to look for an appropriate dictionaty.



5. The Czech to English dictionaryCzech-English/English-Czech Dictionary and Phrasebook (Hippocrene Dictionary andthat I purchased left me a little disappointed. It did a very good job explaining grammer but many words that I have read online cannot be found in the dictionary but can online.

5 comments about Czech, Basic: Learn to Speak and Understand Czech with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsluer).

1. I started listening to the cd's in my car on the drive to and from work, a total of 40 minutes a day and after the first week I was extremely confident in what I have learned so far. Having never spoken a work of Czech it's very easy to learn.



2. Not as good as some of the other products I have bought to help me learn Czech. I like to see what I speaking as well as hear it. No software just audio. I like to have both so I can speak and read it. My primary goal is to read and understand. As it will help me greatly to be able to translate my own Czech Documents for Genealogy.
   
   I would not recommend this product for those wanting to be able to read it as well as to speak Czech.



3. I own language programs for French, German, Japanese, Spanish and American Sign Language, and the Pimsleur program for Czech is my favorite. I am not bored working through this auditory learning only program, and I find that even after going days without listening to the CDs, I have not forgotten any of what I have learned. For the first time, I really think I will finally be able to learn a second language and "keep" it. This is BASIC conversation with no books and reading or writing to mess with, yet I believe this program teaches you everything you would need to know if you were to actually go to Czechoslovakia. I bought the program as a marketing aid for me in my farmers market business because (1) I am half Czech and always wanted to learn the language and (2) there are many elderly Czech customers at our farmers market who may feel more comfortable with a vendor who speaks the language they grew up with. A very good buy at a reasonable price.



4. I followed the instructions of doing a lesson every day but have to admit that the language is hard so I did one lesson in the morning on the way to work and then the next lesson on the way home - the next day I did the previous evenings lesson again - although this was only basic Czech I found that it was the perfect introduction for my first of many trips to the Czech Republic - This comes HIGHLY recommended for an introduction to the language.



5. Pimsler's Basic Czech is a 10-CD collection for learning some basic phrases. You are asked to listen to the native speakers and repeat after them, some explanations being given in English. According to the product, their method is superior to other audio guides, as the phrases are repeated at specific intervals (almost like native speakers hear them when they acquire the language), which would improve remembering them.
   
   I tend to think that learning a language this way is inefficient. I have spent a total of 300 minutes, in which I learned little vocabulary, little phonology and almost no grammar at all. The CDs go very little into how to count, how to name fruit, how to name places etc. Learning a language as native speakers do is a little utopia, as you don't have the same abilities children have and you can't dedicate as much time as them (7 years of continuous Czech listening and speaking).
   
   In my opinion, if you really want to learn a language, take a book, which in each lesson teaches you vocabulary, grammar and has exercises associated with them.
   
   On the other hand, I think that the CDs are very good to open up your taste for the Czech language. The speech is very clear and some particularities of the Czech language are highlighted, such as the fact that verb are conjugation, that nouns are declined, that the verb must agree with the gender, without going into details. I would also recommend this book if you plan to meet Czech people and want to impress them with a few basic phrases, to show how open you are towards their culture.

3 comments about The Girls of Room 28: Friendship, Hope, and Survival in Theresienstadt.

1. Growing up in Europe during the late 1960s and 1970s, World War II was an immediate reality, if not one I had any firsthand experience of. Still, everywhere around me there were people who had -- as combattants, as civilians who had suffered bombing and invasion and occupation. I visited Anne Frank's House for the first time at the age of 7, and read her diary in the car as we traveled from the Netherlands to Denmark. By the time we arrived at the German frontier, I was hysterical at the idea of visiting the country whose Nazi leaders had murdered Anne Frank, my parents tell me.
   
   Now, decades later, a lot more attention has been paid to the Holocaust. There have been histories of all kinds, from the straightforward ones by Martin Gilbert to Daniel Goldhagen's provocative analysis of the makeup of the extermination squads in Eastern Europe; there have been documentaries (Shoah) and dramas of all kinds (Sophie's Choice, Schindler's List) and innumerable memoirs. It sometimes feels as if there can be little left to say about the Holocaust and that the subject itself is in danger of becoming too ubiquitous to pack the same kind of powerful punch that it did when I first read Anne Frank's diary decades ago.
   
   And then I began to read this book. From the very first pages, I was gripped by the story of young Helga Pollak, the central character around whom journalist Brenner carefully structures the stories of the young girls (aged between 12 and 14) who at one point or another inhabited Room 28 of Theresienstadt's Girls' Home. When we meet Helga, she has said farewell to her mother, who has brought her to a town in Czechoslovakia where she hopes Helga will be safe from the growing anti-Jewish sentiment in Nazi-occupied Vienna. Helga, however, who doesn't speak Czech, is lost and bewildered - and it will be six long years before she sees her mother again.
   
   Brenner has drawn on diaries and notebooks written by the girls themselves, their families and their caretakers to supplement interviews she has conducted with the handful of those who survived. (Of the 12,000 or so children who entered Theresienstadt, only a few hundred survived; only about a dozen of those who went through Room 28 are still alive to reunite each year in Europe.) The approach works well, surprisingly, giving readers a way to break away from the main narrative -- a straightforward chronicle in time -- to read profiles of some of the main characters or poetry they wrote, or the lyrics of the music they sang, as well as excerpts from those diaries and notebooks.
   
   Throughout, it's the clarity and distinctive viewpoint of these adolescent girls that makes this such a startling and remarkably fresh book. Against an ominous background, these girls (like Anne Frank) go through the kinds of petty squabbles, reveries about their futures (Helga even asks her father if he would mind if she were baptized after the war, since she doesn't really feel an attachment to her Jewish identity), evolving sexual identities common to adolescence against the backdrop of daily life in a concentration camp. The privations are stark and deeply felt even by the children, whom the camp elders have made a conscious decision to give greater access to food and other resources at the expense of the elderly.
   
   But an important thread in Brenner's narrative is the importance of education and culture, and how these girls themselves valued experiences such as the children's opera, Brundibar, all the more because of the ominous environment in which it was staged. That opera, one recalled is "about saying goodbye to childhood--and that had a very deep meaning for us back then. We were twelve, thirteen years old, and our childhood was coming to an end. We were facing the adult world, the world of bakers, ice-cream vendors, policemen, and Brundibárs. And the better world, the world of the children, defeated the adults and Brundibár." (Brundibar, in the opera, is an evil ice-cream seller - Hitler personified.)
   
   A tribute to the power of Brenner's book is that even though we know the fate that awaits most of the camp's inhabitants -- they will enter the 'sluice' and head eastward to one of the extermination camps, such as Auschwitz-Birkenau -- I was only vaguely conscious of something ominous lurking in the wings, hints of which would occasionally surface in the book (when a group of obviously petrified Polish orphans arrives and recoils from the showers to which they are taken; when a bedbug epidemic is dealt with by gassing, forcing the children to sleep outdoors and avoid their rooms, which now bear signs warning of poison.) As in an opera, that ominous feeling grew (as a small sound of drums gradually grows louder to become the dominant theme in a piece of music), forcing me to turn the pages more and more rapidly to find out what would happen to each of the characters in the book. I ended up reading the whole thing in one sitting, cover to cover in five hours, because I couldn't bear to set it down.
   
   Highly recommended. It's become a trite tribute to describe a book as being inspirational; this one truly deserves the label.



2. Ms. Wonschick's lovely book chronicles the story of children caught in the horror of Nazi Germany's internment camp at Theresienstadt near Prague. The story, of course is horrific, but told beautifully by the writer. The treasure of the book is the witness to the enormous spirit, love and courage by the children to keep pressing on in the midst of insanity, and to create a semblance of normalcy in their lives. The adults, in the face of death, devised an atmosphere where the hildren could think there was a life worth living. They sacrificed their gifts in music, art, drama, and poetry to distract their fellow captives from the daily threats deportation to Auschwitz. The story reminds us of what we are all called to create . . . love among our fellow men. The inmates at Theresienstadt overcame evil and fulfilled their destiny. Sadly, most of the children and adults did die at Auschwitz, but remarkably, some of the diaries, art and stories have all been salvaged. Hannelore has gathered all the stories with love and gentle care. Remarkably, due to the efforts of some of the artists at Thresienstadt, art therapy was created in the camp, and today is helping children overcome the travails in their lives today. Congratulations to Hannelore Wonschick for telling this important story with such love, gentleness and respect.



3. 
   The Girls of Room 28, by Hannelore Brenner, is an amazing story about 10 inspiring girls who lived in fear in Theresienstadt interment camp. Hannelore wrote this book with the help of the 10 women who lived in this horror of a camp. Their desire to write and publish this book was to recognize those who lost their lives in German Camps and to let their stories be heard. Brenner was intrigued by the stories of these women. She collected the diaries, nightmares, art, poetry and music all by the girls.
   
   Hannelore met with all 10 women at Spindermuhle. This is where she gathered the stories of these girls and what life was like for them in their darkest days. She explains their struggles and heart-ships during the war. Secret diary entries by the girls during their time in Theresienstadt were shared. Because of these entries, you can just picture in your mind what hell these women went through. The women shared how they were writing and learning music in the camps. Brenner tastefully repeats these stories for us to listen to. There are many other sources she referred to and listed in the back of her book. She used these sources for inspiration and further information about Theresienstadt.
   
   Within the books 2 covers are horrifying pictures of what life was like. There are also documents and officials records the women received. Maps of Theresienstadt are placed in the book as well. There are photographs of these 10 courageous women. Not only of themselves, but of their families, pre-war. Composing sheets of music and art work of the girls were also photographed for this shoot. The pictures added so much more clarity to the book. When she mentioned a name within a few pages their would be a picture or graphic having to do with that person. This made what she was describing in a way come to life.
   
   In my opinion this book is very well written, however in parts when she is describing a women's family, or birth place, the story got hard to follow. This book really brings you to the place of these women and really describes what a terror their life was. Brenner does a fantastic job of imaging this too. She allows you to enter into this world of these women and experience the darkest period of their lives.
   
   I believe the contents of this book are an important message to get out. I enjoyed reading this book and reading about the stories of 10 incredible women and their childhood. I would highly recommend this book to people of all ages but especially to children. This book will show them how good life really is for them. It is an important message that is given in this book especially with how spoiled children in this world are today. Overall, this was a truly inspiration and humbling book for me to read.

5 comments about The Good Soldier Svejk: and His Fortunes in the World War (Penguin Classics).

1. I will have to seek another edition of this classic, which comes highly recommended by friends. The print in this edition is so tiny (6 pt.?) that I couldn't imagine making it through hundreds of pages. I have okay eyesight, too. I am sorry to register this report as the book is nicely bound and set in Bembo, very handsome but way too small. I thought potential buyers should know if print size is important to them.



2. This is a difficult review because I love the stories and the translation is good overall, However: It seems like the Czech oaths and swears have been bawdlerized, although in the chapter in with Hungarians, the author has relented. There's a lot of old informal British terms used in dialogue, and I needed to look these up- some of these words might as well have remained in Czech. The text itself has German and Hungarian phrases which are usually (but not always!) translated in footnotes. On the other hand, Jalocová is repeatedly noted as juniper berry schnapps although context makes it obvious its a liquor. Basically, the translation needs more editing. I like Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za svtové války enough that I might get another translation...



3. Svejk is one of the greatest creations of world literature of all times. He deserves to be mentioned next to Don Qixote and Robinson Crusoe. Maybe a comparison to Grimmelshausen's Simplizius comes closer to a characterization of the 'good soldier'.
   This edition is the most recent and seemingly acceptable version in the English language (though one reviewer complains about the small print), but it has attracted only 12 reviews. What a shame!
   
   Sveijk is the prototypical small man called to the front by superior and ununderstandable forces. He is a Czech during the K&K Monarchy of Austria & Hungary, and when the monarch starts WW1 after the shots in Sarajewo, Svejk is drafted and sent to the front. His attitude is basic philosophical wisdom: don't fight what is stronger than you, try to blend in and, above all, do not try to be a hero. Simplicity, particilularly the mental kind, is wisdom and a survival asset.
   
   On the day before a battle, Svejk plays cards with friends. One of them loses a lot of money. Svejk consoles him: don't be sad, if you are lucky, you die tomorrow, then you don't have to pay your debts!



4. Ha!ha,ha,ha (gasp)...especially if you have ever been in the military. More Rabelais than Cervantes. Goodbye to All That. All Quiet on the Western Front. And this. The author is a vagabond turned communist with a sense of humor but really an anarchist who formed "The Party of Moderate and Peaceful Progress Within the Limits of the Law" and then vilefied the Hapsburgs throughout Prague before The Great War. His life would have interested Jack Kerouac. The end causes the same torment as Dead Souls.



5. Well, I haven't read this edition of the book yet, but I absolutely loved the one translated into Russian which I have read and re-read about ten times, first time when I was maybe 13. I remember having laughed every maybe second paragraph of the book until my stomach hurt. Unbelievably, absurdly funny, but never gets tiring, the humor is never induced, trite, or repetitive.
   The funniest book ever, although this humor is the kind of humor that actually laughs where you could also cry and yell on top of your lungs at all the injustice in the world. Hacek had a choice to either write a very tragic work about all the terrible things the World War One had brought into the lives of millions of people, or to look at it with humor and make light of it. Yet, it never feels like the writer is mocking reality, it's one of those rare instances when you have a very tragic subject (can hardly think of anything more tragic then those two wars of the 20th century), but making light of it really works, and makes you feel more optimistic about life and world.

3 comments about Prague: A Traveler's Literary Companion.

1. As we prepared for our trip to Prague, I ordered this book from Amazon.com but didn't get a chance to read until we actually got there. What a treasure! Each piece made some landmark or moment of history come more vividly alive than any of the standard guidebooks could possibly provide. The division of the book into corresponding areas of the city was a great idea.I always look to literature to gain insight into travel destinations. No single book has ever done a better job than this one.



2. Excellent collection of pieces from obscure writers and celebrated Czech authors. The book is divided into sections for each part of the city (Old Town, Mala Strana, etc.). I've lived in Prague before and it was so much fun following each author around the city again. I recommend this book for anyone enchanted by the idea of Prague or for those who miss it and want to spend some time there with a bunch of amazing tour guides.



3. This book was published in 1995 and contained 24 works by 21 authors. There were 12 short stories, 6 excerpts from novels, 4 essays and 2 excerpts from autobiographies.
   
   The oldest authors were Jan Neruda (1834-1891), Alois Jirásek (1851-1930) and Gustav Meyrink (1863-1932). The youngest were Daniela Hodrová (1946-), Michal Ajvaz (1949-) and Jáchym Topol (1962-). Others included Jaroslav Hacek, Kafka, Egon Erwin Kisch, Karel Capek, Jirí Weil, Bohumil Hrabal, Ivan Divis, Josef Skvorecky, Ota Pavel and Ivan Klíma. Milan Kundera was omitted because he wasn't considered a Prague author, and what was described as a classic novel of the pre-1968 Communist era, Summer in Prague, by Zdena Salivarová, was called too densely written to excerpt. Most of the authors were translated from Czech; Meyrink, Kafka and Kisch were from German. Of all the writers, two were women.
   
   The pieces ranged from the 1880s (Neruda) to the 1990s, usually with 1-2 works for each decade. For the 1930s, nothing was included. One-quarter of the pieces were from the 1990s (by Divis, Skvorecky, Klíma, Hodrová, Ajvaz and Topol). These covered the 1968 Soviet invasion, President Clinton's visit to Prague, the spirit of the city through the centuries, childhood memories and the Velvet Revolution, freedom and the shift to capitalism.
   
   As an essay noted, for centuries "there was scarcely a war in Europe that did not affect the Czech state." History was in the background of a number of the works, particularly the essays and excerpts from autobiographies: religious wars of the Renaissance, the Nazi occupation, the Communist takeover in 1948, the 1968 invasion, the Velvet Revolution and after. For this reader, the most insightful of the essays was Klíma's "The Spirit of Prague."
   
   In the works by Meyrink, various characters from the city's history, real and legendary, put in brief appearances: Rudolf II, the Golem, John Dee and Edward Kelley. Other stories were set around places like Prague Castle, the Old Town Clock, Wenceslas Square, the Charles Bridge, a train station, a concert hall, a ritzy hotel, a local pub, a café and a nightclub. Something from the turn of the century described the ringing of church bells across the city, with the bells of long-abolished churches seeming to blend in, and imagined the buildings and people reverting to the Middle Ages.
   
   There was a tale derived from the Renaissance period, and the reworking in 1940 of an inspirational legend, following the Nazi takeover. There was a cynically funny story by Hacek about a man mistaken for a suicide, and a tale of detection by Capek involving clues from a receipt that led from victim to murderer. An excerpt from a novel by Hrabal described the atmosphere behind the scenes at a luxury hotel. A piece by Kisch revealed with black humor a washerwoman's story after her son was charged with murder, but also contained much sympathy. In the story by Topol, set in the 1990s, a narrator mused on freedom and post-Communist realities as he walked through a train station from an earlier time. This work was gritty, dark and funny and stylistically among the most interesting.
   
   For this reader, the slightest and least interesting pieces were the ones by Kafka -- an early, especially murky one -- Neruda -- about a man trying at great length to get rid of straw from an old mattress -- and Ajvaz -- about various characters in a contemporary nightclub. If anything was missed in this collection of much history, atmosphere and humor, it was maybe something touching on love between people.
   
   Other recent collections of Czech writers include Daylight in the Nightclub Inferno: Czech Fiction from the Post-Kundera Generation (1997) and This Side of Reality: Modern Czech Writing (1996).
   
   Excerpts:
   
   "For me, the material and spiritual center of the city is a bridge . . . . The almost seven-hundred-year-old stone bridge joining the river's west bank with the east as it were symbolizes the place of this city in Europe, the two halves of which have been seeking each other out at the very least since the bridge's foundations were laid."
   
   "A history full of uprisings and reversals, occupations, liberations, betrayals, and new occupants enters the life of people and cities as a burden, as a constant reminder of life's uncertainties . . . . they are always tearing down monuments to those who symbolized the most recent epoch (monuments to the emperors and to the first, second, and now even the fourth president, monuments raised to honor conquerors). As well, streets are constantly being renamed. There are places in Prague that have had a change of name five times in this century alone . . . . Street signs with new names testify to an attempt to purge the city of something it cannot be purged of -- its own past, its own history, a history that seems too great a burden to bear."
   
   "I had a moment when I might have jumped on the tank and embraced the man on the turret and said to him 'Friend and brother! In the name of Christ! You're not doing a good thing, you're doing a bad thing! Love thine enemy!' It was that mystical moment that is always with us, everywhere, but . . . the moment passed, ebbed away, and once more we were those old, sinful, drunken men . . . and we turned and we went nowhere, away . . . helpless and utterly powerless."
   
   "So I felt good in the Reduta, with the president of a great democracy that I had always sworn by, and the Czech president, surrounded by jazzmen, who had triumphed so magnificently over forty years of an obscurantism that had once even tried to ban the saxophone."
   
   "The city peeled off the stern and gloomy face, the mask of rotting bolshevism, and replaced it with a thousand others . . . no more tank parades, just Punch and Judy shows for sons and daughters from well-to-do families with fabulous passports who came to Eastern Europe to go wild . . . . Sooner or later every lunatic with a couple of bucks, a worldview, and a vision set down in this city and founded organizations or movements or newspapers, or pulled into town with never-ending cables wrapped round their waist for the new TV, something you can look at for a change, creating CULTURE . . . and when the money ran out, they vanished. The city and its speculators sucked them up like a sponge."
   
   "The Middle Ages came alive in streets that narrowed in the darkness, pressing the rows of silent houses together. Night gave the city back its former shape and, for an instant, transformed the memory of its ancient glory into reality . . . His eyes took in all that so many before him had seen, so many lives from long lost times. He felt their disembodied being on the damp, mildewed walls. He sensed their touch adhering to the stones, the doors and windows. He merged his being with the spirits of those dead, with the rhythm of their breath. He called them forth and brought them back to life, though nothing remained of them now but the anonymous dust a gale will lift and scatter throughout the city, coating the paving stones, the roofs, gathering in the corners."
   
   "For a person to bear the burden of his own destiny, and a nation the burden of its own history, patience and perseverance are necessary. A city too must have these qualities . . . . If Prague is still standing, and has not yet lost its allure or its beauty, it is because its very stones, like its people, have expressed their patient perseverance."

5 comments about Czech: Lonely Planet Phrasebook.

1. It's true what they say; the natives are more friendly when you make an effort!
   
   I have purchased a variety of language guides for a number of languages (Czech, Italian, French, German), and I have always found the LonelyPlanet phrasebooks to be the best. Their size makes them very portable and discrete, they are very well organized, and have good, easy to use 2-way dictionaries for when you're in a pinch. They also don't take themselves too seriously, and include sometimes laughable - though potentially very useful - sections on things like clubbing, and "intimate" times. The guides claim to be "more essential than socks (and lighter on the nose)." I think this sums them up nicely.
   
   In particular, I found that the Czech language guide did a fantastic job hand-holding the reader through the admittedly arduous task of learning to pronounce all the different consonant- and vowel sounds with their plethora of accents. Be sure to start there.
   
   In short, this is an indispensable guide, and an absolute MUST for anyone traveling to the Czech Republic.
   
   Five stars.
   
   
   
   P.S. One word of warning: no book can really teach English speakers the infamous [r-with-upside-down-^] or "rzh" sound - as in the composer Dvo[rzh]ak - since the sound does not exist in our language. You'll see what I mean, no doubt. I suggest searching online for an audio clip of this consonant. The word [rzh]eka, for river, is an excellent example, if you can find it. Happy traveling!



2. Easy to navigate, well laid out, very useful so that you know all the right things to say (and do) - great



3. This book was more than I expected. Will help me when I go to Czech Republic this year. The pronunciation aid is a little hard for me to use since I am dyslexic.



4. I love this phrasebook, it is easy to go thru and very helpful to pronounce the language. Kimberly Riha



5. This is a fantastic guide to the Czech language! I learned the few words that I was able to use while in Prague from this book! It's kinda tough to use it in conversation. 50% of Czechs speak english anyway, so you won't be totally lost, but it's always nice to make the effort to say a few words in their language. Na shledanou!