2 comments about Croatian-English/English-Croatian: Dictionary and Phrasebook (Dictionary and Phrasebooks).

1. Looking forward to improving my skills in the Croatian language, I was appalled by the large number of glaring errors contained in this guide. There are dozens of mistakes, some truly unbelievable. For instance, the author doesn't seem to know how to conjugate the future tense. You may say "Ja cu citati" or you may say "Ja budem citala" but you certainly would never ever say "Ja budem citati", as he teaches! There are several glaring errors of this nature, and very, very many others not quite so serious, such as inaccurate translations i.e. questions translated as statements; word for word translations from idiomatic English, (making the phrase meaningless in Croatian); outdated vocabulary; and lots of typos. I am sure Mr. Susnjar knows better, perhaps his editing and proofing staff let him down. The organization of the book was good, as is the great number of phrases, if only one could be sure they were actually correct. Learning from this book does increase one's knowledge of the language, but who needs help learning to speak in a kinda-sorta mixed up Croatian. (Too many of us are already really good at that!) Hopefully a corrected edition will soon be forthcoming. Mr. Susnjar, fix up this book, and I will purchase it again - just teach us correctly next time.



2. I bought this as my first dictionary as I was learning the language. When I actually got to Croatia, I showed it to the native speakers (college students), and they pointed out more than 20 mistakes in as many pages.

   Other than that, I did find that the grammer portion (in the front) was helpful, and I do still refer to that quite often.

   Use this book as a rudimentary reference. For a more comprehensive dictionary to English, I suggest Langenschiedt's.

4 comments about Colloquial Slovene CD: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series).

1. This book is quite basic and should give the reader a good introduction to the slovene language, but it is only that. The small glossary at the end of the book helps with gender and conjugation, and most of the general rules for grammar are introduced. If you really want to learn Slovene, I suggest you start with this book, then get a dictionary like Komac's (which wont tell you anything about conjugation or gender) and finally an extensive grammar guide like Peter Harrity's book (which fills in the complex gaps left behind by the other two books). I suppose if you don't want to spend so much money, just buy this book, but do get the audio tapes so you can understand the pronunciation and get some good practice in.

   The book is very readable, but contains exercises at the end of each lesson (with answers at the end of the book). It is set up much like a textbook and includes some penned illustrations to keep the mood light. Don't expect it to take you long to make it entirely through the book, though. Actually this book will get you through all of the essentials for a ski trip or a short holiday. Enjoy!




2. The book is well organised, well written and accessible. It covers all the basic vocabulary you need as a tourist and provides a good introduction to the language. It is largely jargon-free and you don't need to know any complicated grammatical terminology to use the book. The tapes/CDs are excellent - don't order the book without them if you want to get the most out of this teach-yourself course. The one big weakness - and it is a very big weakness - is that the book does not contain any information about word stress. Since there are no clear rules for word stress, the learner encounters many new words in the text (often not included on the tape) but without knowing how to pronounce them properly. Adding accents to denote the word stress would transform this from a good to an excellent book.



3. Of all the language courses produced by Routledge, this one is probably one of the least helpful. This is all the more unfortunate as there are no other courses in Slovene available. Routledge has published some excellent Colloquial courses on Slavic languages, such as Colloquial Czech, Colloquial Russian and Colloquial Ukrainian. Unfortunately, all the Colloquial courses from the former Yugoslavia leave much to be asked for. Colloquial Slovene, Colloquial Croatian and Colloquial Serbian are all below the usual "Colloquial-standard".
   
   For a total beginner looking for a phrasebook, this course might be of some use. It does include some basic expressions and words. However, if that is all you're looking for, you will be better served the Slovene phrasebook published by Berlitz. Not only is it much cheaper, it also includes a better pronunciation guide and far more vocabulary than this course.
   
   If you're interested in acutally learning Slovene, this course won't be able to help you. I have listed the major problems you will face
   
   Pronunciation
   Slovene pronunciation is not easy. Stress can fall on any syllable of the word. Get it wrong, and you might say another word than the one you intended. Every phrasebook or course in Slovene I've come across shows the stressed syllable of each new word. Colloquial Slovene does no such thing, you have to guess.
   Another problem is that the vowel "e" can be pronounced in different ways in Slovene. Again, phrasebooks such as the one published by Berlitz or courses published in German show the pronunciation of "e". In short, you cannot know how any word in this course is to be pronounced. The recordings will help you, but it's not always easy for beginners to pick out the right syllable to stress.
   
   Grammar
   The grammar part is what could set this course aside from a mere phrasebook. Unfortunately, the grammar part is very limited. The concept of aspect is almost totally excluded. If you speak any Slavic language, you will already know how crucial aspects are. If you're a beginner, know that you will never be able to speak a Slavic language without mastering this quite complicated feature. Ignoring the whole thing makes this course easier. It also renders it almost worthless for anyone interested in learning to speak Slovene. The conjugation of nouns is dealt with, but that's almost all there is. If you have access to Colloquial Czech (the grammar is very similar), pick it up and compare it's detailed and user-friendly approach to this course. It is astonishinh that two courses with such a variation in quality are published in the same series.
   
   Vocaulary
   Complete Colloquial Czech and you will know well over 2.000 words. Complete Colloquial Slovene, and you will not know even 900 words.
   
   In short, this course is too little of everything. Too little help with the pronunciation, too little explanations of the grammar and way too few words.
   
   Routledge, the publisher of this course, has also published a very extensive Slovene grammar, written by Peter Herrity. When the time comes for the next edition of Colloquial Slovene, I hope he is given the task of writing it, that he starts from scratch and takes his guidelines from Colloquial Czech rather than from this book.



4. I'm sad to say that this course will be of no use to those wanting to learn Slovene. The aim of this review is to illustrate its shortcomings and suggest improvements that could be made.
   
   Problem 1 - no accents
   This problem alone is enough to render the book almost useless. In Slovene, any syllable of a word may be stressed. Get it wrong and you may end up saying a completely different word. This is especially evident in the case of the letter 'e', representing different sounds in Slovene. Apart from being stressed or unstressed, it can be an open e or a closed e. It might also be a schwa sound, the sound found in words such as English 'the'. In other words, how will you pronounce the common word 'vecer' (evening)? There are eight(!) options available... And what about the word 'svet'? Is it the Slovene word for 'holy' or for 'advice'? Almost all courses and books on Slovene make use of accents to indicate the pronunciation, since it is impossible to predict. The only two exceptions are this book and Teach Yourself Slovene by the same author. I never thought I'd say a language course in which you will have to guess the pronunciation of each and every word.
   
   Problem 2 - Very limited vocabulary
   The reviewer Gwilym mentioned how very limited the vocabulary of this course is compared to Colloquial Czech. The same goes for almost all the Colloquial courses on Slavic languages. Colloquial Czech, Colloquial Ukrainian, Colloquial Bulgarian, Colloquial Slovak, Colloquial Russian are all excellent courses with a well-suited vocabulary. Colloquial Serbian is decent enough. Only Colloquial Polish and Colloquial Croatian are a bit off the mark and then Colloquial Slovene that cannot even be compared to the other courses.
   
   So only 1 star to this course, that star is for a decent (but not great) explanation of the grammar. Two stars off for the very limited vocabulary and two more for the lack of accents.
   
   I'm glad that Routledge offers many excellent courses in Slavic languages and I can only hope that they will one day publish a Slovene course worhty of their reputation.

5 comments about Croatian: Lonely Planet Phrasebook.

1. This should be a good phrase book. All new phrase books from Lonely Planet are modelled on the same base, and that base is modern and extensive. So why is this Croatian phrasebook so bad despite being modelled on the same base.
   
   Silly mistakes:
   To take one funny example, the Croatian phrase "I'm here with my boyfriend" is translated by the English phrase "I'm here with my girlfriend". Of course, the Croatian phrase "I'm here with my girlfriend" is translated as "I'm here with my boyfriend". Needless to say, this could make for some funny situations.
   
   Confusion with Serbian:
   Despite being a Croatian phrase book, this book often uses the Serbian form of a word instead of the Croatian one. Although the scars of the wars are healing, this is not the best way to make friends.
   
   Outdated words:
   Many of the words and phrases used are correct, but very outdated and never used in normal speech.
   
   Grammatical errors:
   Now and then, you see things like "poslati cu", even a beginner would know that it's "poslat cu".
   
   The silly mistakes and the grammatical errors are not very common, but the confusion with Serbian and the use of outdated words is much too common. The language used often sounds stilted.



2. This book covers the basics in a way that is simple and useful. Three topics are covered in the book: the basic grammar, useful phrases and a 2000 word dictionary. The book is small enough to fit in your pocket and covers each of these topics with an efficient layout.
   
   For the grammar, first of all its usually missing from most phrasebooks and dictionaries. But, when you find a grammar section, its usually not useful for travel because its too much detail. For example, in "Barron's TravelWise Croatian" book, four standard verb endings (-am,-jem,-em,-im) are described for present tense conjugation. What that book lacks is information to figure out which ending goes with which verb. In this book, a "rule of thumb" way to add a single ending to all verbs is described. Its simplier to learn and works well with the format of the book. Its not prefect so maybe language experts cringe but its practical.
   
   For the phrases, it is a majority of the book. A couple things I liked were that for phrases that begin with the same words, the words are not repeated. The other is it includes an English pronunciation hint for the Croatian phrase. Both might seem like common sense but several books don't do this.
   
   My main criticism with this book is the English pronunciation hint seems strange. The stressed syllable uses italics instead a bold font. And the transliteration use combinations of english letters for one sound. Compare these "ya ne go-vorim" and "ya ne gaw-vaw-reem". Which is easier to use?
   
   For the dictionary, it is not huge but its a two way dictionary with gender and pronunciation. Its more words than you can memorize for a trip anyway. There is also a separate culinary reader for looking up food dishes. If there were a second edition to this book, the author should fine tune the vocabulary in this book. Its kind of funny seeing "Tequila" as a drink but not finding "Lobster" or "Squid" for food. Why go to Croatia to drink tequila? And of course its translates to "Te-kee-le".
   
   This book is not prefect so it gets 4 stars not 5. For a Croatian language reference book that fits in your pocket this is the best book out there. If you have more time to study, review the "Teach yourself", "Colloquial" and "Barron's" Croatian books.



3. This book was indispensable. Between this and Pimsler's Learn Croatian 1 we managed to get by fairly well. There were definitely a few frustrating moments though. The book fell through on such things as "Wait, I have a phrasebook" and "Sandwich" in the dictionary. If you want to talk about how your sex life or drug use is going however, you'll be well equipped. I definitely recommend it. I also recommend a guidebook. Between lonely planet, frommer's and DK I would rank frommer's as the most useful, DK with the best pictures, and lonely planet as acceptable. Oh . . . the country is amazing, definitely go . . .



4. I've lived in Croatia and I've studied the language for about 5 years, so I know it to a reasonable degree of fluency. This book is great for communication, and as a reference for phrases, questions or comments that one might be a little lost on otherwise, even as a speaker of the language. I would agree that there are mistakes (like the mixing up of the words "boyfriend" and "girlfriend"... did they do that on purpose?) but honestly, I've gone through tons of Croatian language-learning, grammar and phrase books, and this is by far the most useful for its purpose. An earlier review cited the use of Serbian words as a problem, but while I think a revision wouldn't be a bad idea, this product still is completely worth it in that anyone who actually needs to use this, i.e. not a native speaker, will probably be forgiven and/or totally appreciated for attempting to speak at all. As far as grammar goes, yeah, there's not much in it, but if you're looking for grammar, use Thomas F. Magner's Introduction to the Croatian and Serbian language, and for conversation, Teach Yourself Croatian. However, with both of those being so much larger, you wouldn't want to take them on a day trip, so for light travel, this is a must-have.



5. This is an excellent book if you want to use or read some Croatian words or phrases while you visit that country. It is easy to use and offers useful phrases for travelers. We stayed in Dubrovnik. The people all spoke several lanuages, including English, there. The phrasebook was not a necessity in Dubrovnik, but when I travel, I find that people of a specific region enjoy hearing travelers use some of the local language. I enjoy using it, too. This book helped me engage the people of the city!

5 comments about Serbian-English, English-Serbian Concise Dictionary (Hippocrene Concise Dictionary).

1. I am a non-Serbo-Croatian speaker, tutoring two Bosnian refugees who have little English. I learned that they read equally well in the latin (Roman) alphabet and in the Cyrillic. I don't. I planned to use this dictionary myself, but I gave it to them, so it isn't a total loss. They tell me that most people educated in the former Yugoslavia are equally familiar with the two alphabets. The book would be more useful to English speakers if Roman text was also used for the Serbo-Croatian words.



2. I am Slobodan Steve Lohja a Montonegrin born in the States (first generation). My wife is American. My Family doesn't speak english very well. They only know the basic words to get around. My wife has a hard time understanding them. Its frustrating for both sides. So I took it upon my responsibility to go out and get her a translation type book. She was excited when she received it. She ran upstairs and started playing with the words in this dictionary with my mom and aunt "tetka". They were up there a at least an hour. To bring people together and to bring communication between your wife and mom is best stress releiver. To me this dictionary would be priceless. The only thing its lacking, It doesnt teach you the alphabet, and how to pronounce the words, just definitions. Now my wife and my mom can help each other by one learning serbian and the other learning english, wish them luck!



3. Needed dictionary to help translate Serbian documents from Second World War. This volume uses Cyrillic alphabet and the scope is quite limited. Definitions are very short and there is no explantion of Serbian grammar or usage. Might be useful for someone visiting the area but was almost worthless for my needs.



4. This book does have words written in both cyrillic and latin alphabet, but the latin is NOT correct for some letters. The majority of commonly used words are not in this book. I would recommend for a beginner, but not for someone trying to translate anything of importance.



5. Misses a lot of common words, poor definitions, uses cyrillic... I shouldn't have bought it.

3 comments about Serbian: An Essential Grammar (Routledge Essential Grammar).

1. There is a lot of good information in this book, but the presentation makes it difficult to find. The index is too general and it's often hard to locate or distinguish between subsections.
   
   It's also written in a very formal, academic style, which makes it difficult for the learner without a strong background in linguistics.



2. This book is a decent selection, considering there are few competent books on Serbian out there. Any person with either a little Serbian knowledge or even a linguistic academic background and some studying motivation can pick it up respectively, otherwise keep looking. Also, the information is dense and cluttered, I've seen better organization. Otherwise it is one of the better books on Serbian language and I recommend having it if you are serious about finding a reference.



3. I was really disappointed. First off, the font used is terrible; it makes distinguishing sections difficult. The discussion on grammar is pretty tedious and it is real easy to lose interest in it as I did. It should have, considering the high price, come with a CD for the student to be able to practice correct pronunciation.
   This book is poor value and one would be better off with the Teach Yourself Serbian series by Norris/Ribnikar.

3 comments about Colloquial Croatian: The Complete Course for Beginners (Book & 2 Audio CDs).

1. I am going to Coratia for 2 weeks adn thought it would be nice to learn the basics. this book goes way to fast and is way to complicated for jsut that. If you want to become fluent in Croatian then this is it. Other wise don't bother with it



2. I bought several learn croatian products. The book, the cd's all combined make this the best one. easy to understand with great exercises.



3. The book and the CD's are very clear and concise, and does the best possible for an incredibly difficult language. Great if you're going to Croatia to live.

5 comments about Langenscheidt's Universal Dictionary Croatian.

1. I also was in the region as a earlier poster puts it. With this Croatian or Hrvatski dictionary if you please. Firstly this Croatian dictionary is not favored to Serbian, this is blatantly untrue. As well as the fact that the official script/text for Serbian is Cyrillic. The earlier given example of bread as sensitive, which I checked in this Croatian dictionary, clearly shows the word "Kruh" ,which is the correct Croatian word for bread. In regards to lacking several words and explanation of others, I also suspect this to be untrue, because the earlier poster would be able to provide specific examples and clearly failed to provide evidence of this. I found this Croatian dictionary extremely thorough for its handy pocket size with over 30,000 entries.



2. This is unsurpassed for a pocket dictionary. I have found few English/Croatian dictionaries to be as accurately translated or as in depth. Not perfect, but highly recommended -- and easy to carry around with you.



3. I was in a course to learn Serbian-Croatian and we were given this dictionary. One of my teachers used to say that this was only good for a bullet-stopper. If you are a serious student of Serbian/Croatian/Bosnia I would recommend one of the Morton Benson dictionaries and the Magner introductory course to the languages.



4. This dictionary is of decent quality but is too concise to be of any use other than carrying with you as an emergency aid while in Croatia.



5. This book presents lots of words in a small space, but it is strangely hit-or-miss. For example, it lists 22 compound words beginning with "air-" but not including "airport." If you take a guess and look up "aerodrom" in the Croatian section, there it is, all right, defined as "airfield (meðunarodni) airport." In each half, the explanatory notes are in the language of the word list, as if it never occurred to the editors that an English-speaking person might be in Croatia and need to translate a new word in a hurry. "Meðunarodni" turns out to mean "international," so the reader is left in the dark as to what to call an ordinary regional airport. Such gaps are typical.
   
   Irregular English plural nouns are listed with the singular forms (e.g. "feet" with "foot"), but not irregular Croatian plurals, which are common and unpredictable. No verb forms besides the infinitive are given for either language, in both of which irregular verbs abound.
   
   Where the same word in English has several meanings or can be more than one part of speech, you're not told which Croatian equivalent is which, and often they're not even all there. For instance, after "bow" you get "[bou] luk; masna; [bau] naklon; nakloniti se." Some chasing around in the Croatian section, including looking up "oruzje," which is given as a note for "luk" and turns out to mean "weapon," will enable you to distinguish the bow that goes with arrows from the bow made of ribbon, and to identify the noun and verb for the polite gesture. Too bad if you needed to know what to call the front of a boat.
   
   A really good pocket dictionary, Harrap's Italian (now sadly out of print) for instance, will consistently give you the right word in the right sense at a glance. This book, by comparison, is a clumsy toy. It seems at present, however, to be the best available in that size in the U.S.A.; I'm going to look for a better one when I get to Dubrovnik.

5 comments about Bosnian-English English-Bosnian Dictionary (Hippocrene Concise Dictionary).

1. Albeit that there are not many dictionaries on the beautiful languages of Bosnian. This book is one of a very few resourses available on the language. It is a good reference, but not the last word on translation.



2. While this dictionary is brief, it provides a good, pocket-sized introduction to the Bosnian language.

   Another good (and small) example is the Langenscheidt "Croatian" dictionary (which is no different than previous "Serbo-Croatian" editions). The Susan Kroll "Bosnian" dictionary is one to avoid.

   Beyond these, one would do best by investing in a two-volume dictionary...there's not much in the medium (not too big, not too expensive range).




3. You can buy a cheaper version of this dictionary by the same author, the same publisher, the same number of pages, and the same number of words.

   The cheaper version is the Bosnian-English, English-Bosnian Hippocrene COMPACT dictionary. (Yes, the page size and type are smaller, but if you have normal eyesight, it will do just fine.)

   If you want to save a few bucks, go with the COMPACT edition.




4. I did find this dictionary useful in the begining, it was better than not having a dictionary. I have some special needs in this department, I wish there were a dictionary that had legal terms, and medical terms. Will as in 'Last Will and Testament 'is a very different matter from 'will you do this?' There were misspellings of words in English, which makes me wonder if some Bosnian words got misspelled. It would have been very helpful to know if a word was more used by Serbian, Croatian or Muslim people too. In Bosnia that was not a huge problem for me, but I traveled in Croatia as well and sometimes it would have been a help to know. Sometimes a word would be used all over the place and I would not know what it was. This was not always a matter of declensions or tenses. I would have liked if some of the 'bad' words were included. I learned on the ground that perfectly respectable Bosnian people do use 'bad' words. It is also not a service to people that words for basic bodily functions are stinted on. If you have a medical problem abroad and can't even find words to tell what is your problem, that could be deadly. My other problem with this book is that it is physically speaking poorly constructed. This is not the author's fault. My dictionary is falling apart! It began to fall apart during my first trip to Bosnia. Still it was a help at the time. When I got this dictionary it was what was available. I got it in 1998 shortly after meeting my Bosnian fiance. It was a big help to us, to him learning words in English, to my learning a bit of the lovely Bosnian language. I am glad that since 1998, more affordable dictionaries are out there. I did also get Celia Hawksworth's book 'Colloquial Serbian and Croatian.' It has been a help too.



5. This dictionary isn't too bad; however, beware! There are quite a few words that are translated into Serbo-Croatian and not Bosnian, such as biirth certificate. In Bosnian it is rodni list, but in this book it is krsni list, which to Bosnians is a substantial difference. If you know the Bosnian culture, the book is okay; however, if you're tryng to learn BOSNIAN, do not buy it.

5 comments about Just Enough Serbo-Croat.

1. I think this book is the best book ever for getting to know the basics for this language. I know several words in serbian already but I will be meeting my in laws for the first time and I need to know more than everyday words and enough to get by . I have purchased several learning books for a ton more money than this book for the language and this has been th most helpful. They have the pronunciation in English and it's exactly the way I know it's suppose to sound due to looking at the words I already know !



2. Some one came out with this book! This is a life saver I have been together with a serbian for 5 years and have not completely learned the language. I am leaving for Bosnia in 4 days to meet my in laws and this book has everything I need to know! It's more that enough to get by, and I have purchased several books in the past for a ton more $$$ and didn't get half of what I got out of this book for $4.00. It's a must if yuou are going to FRYOG !



3. This book is designed to help you get around a Serbo-Croat speaking environment with ease. I think the book is capable of providing the basics needed to get around. I would recommend this book for foregin travelers.



4. This book is very helpful & definatley somthing I would recomend. Not only does it have the words & translation it has a pronunciation as well. It comes in handy when I look up phrases & need a quick review. Definatley a good buy



5. I am Croatian but it has been over 20 years since I've visited or practiced the language. I love this book. It's very simple and it is all coming back to me very quickly.

4 comments about Dic Bosnian-English/English-Bosnian Dictionary and Phrasebook (Dictionary & Phrasebooks Backlist).

1. This book is a decent introduction into Bosnian language, which is one of the South Slavic languages. Sometimes the author is out of touch with some recent development in the language, but the overall impression of the dictionary is very good. This book is a useful tool for a beginner or a traveler.



2. This dictionary is poorly edited (with numerous typos), incomplete (random information that does not reflect the needs of a basic speaker) and, in parts, embarrassingly childish (the introduction suggests, among other bizarre comments, that Bosnian may be too difficult to bother to learn well? ).

   Although it is difficult to find detailed Bosnian dictionaries, older English/Serbo-Croatian variants are still quite relevant (the nuances for advanced usage notwithstanding) and the English/Bosnian dictionary from Nikolina S. Uzicanin is a SIGNIFICANTLY better purchase (for a pocket-sized book) than this one.




3. I don't understand why the author would identify this book as "Bosnian" when there doesn't seem to be much effort to include words specific to the region. It might as well be called "Very Basic Serbo-Croatian".



4. I can't understand how this work got published. In addition to the numerous typos (autobuski stanica instead of autobuska stanica etc) the phrases are terribly translated and in some cases will get you laughed at.
   This work is in dire need of editing by someone who actually has a good grasp of the Bosnian language. Otherwise it is a waste of one's hard earned money.