Russian: Lonely Planet Phrasebook

Possibly an excellent book for a student of the Russian Language, but too much info for the casual traveler to Russia. I did not have the time or inclination to study pages of grammar and pronunciation when a phonetic translation would have surficed. Also, when words were spelled phonetically the stress syllable was not "stressed" with darker ink and the"quick reference" had no clue as to what syllable is stressed(unless one read pages and pages of pronunciation.) I also objected to the profanities. Who needs to know how to be crude and rude in another language?

We spent 22 days in Ukraine to adopt our son. We used this phrase book constantly. In addition to helping us learn basic phrases, we liked the explanations of customs and historical vignettes.

This is a poorly proofed, haphazard collection of slang, criminal jargon, words used in 19th Century Russia, mispronunciations, incorrect cultural facts, and some spot-on phrases that will have you sounding like an idiot in no time flat. There are much better phrasebooks out there and although this book isn't entirely bad, if you are not a native speaker, you will never know what to steer clear of and what is ok to say.

As examples: the "Dating" section of the book includes a phrase for "Nice Bum!" -- I'm not sure exactly who would be flattered by that, but its inclusion is more comical than useful.

There is also a cultural factoid that Russian men wear black shirts, beige shoes, and matching brown tie when dressing up to go out. A friend of mine from the Ukraine tells me that only gangsters and nouveau riche urchins dress like that.

Using the word "ditYO" to refer to a baby will make you sound like a hick from a remote village.

The word for Pen provided actually refers to a marker.

Referring affectionately to a lover as a "pigeon" in Russia was popular in the 1800's. You will find that mostly in literature now and not in practical use.

There is also a section on how to insult your waiter -- something that is sure to endear a traveler to the locals.

The book is not all bad, but without an intimate knowledge of the language and the culture, you won't know where the land mines are.

This book sounds like a great book. However, if you already know a little Russian, you will realize that a lot of the phonetic pronunciations are inaccurate. There are many instances where 'd' and 't' sounds are written wrong. Also the very common Russian sound 'ye' is often written as only 'e'.

While most Russians are accomodating and will try to understand what you are saying, you may as well get a book that at least attempts to give you the proper pronunciation of words.

Also included in this book is a section on Russian curse words. I'm not sure why anyone would need to know them but if you do, maybe you will like this book.

Okay, so I haven't left for Russia yet, but I'm looking through the book and nowhere in the book does it deal with passports, declarations, or registration, which has to be done once you enter Russia. Since you legally *have* to register within 72 hours of arriving in Russia, and presumably the only reason you'd get a phrasebook is if you were staying longer than a couple of days, it seems natural that they would at least have put to word "registration" in the dictionary. But *no*.

Other than that, I mean, the phrase book looks great. I'll be able to pick up a hot Russian policewoman after being dragged off to the jail for failing to register. :-)
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UPDATE: After travelling in Russia, I can now say this is a BAD phrase book. Here are the main complaints:

1) Its dictionary is really terrible. Has the words for "heroin addict" and "cocaine" (guess how it's pronounced in Russia? If you said "cocaine", you win a point!) and other drug related terms, but not, say, the verb "to teach". Kind of hard if you want to ask someone to teach you Russian.

2) The overall attitude of the people writing the book. There's a page on insults in Russian. I guess this is not *that* great of a problem, but what if you're handing the book off to a Russian who's trying to communicate with you? If they read the page, they might get offended. You're in Russia to be friendly with the locals; it's not necessary to learn foul language. There are special books that you can buy expressedly for that purpose. Also, under the Food section there's a whole page for insulting people at a restaurant. Not at all useful. There isn't any phrases for saying, "That was a good meal." or "That was delicious!"

As is the case in EVERY LP Phrasebook, the travel information is worse than useless. It's not nearly as up-to-date as the actual guidebooks, so focus only on the language when using this phrasebook.

Unfortunately, until a better company comes along these phrasebooks, lame as they are, are still probably better organized than any of the other books out there. My main suggestion: bring another dictionary when you're travelling; the LP's dictionary in the back is terrible.