Lexus Reviews

This excellent small dictionary is up-to-date, has a fair number of Americanisms, and is easy on the eye. The blue highlights really do help you find the various senses of the words more readily. If you grow out of this one, move up to the big Oxford-Paravia dictionary, which www.Amazon.com sells at an outstanding price. (No, I don't work for www.Amazon.com, but I AM a maven of Italian-English teaching materials.)

This mini Italian dictionary is versatile. It is compact and up-to-date. Every word it translated is well-defined. Even special entries on both Italian slangs and culture were included.
It is a handy companion that one can depend on while travelling or studying. Users will appreciate how it conjugated many of the irregular verbs that are used in contemporary Italian.
It is a valuable pocket reference for learners and travellers alike.

This book is really neat. I love the COLOR, it makes things so much easier. It doesn't, however, have a section for slang phrases or anything like that, just strictly definitions. Now if you are like me, and are really new to Italian, sometimes it's hard for me to understand the meaning, because I haven't learned all of the forms of the verbs, but it does get me by in a pinch. Either way, I'm glad I bought it.

Do you dream of renting a car and roaming France wherever a tree-lined road takes you? Of being able to be captivated by the flowers and stones of a quiet town and wish you could stay one night? This book is the English translation of the Guide Routard, relied upon by the French for their vacations with dead-on descriptions of hotels and restaurants most of us can afford. With this book you can confidently soujourn so far off the beaten path that you may well be the only American that hotel will see this year -- or at least maybe this week.

The hotels listed are the best of the two stars, meaning that you'll find character if not always the firmest of mattresses. The restaurants are truly the best that France has to offer for the local night out and the family Sunday lunch. I wouldn't hesitate to stop at any of their suggestions and I know I won't break the vacation budget.

I have found the Rough Guide (in English) or Routard (French) the second most useful hotel and food guidebook for France, after the Michelin Red Guide. I take both along because The Rough Guide offers less expensive suggestions, its range sometimes bridging from Michelin to Let's Go (the specialists for cheap). The Rough Guide includes more remarks than Michelin, so it's the sort of guide that is worth checking out before arriving, to find places you'll like. I agree with another reviewer that it offers listings for more towns than many popular U.S. issued books for France, so it's especially useful for those of us loving the countryside and finding the byways.

I'm slightly shocked to be the first reviewer of this guidebook, which is the best of it's kind I have ever seen. It is strictly a resource for locating restaurants and hotels in France, with little or no guidance about the sites that the towns offer.

That said, I cannot recommend this book too highly. What it is is a guide to small hotels and restaurants offer special value, ambiance, food, or comfort in virtually every city, town, and village in all of France. This guide will allow you to find that 13th century hotel in Dinan or that old restaurant in Troyes. Most of the offerings here are exceptional value in some way, usually offering exceptional comfort at moderate prices. As such it fits below the Michelen Red guides but often offers much better value than the Red Guide. France offers much in culture and cuisine, and staying and eating in historic places can add much to one's experience.

My wife learned basic Turkish using tapes and books over a 6 month period in preparation for 3 months of traveling in Turkey. Her achieved skills were pretty impressive in day to day usage.

THIS is the dictionary/phrase book that she carried around everywhere, to look up words and refresh her memory. She still carries it around to review with in quiet moments. No other pocket dictionary we looked at or carries had the portability, utility, and durability of this slim but relatively comprehensive volume.

The quality and accuracy of the book is very good. However the book, binding, cover, etc are absolutely indestructible. For the very low price of this book, this is an incredible value. I have developed a lot of respect for a publisher that would create such a physically durable product at such a price.

I am taking Turkish at university. What I really like about this book is that it gives, in addition to useful phrases, an overview of the grammar (VERY important and very unusual in a phrasebook), a Turkish/English and English/Turkish Dictionary (with a lot more words than found in the typical phrasebook), and tables of things like numbers, months, etc.

If you're heading for Turkey (a travel destination I highly recommend) or studying the language, this is a terrific pocket reference (and very inexpensive!).

The best phrasebook for the traveller. Small, with amazing number of key words. English/Turkish and Turkish/English sections in alphabetical order. Easy to use. A must!

In preparation for a trip, I checked out several book and tape courses in Greek. The Hugo course struck the right balance between total immersion on the one hand, and just learning select phrases on the other. This series will give you a quick grounding in the language though it is not as complete as the Barron Foreign Service Institute tape set. The Hugo audio quality is much better than Barron's, and the speakers are quite a bit friendlier. (The Barron series sounded like it was recorded in a garage and the speaker was about as friendly as a police interrogator).

After working with these tapes for about two months I went to Athens. I'm pleased to say they worked. People could understand me without trouble. However, one gentleman asked me where I learned Greek. I sounded like I was stuck in the 1950s. Perhaps it is the difference between Katheravousa ("official") and Demotic ("popular") Greek. So, I may have sounded a little stiff, but most everyone understood me.

The bottom line: this is the best Greek tape and book course I found for someone looking to learn a lot of useful Greek in a short time. Highly recommended.

I have searched for a book/audio course that would teach me the language rather than help me memorize phrases. All the packages at the library were for travelers so they could make sure they "get a room with a bathroom." I wanted to learn the language to be fluent. This book/audio teaches you the language! It includes exercises, both written and oral, as well as an essential grammar section. The four accompanying tapes are very well done, easy to understand, and follow the 290+ page book. If you're looking to learn the language, you can't beat this course for the price!

I bought this book in conjunction with Barron's Law Enforcement Spanish kit. "Mexican Spanish - The Rough Guide" is an outstanding pocket reference! I learned to conjugate verbs very easily given the simple description in the Rough Guide. I particularly like the contextual listings for words in the dictionary section. Very useful! I have several other Spanish books and dictionaries, and they are gathering dust now. I highly recommend this book.

On my first extensive trip through Mexico, I found this book (along with "The People's Guide to Mexico") to be far more useful than any regular Spanish (meaning, almost always, Castillian) dictionary. In fact, I found it to be much more relevant than the Rough Guide to Mexico! My only regret is that the book isn't longer. It's actually a lot of fun to read. I especially appreciated that it includes many conversational phrases, not just single words. Considering that like English, Spanish isn't particularly literal as spoken actually spoken, books like this are a must for those of us still learning that beautiful language. More to the point, guides to Mexican Spanish are in unduly short supply. This one's a boon and a bargain.

This is one book to take with you if you are visiting the Czech Republic and don't speak the language. The introductory material is a great guide to pronunciation and grammar. The major part of the book is an English-Czech, Czech-English phrasebook and dictionary in alphabetic order which is excellent. Pronunciation guides follow most words and are well done. Dialogues and Feature Boxes throughout this section are wonderful. I didn't get fluent enough to make much use of the dialogues, but the Feature Boxes were a great help in understanding an unfamiliar culture. I went through the book reading them all to get a quick overview of Czech customs and found it extremely helpful. There is also a large Menu Reader in the back to help with eating out. Don't leave for Prague without it.

This book has a lot words in Japanese that you will have to know when visiting a country that speaks the language. If you mispronounce words from the book while speaking to someone, don't worry, they will correct your pronunciation and anunciation. I highly recommend that you get audio tapes so you can not only learn the tranlations from English to Japanese, but you can learn to pronounce them correctly as well. I am currently on a seven month deployment in Okinawa, Japan, as an Infantry Officer in the United States Marine Corps. This book has been a great help and it is small enough to stick in your pocket and read later when you are waiting for an appointment, etc. The trick to learning words from this books is to learn a little at a time.

A very well organized phrase book, which made everything very easy and quick to find. A proper amount of color to help organize phrases and sections without being overwhelming. Just the right amount of material was presented unlike a lot of phrase books which try to give you every possible situation, this one gave only what is most common. It also gave any major difference in Spanish between various Latin American countries. Although there is a phonetic guide, all the phrases are also given phonetically, for the American English speaker, right below. I used this for a trip to Mexico for 10 days and never ran into a situation this book couldn't help me with. When I had trouble with my pronunciation, I could always point to the phrase. The font was big enough to see it clearly without straining, but small enough that that whole thing fit easily in my back pocket. A must have for any trip to Latin America.

While Harrup's Spanish Verbs is not the most complete collection of verbs, it is definitely one of the easiest to use and understand. Whether you need to see the complete conjugation of a verb quickly or are trying to get an overview of how a verb is conjugated, you cannot beat this book. Additionally, it's size is perfect for the traveler. I have used this book for the past 10 years on over 20 trips to Central America. Other than my electronic translator, it is the first source I turn to for help with my Spanish. I am the director of an organization which takes medical and construction teams to Central America regularly throughout the year. I am always recommending this book to those learning Spanish. Unfortunately, as it is out of print, it is hard to find. Please bring it back soon!

This guide made conversing with Parisians very easy.

I think this tiny book is a great way to get started learning French. It was my first dive into the French language, and it
really helped me out with the basics. It's ideal for travelers who do not know much or any French. It even had specific needs covered. For example, it gave several ways to say: "I'm a vegetarian." I also like the simple and easy-to-read layout of the book. It's very visually pleasing.

To communicate simply and effectively on your next trip to France, take the French Phrase Book with you and listen to the tape before you go. The book supplies words and phrases and the tape brings them to life. You can play the cassette several times and even take it with you on the plane.

You will hear the English word first and then the French equivalent. There is a pause so you can say the word. Not every word or phrase is covered in the book.

You will start on page 6 and learn useful everyday phrases like yes (Oui) and no (non). Then you will move to Greetings and Introductions. The speaker also gives you little clues to the language and introduces cultural nuances.

Take a step past "Bonjour" and move to Comment allez-vous? Then, take another step to "Pouvez-vous parler plus lentement, s'il vous plait?"

This was like stepping back to French class in the days of high school. The book is divided up into sections. You can learn useful everyday phrases, colloquialisms, the days, months, seasons, and numbers. Then go on to learn staying in hotels or ordering when eating out. There is a handy menu guide. It is easy to keep the phrase book in your purse or pocket, it is that small. In the back of the book, there is a mini-dictionary.

If you are heading for France on a vacation, enjoy! The food is fantastique! Do try to take a tour when you go to Paris. I could have spent a week in Paris and the surrounding areas. There is so much to see. If you get a chance, go down to Cassis, there is a bakery there with the most delicious choux pastries. You can have dinner right out by the water. While a tour to Paris is wonderful, nothing compares to finding little treasures when you take a wrong turn!

Cassis will easily seduces you with its cafés and restaurants. A privately owned 13th century castle overlooks Cassis and was built by Hughes de Baux. It is surrounded by a garden filled with uncommon, scarce plants and flowers emitting even rarer fragrances.

While on my first trip to France I was only a teenager, my second trip was the year after I got married. Hopefully since I am now older and wiser, I will actually learn a great deal of French before my next visit. It is really essential, especially if you are not on a tour. You will still want to know basic phrases so you can be polite and can enjoy your trip all the more.