When I was planning a walking tour of Bulgaria with a group of friends, I looked for a Bulgarian phrase book. I could not find one but made a happy discovery, a 12 language phrase book from Thomas Cook called Eastern European, which started with Bulgarian and ended with Ukrainian. that saved buying and carrying 3 or more books for a trip, and space on my bookshelves.
I ordered it through Ebay but suspected the book would not arrive in time for the holiday in Bulgaria. Meanwhile, my husband took a trip to Stanford's Map shop in London, England, and bought the Lonely Planet phrasebooks Eastern European. It started with Albanian and Bulgarian and ended with Slovak and Slovene. (Who knew!)
I was right. The Ebay second hand copy of the Thomas Cook book did not arrive in time.
The Lonely Planet book was small and bulky, so most of the time I left it behind in the hotel bedroom, because my backpack was already heavy with a bottle of water and an umbrella, and food for the day.
When I arrived home in London the small thick postal package was on the mat. Was it a duplicate phrasebook. No. A different publisher, different languages, and different layout and information and size.
Now that I have both I can compare them.
LANGUAGES
Both books, from Lonely Planet and Thomas Cook, cover these languages:
Bulgarian
Croatian
Czech
Hungarian
Polish
Romanian
Russian
Slovenian
The Eastern Europe book by Lonely Planet also covers
Albanian
Macedonian
Slovak
The Thomas Cook book also covered
Estonian
Latvian
Lithuanian
Ukrainian
So, if you were doing a one country trip to Albania, the Eastern Europe book by Lonely Planet looks more helpful. Also a driving or multi-country trip around Eastern Europe.
However, if you are going to Ukraine, or north of The Netherlands around Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, countries which are close together, you might opt for the Thomas Cook guide.
Dictionary
The Lonely Planet book has a mini-dictionary for each language. In very tiny print.
Colours
The Lonely Planet book's pronunciation sections are in colours, a different colour for each language, which makes it hard to read late at night or early morning at home, though perhaps less of a problem when you are aout and about in sunlight.
Maps
The Lonely Planet book also includes a map of each country.
Readability
The Thomas Cook book is easier to read, larger print, black on white.
Solving The Weight Problem
If you are visitng only one country, such as Bulgaria, as I did, you might need only the Bulgarian section. I thought, what is more important to me, a lightweight language section to carry with me, or a pristine book which I do not use? I decided to try to cut the Bulgarian section out of the book. However, we did not have a Swiss army knife because we had travelled to Bulgarian by phane and knives are not allowed on planes for security reasons.
I thought of trying to bend and break the book. I was astonished how tough it was and how securely the pages were fixed. No luck with breaking open the book by hand.
Removing Pages
I considered trying to tear out the pages one by one, but without a knife or scissors that would be messy. You can make a neat tear in newspaper by folding paper back and forwards over the same spot
If I had tried this at home before leaving, I might have been able to cut the pages neatly, cover the front and back with protective white card to stop it getting creased in my backpack or packet or handbag out in restaruants in the evening, and stapled the pages together.
Photocopy?
The other option was to photocopy just the section I needed for that trip. Getting the book to lie flat was a challenge and creased the spine.
Now I have two books. The Thomas Cook book arrived too late for my Bulgaria trip but will be useful when I go to Ukraine to visit my ancestral city called Lvov,Lviv, Lemberg - my great grandfather on my father's side was named Lemberger.
Ukraine Trip?
The group will not plan a trip next year in 2020 because the political situation in Ukraine seems uncertain. In addition to the possible danger, some people might decline to book for fear or losing their holiday or their money and the orgnizer does not wish to waste time organizind a trip which might get cancelled.
Multi-Language Comparison
A surprise bonus was that I decided to read the brief introductions to all twelve languages in the easier to read Thomas Cook book. I found that they are so similar. First the alphabet, once you are even half way to reading Cyrillic for either Russian or Bulgarian, means you are no longer afraid of the other languages.
What also became clear is that Romanian is the easiest language, with lots of borrowed words from French and Italian or Latin. For example, in the pharmacy, from the Thomas Cook book I read that stomach is stomac, diaree in Romanian is diarrhoea.
Humour For Language Learners
I enjoyed the Thomas Cook introduction to Estonian, which sounds easy, no a or the and no use of gender for nouns, so no trouble matching adjectives to nouns either. The Thomas Cook book added:
There are only four tenses, one present and three past. Estonians do not believe in the future!
I got a lot of fun reading a selection of phrases creating an imaginary nightmare trip for the hapless traveller, growing increasingly desperate as one problem piles on another:
I am waiting for my husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend. ... What time is it? .. What is the time for my flight? How long is the delay likely to be? Is my rail pass valid on this train/ferry/bus?
(The poor traveller is getting increasinly anxious, trying every possiblibilty. We would like to sit together. (Sorry, mate, not on Ryan Air. However, we were able to switch seats to be together in June 2019.)
Back to the things that Thomas Cook 12 language phrase book will help you to say:
Where are the lockers? I have lost my locker key.
I must direct them to my book How To Get Out Of The Mess You Are In. Have a decicated small pcoket for keys. Attach Velcro or a button and loop or ribbon so nothing falls out of jacket paockets. Check all your jackets for inside pockets and keep your valuable passport and key there.
However, for emergencies, use the 12 language book.
Losing and Finding The Essential 12-language Phrasebook
What happened to me? Of course, in an emergency in Bulgaria I could not find the Lonely Planet Eastern Europe phrasebook which was somethere in my luggage. The book was too bulky and heavy to carry and not needed in transit to the destination. Was it in the carry on bag outside pocket, the inside pocket, the corner of the suitcase. If not in the suitcase, it must be in the the outside pocket of the backpack, You need to have your phrase book in your jacket in a pocket on your right, if you are right-handed, not lost in a pile of other necessary or vital items, but in one pocket dedicated to nothing but the book.
BOOKLIST
Thomas Cook Eastern European 12-Language Phrasebook. UK price 6.99. ISBN 1-900341-77-8
Lonely Planet phrasebooks Eastern Europe 4th edition USA $10.99 UK 5.99 ISBN 978-1-74104-056-2
Free internet courses:
Duolingo.com
Memrise.com
I also use Duolingo - although despite finishing the German course I had trouble understanding my German-speaking friends.
I said proudly to my husband, "I am a polyglot. I read books on 12 languages."
My husband retorted, "No. A polyglot is a person who writes books on 12 languages."
Look on the bright side. At least I have writte a blog post on twelve languages - and you have read a blog post on twelve languages.
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher of English and other languages, home tutor, workshops for colleges and businesses, online teacher.
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