PDF Lonely Planet Mongolian Phrasebook Dictionary Lonely Planet Alan J K Sanders J BatIreedui Tsogt Gombosuren 9781743211847 Books

Product details Series Phrasebook Paperback 212 pages Publisher Lonely Planet; 3 edition (April 1, 2014) Language English ISBN-10 1743211848

Lonely Planet Mongolian Phrasebook Dictionary Lonely Planet Alan J K Sanders J BatIreedui Tsogt Gombosuren 9781743211847 Books Reviews

• Let me start with the good stuff this is a reasonably-priced guide that's durable and fits very well into one's pocket. It covers a wide range of topics (wider by far than we needed during our visit to Mongolia this fall). It has useful quick reference section inside the front cover, and a translation for common signs inside the back. There's some lovely art inside, too.
  
  But. In my not-so-humble opinion, the key to any phrasebook is the pronunciation guide. Mongolian is a difficult language to learn, and perhaps the writers did their best, but it still fell short. For example, "thank you" is "bayarlalaa"; the first "la" is actually pronounced as an odd "soft T" sound, but this is not indicated in the pronunciation guide. "I'm sorry" ("uuchlaarai") is also not pronounced the way the guide would have you say it. I'm glad we had a Mongolian translator with us...
  
  All in all, it was more helpful as something to point at than to actually guide what we said.
• Mongolian seems so complicated, with its Cyrillic alphabet (35 characters?!), blizzard of consonants, and opaque pronunciation. I'm afraid I'll be reduced to pointing at the book, although I had hoped to be able to actually speak a bit. I wish this book had come with a CD, but it does seem to be comprehensive and well-organized.
• I was looking for a book with key phrases for a traveler, probably using an easy phonetic approach. But, no.....that would be too easy. The approach is more traditional let's learn pronounciation, then a fair amount of Mongolian grammar, and only then do we go to categories of phrases like Greeting, Small Talk, Accommodation, etc. The Language section of the Lonely Planet Mongolia (Travel Guide) is probably a better bet for my purposes.
• will get me through
• Helpful, pocket sized.
• Fantastic! I love this phrasebook/dictionary. Helping me to prepare for a trip to Mongolia this summer.
• Great! Simple!
• It was simple and really easy to use