Improving Rick Steves' Phrase Books
One of my top researchers will be hitting the road soon to spend two weeks in Spain, France, Germany, and Italy with the sole purpose of road-testing, revising, and improving our phrase books. If you've used our phrase books, we'd like to know what works... and what doesn't. How can we make our phrase books better? Please make your suggestions here by the end of April 2009. Thanks!
figuring out needed phrases in advance
When planning my last three trips to Europe, I have tried to anticipate situations where I will need to know specific phrases in a foreign language. I type them out in English, and then let the website freetranslation.com perform translations for me. I print a single page containing all the phrases I have selected, and bring that with me.
Jeff
Fresno, CA USA 06/21/2009
Translation Help
This isn't about the phrase books, but a great website. Google Translate www.translate.google.com. You can paste a url to translate a website into English. Also, you can type in English and have it translated to another language. Works great when emailing non-English speaking sites.
John Drysdale
Seal Beach, CA USA 06/16/2009
My Cell Phone Speaks More German than I do
The phrase book section on cell phones should be expanded to cover the translations necessary for starting up a new unlocked cell phone purchased while in Europe. I managed the phone, the SIM card, and the top-up cards, but couldn't cope with the instructions on the phone at that point to actually load the top-up minutes. "How do I enter the top-up code?" would be very helpful.
Rachel
Bainbridge Island, WA USA 06/09/2009
Fix a broken definition, English-Italian
The Italian phrase book says "cough drop" is sciroppo, but that's actually "syrup" as you might expect. The pharmacist couldn't figure out what I wanted and the tour guide couldn't help. Now that I'm home I can check my Harper/Collins, and find it's "pasticca per la tosse".
Michael Ward
San Jose, CA USA 05/31/2009
Ah, amore!
While traveling through Italy by train, we often met friendly travelers with whom we tried to communicate in some Italian on our part and broken English on theirs. The phrase book often came in handy. I was looking up the phrase for "We are on our honeymoon" while my husband chatted with some seat mates. I quietly repeated the words over and over again. It wasn't until I heard giggling that I realized that I mixed up the correct phrase with the one above it the phrase book. What I was repeating was "We are horny!" If I could have crawled under the seat, I would have!!
Andrea
Fall River, MA USA 05/25/2009
Terms to add to the German book
Too late for April 2009 revision but I used the German Phrase book a lot. Three concepts I could not get across to Bavarians, though, were "across the street" and "first aid antiobiotic ointment" and curling iron (for styling your hair). After some sign language and pointing I finally got something called "Tyrothricin gel" from a pharmacist. A flight attendant on my Lufthansa flite home suggested for "across the street" to use "uberqueren" or "auf die andere seite gehen" (which of course is a lot easier to pronounce in German than the other one). Also, for those women like myself who have "bad hair" everyday, a curling iron is also a NICE appliance to bring along. I found a Braun "Curl & Style" in a large "Muller" (oomlaut over the "u") store in Garmisch, Germany for 20 euro. Many women travellers I talked to said they always bring one from home. I will next time I go. So "curling iron for styling der hair" would be a nice term to have in the shopping section of the book.
Colleen Mohr <email>
Eugene, OR USA 05/20/2009
tongue twisters in German/chatting
Oops. Forgot to add the tongue twister I discovered while trading pronunciation lessons with the woman in Garmisch who gave me a facial. I kept saying "es tut meer lit" in a manner she thought was wrong (es to her was more similar to "ace" than "ess"). Her English tutor gives her fits with abominable (as in snowman). I used our new President's last name to get the sound going and we worked on the breaking down the last two syllables into "in" and "abull". We laughed so hard doing this trading back and forth. I told her when her tutor asked her to say "abominable" again, to just say "grotesque" as a joke. She laughed. I got to learn abominable snowman, yeti, in Deutche also, Oh those "y's" in German are tough.
There's an extra sound in there that's just tough to distinguish and articulate for English speakers. (as in kirche)
Colleen Mohr <email>
Eugene, OR USA 05/20/2009
Phrase Bood
words in the telephone section for mobile phone, how to say "hello" when answering the phone.
Elizabeth
Pittsburg, CA USA 05/11/2009
itunes or CD choice
I second a cd or downloadable from itunes. I've been reading the French phrase book getting ready for a trip and I wish I had the audio to hear it as well. I'd be able to listen to it as I exercise, drive in the car and bring it on my ipod for the trip. In the first few days when I can't sleep at night due to the time difference, I like to listen to my ipod and listen to French to help me.
jackie <email>
sacramento, CA USA 05/09/2009
Lined Blank Pages
My wife and I have used your guidebooks on numerous occassions to Scotland, England, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany and we would never use anything else. We also have all of your DVD's and love to Watch them.
Recently I went to Haiti on a Mission trip to drill wells. I took along your French Phrase Book. I took French in High School and this book really helped to easily navigate through phrases and words.
One thing I was wishing I had was a few blank lined pages so that I could write the words in for specific tools and equipment. I found myself making notes in the margins which is fine it would just be nice to have a couple pages grouped together to write down favorite words. There are many awesome features to this book but the one I really liked was the pocket sized. I had this book all week and it was not a hastle. Thanks for all of your wonderful products.
Nathan Zeltwanger
Eureka, IL USA 05/05/2009
Word Choice
I love your writing voice, but please fine another word for "fine". It seems to be one of your favorite adjectives. When I see the word again and again, my thought process stops following your accounts to allow my brain to record the word as repetitive.
Sarah Bates <email>
Fallbrook, CA USA 04/26/2009
icebreakers
What a beautiful baby!
Such cute children!
Italy is a lovely country!
P
Cincinnati, oh USA 04/15/2009
General phrase books
It would be helpful if you had maybe a couple of pages of the most commonly used verbs and their tenses. I know that this sounds a bit staid, but it would really help out, and only add minimally to the page count.
jpa
Chicago, IL USA 04/15/2009
More phrases to add
In the section on rental cars:
"Does this rate include taxes and insurance?" "Can we drop the car off in [Rome]?" "What is the drop off charge?" "Should we fill the gas tank before the car is returned?" "That dent was already in the car when we took it."
Also, I've found that people you chat with are interested in your experiences with their country:
"Have you ever been to [Turkey] before?" "What do you think about [Switzerland]?" "Have you ever visited America?" "Do you think [France] is better than America?"
And expand the section on food--menu reading is one area where even those who don't want to spend time on language learning will need to have a source to consult.
JER
USA 04/13/2009
Best of Europe - phrases
I just completed a 2-week long Europe trip using the excellent "Best of Europe 2009." I would have appreciated an appendix with a few key words in different languages (hello, goodbye, please, thank you). It would only take a page or two and would be enormously helpful.
Michele Smith
Burlington, MA USA 04/06/2009
Phrase addition
PLEASE put "What is that?" in the Necessary Phrases section of your books -- the section that has all the numbers in it too. I use this phrase far more than numbers, indeed, all the time with waiters pointing to other dishes, in stores to find out the name of the cheese so I can order it in the next store etc. When the phrase isn't in the quick phrases section, I'm lost.
Gail Stevens <email>
Calgary, Albert Canada 04/06/2009
04/06/2009
We have your Italian and French Phrase books and found them great help in both countries. It would be nice in the dictionary section to indicate whether the noun is maculine or feminine (such as: la gare, le voyage). This would greatly assist in speaking the language correctly.
John Fairbanks
Peabody, MA USA 04/05/2009
Adding a phrase book
Please add a phrase book for Russia for use in St Petersburg and Moscow. More and more folks are visiting these destinations.
Helen Rangel <email>
Edmond, OK USA 04/04/2009
Improving phrase books
Your phrase books (& others!) are great and we are Really hoping that you'll make all of them available for the Kindle -
Super easy to carry, easy access to multiple books, and tree-saving too!
DC Bingham
Del Mar, CA USA 04/04/2009
Improving the phrase books
I have spent a few months recently in Croatia, Montenegro and Greece. There is a crying need for Greek and Croatian Rick Steves Phrasebooks! None of the available options is as useful for stuff an independent traveller actually wants to say!
If you do produce a Croatian book, could you include a bit on the differences in usage in the Serbian variant, used in Montenegro.
Jeff Bulf
Walnut Creek, CA USA 04/03/2009
French phrase book
I haven't looked at recent editions of the French phrase book, so this may have been corrected already, but I threw my old one out when I saw on one of the first pages that "bon voyage" was said to be pronounced "bon voyahzhe". That's wrong; the "oy" in French is pronounced WA -- it sounds more like "bon vwahyazhe".
Seeing a mistake like that so early in the book made me wonder what other errors it contained, so I threw it out.
Yes, I'm sure the American pronunciation would be understood, but isn't it one of the jobs of a foreign-language phrase book to help travelers get bare-bones basics like this correct? I'd suggest getting a native French speaker to go through the whole book.
Thanks for listening! :-)
MS
Philadelphia, PA USA 04/03/2009
Health/Medical Translations
Rick Steves' phrase books are the best. I've used others and his is hands down the most user-friendly. Please don't change too much about them.
The one suggestion I have is to include more translations for common health issues and feminine products. For example, some of the common reasons a traveler (male & female) may be visiting an Italian farmacia in desperation.
Megan C
Memphis , TN USA 04/03/2009
Place name pronunciation
Please tell us how to pronounce more place names. I would gladly buy a new Rick Steves book on place name pronunciation covering the major European countries.
J T Anderton
Cincinnati, OH USA 04/03/2009
revising books
please be sure to announce big time when you have the "revised" language guides available for sale. I love love love my italian one as i teach myself italian & am getting a spanish one to refresh my learning there. i may never in person get to the lands but through your shows & things I get to visit the world. thank you.
patti
cincinnati, ohio USA 04/03/2009
Phrase Book
We've attempted to use your phrase book on two different trips to France, and found it difficult. Because of the organization under food/lodging/etc., there is no fast way to "just look something up." For us, a more (but not totally) "dictionary-type" listing would work better.
We also found the phrases inserted for humor to be worth no more than a slight annoyance at not being able to find what we needed and instead to find "I need to vomit." We would have preferred more normally necessary phrases.
I like having the body/sickness things grouped, because hopefully, no one will need them. I would like more food items presented in dictionary-type format because those are needed all the time. I liked the directions section grouped because there really aren't all that many terms to utilize and it was convenient to have them there in one spot.
Pat
Sun City West, AZ USA 04/03/2009
French Phrases
I am French and speak english fluently. I live in Lake Stevens and wouldn't mind giving you a hand with your book. I work with Windermere Real Estate in Lynnwood. Look me up if you need help.
Joelle
Joelle Rekdahl <email>
Lake Stevens, WA USA 04/03/2009
phrasebook
Vocabulary for the village laundromat would be useful. The walls give the directions but there was no word for "token" in any phrase book.
Hilary Renfer <email>
Poulsbo, Wa. USA 04/03/2009
French Phrasebook
Add: "Accueil". I have seen it countless times in museums, railway stations, etc. Guessing from a larger dictionary, it probably implies reservations, ticketing, even welcoming information.
Sue Anderson
Austin, TX USA 04/03/2009
Spain and Paris.
Hi,
I'm Sandy Gutting from Kirkland Wa.
I just got back from Paris and Spain and used your guidebooks for everything. I stayed at the Hotel Amadeous in Sevilla. I had a coffee machine outside my door for Cafe con leche or capachinos.
Every night at 6pm there was a guy singing opera and playing the piano and our beakfast on the roof garden was spectacular!
Sandy Gutting <email>
Kirkland, wA USA 04/03/2009
Phrase Book Suggestion
Traveling by train in Italy, it would be helpful to know the translation for terms “ritardo” (delayed or late) and “suppresso” (cancelled) in your phrase books.
Also the translation for “Customs agent for VAT purposes.” I had a devil of a time with that one in France, Italy and Switzerland.
Thank you.
Linda Jasmine <email>
San Mateo, CA USA 04/03/2009
Ordering in France
In Paris, ordering tap water by saying "l'eau du robinet" didn't work on a recent trip. It used to work but only drew blank looks this time. Also, it would be helpful to have a list of the phrases servers might say to us as we're settling in. That often throws me for a loop. Thanks!
PJD
Seattle, WA USA 04/03/2009
audio language
I have only used the short phrases at the end of your travel books. With any language my biggest problem is the pronunciation...so, if you could include a dvd/cd at a reasonable price it would be very helpful
jan
oak lawn, il USA 04/03/2009
Non-Europe Tour Books?
I wonder if you have books on places like Costa Rica and South Africa and New Zealand. I've used your Europe books several times, but want to try other non-European countries, too.
July Green <email>
Fargo, ND USA 04/03/2009
Guidebooks as e-books?
Could you make your guidebooks and phrase books available as e-books? It would be so nice to be able to load them onto a Palm or other reader and have them in a purse size package.
Elinor Chehey
Boise, ID USA 04/02/2009