Eyewitness Phrase Book: Russian (with cassette)

Rating:
Summary: Compact, Useful, and well-organized
Review: I took two phrase books with me to Russia, this one andthe Lonely Planet one. I used this one the most, because while it didn't cover the wide variety of situations of the Lonely Planet one, it did cover general shopping, traveling, and eating terms just as well. It was also much thinner, and fit perfectly in a passport pouch or the pockets of my cargo pants. It was very easy to find a given section in the book, which minimizes time spent fumbling with the book when you find a need for a phrase you haven't learned yet. The only place where it really lost points was in the food section. It almost exclusively covers 'ethnic' Russian food, which isn't too helpful when trying to read the menu at a fried chicken, pizza, or hamburger joint. If this section were expanded a bit to include a wider variety of foods (and drinks), I would have gotten a lot more use out of the book.

Rating:
Summary: "PECTOPAH" means "RESTAURANT"
Review: You will not learn the language in a short time--concentrate on

--learning the Cyrillic alphabet (Did you know that "PECTOPAH" means "Restaurant"?)
--learning some "courtesy" phrases? (Priviet, spaciba, pazhulsta)

There are many language guides, dictionaries, phrase books and the like, but the 'Eyewitness Travel Phrase Book: Russian' book is a convenient format (fits easily into the back pants pocket) and has a good layout of necessary survival phrases so you can quickly ask "Gdye too-alyet?" (Where is the bathroom?) or "Vi gavareet-ye pa-angleeksee?" (Do you speak English?).