Berlitz

Bought to help me prepare for my upcoming trip to Munich, the guide book is small enough to easily fit in my luggage. The 20% off sign means I got it for the approximate equivalent of $3... and that's where the hype ends.

After having dutifully trudged through one of the most boring retellings of its 1000 year history, I mainly recall that Munich's inhabitants liked hanging people... a LOT (chiefly in Marienplatz, pictured below) .

Perhaps not such a surprising fact, seeing that the show more Wittelsbach family that ruled it for over 700 years, did so with a dictatorial hand. At least I now know, why the name was presented in such "reverent" manner in The Ludwig Conspiracy.

Anyway, for those of you who like to compile written lists of sights, the book is an excellent source.
On the other hand, for the naturally lazy (like myself), following the written description of select routes gets confusing pretty fast. I had to arm myself with a popup map* AND Google Maps to finish reading it.

* Gotta love the struggle of folding a popup map right. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

While, I have found some interesting recommendations for tourist destination (besides Neuschwanstein Castle) such as :

Munich Residenz, the famed residence of the Wittelsbach family

Nymphenburg Castle, just outside the city and easily accessible by bus

for the most part, I found the guide woefully inadequate. It mostly reads like a boring description of a navigation software's indications.

Incidentally, the front cover sports some questionable translations:
- Good Night is Gute Nacht not Guten Nacht, as Nacht is of feminine genre.
- "Kann ich .... haben?" means "Could I get ...?" not "How may I help you?"

Score: 2/5

You get what you pay for, I guess. It's a good starting point, but not a particularly fast read... not if you want to recall anything useful. You can get the same information from better written travel blogs... for free. show less

The pronunciation guide is fucked. I would suppose that a total beginner in Italian would have an easier time following the Italian script better than the Anglicized transliterations provided. Those who speak Spanish, or can read Spanish, or who understand the fundamentals of most Romance language pronunciation ought to skip over the transliterations out-right ("bwonjoarnoa" =/= buongiorno) or best yet, don't pick up this book (or its 1983 edition.)

Also, and maybe this is just my particular show more edition (1983) but it caters to American tourists with no regard whatsoever to Italian life and culture. The section on ordering breakfast contains only Anglo items that are even past-dated by most Anglo standards. How to order ham & eggs with toast in Italian... a.k.a., how to stand out like a total fucking foreigner in 60 easy steps!

I got this book out of curiousity from the library. As with most Berlitz language guides, fuck it, and fuck it completely. show less

massive menu reader!, 4 Jan. 2011

This review is from: Title: Englantilaissuomalainen suomalaisenglantilainen sa
Useful little softback dictionary, intended for speakers of both languages, with adequate vocab and a brief summation of grammar of each. The menu readers seem a little excessive though, with translations of such everyday (!) foods as mulligatawny soup, rudd and seakale!!

I needed a simple, easy-to-understand, and concise grammar review for an exam. This book more than filled my needs. Berlitz really does know languages, even English! The examples are so clear, and the book covers details that I have not seen covered in typical English grammar reviews. I believe this is for the ELLs English Language Learners, who need to know the ins and outs of our strange language. I highly recommend this book for students who need clear examples.