Lonely Planet Middle East Phrasebook & Dictionary 2

Handy & useful, but as it crams 8 different languages or dialects into a single 250-page volume, the dictionary isn't as complete as it would be if all 250 pages had been devoted to a single language/dialect. For examples, translations for useful words such as (to name a few examples) "birthday," "death," the months of the year, etc. are conspicuous by their absence.

Also, according to this book, "goodbye" in Modern Standard Arabic is "ilaa alikaa" while Gulf Arabic uses "ma'salaama;" in fact, every MSA speaker I've ever met (at least in Iraq) also uses "ma'salaama" to say "goodbye" (or "ashufaq badeeyen for "see you later," another useful phrase missing from this book).

Furthermore, the book says "bi-khay-rin shurkan wa'anta" as the "Fine, thanks" response to "khayf halak ("how are you?") when in fact every Arabic speaker I've met (MSA, Gulf, Egyptian, Levantine, and Moroccan alike) simply uses "ilham dulilah."

So, this book is still a decent start for learning Arabic, and it certainly fits neatly into a trouser pocket, thus making it convenient for travel and transportation, but there's plenty room for improvement in future editions.

Nothing wrong with the valuable content, it's just that the type face is so tiny it's not convenient to read (unless you have unaided excellent vision or a good magnifying glass).

It is a nice well put together book. But like others have mentioned, you don't get a whole lot of any one language since 8 are included. I can see that it would be very helpful for someone traveling all over the middle east, but if you are trying to just get a handle on one language you would be best off buying a phrasebook for that specific language. I like my copy and I'm sure I'll use it, especially to compare different Arabic dialects. I bought it for Levantine Arabic since "Lonely Planet" doesn't have a complete phrasebook devoted to that Dialect.

I didn't realize that this covered the arabic dialects and turkish and farsi in one tiny book. It's handy enough for a train station or place where NO english is spoken - it will be helpful, but it's not as extensive as say the Egyptian Arabic version.

Not what I was expecting, but glad it has multiple dialects included.

great book, great service