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Lonely Planet Phrasebooks
Turkish Phrasebook
You can order that Turkish coffee with grace when you have the vocabulary to do it. Everyone knows that visitors usually find out more about a country and its people when they can speak the language, so don't deny yourself this indispensable traveling companion. Travelers to Turkey will find this pocket-size phrasebook to be absolutely essential when dealing with locals.
- GenresLanguage
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 1990
5 people want to read
About the author
Tom Brosnahan
69 booksIn 1968, Tom Brosnahan wrote the first budget guidebook to Turkey as a Peace Corps project. Instead of completing work on a Ph.D. in History, he turned to travel writing and authored dozens of best-selling guidebooks for Frommer's, Lonely Planet and Berlitz. In 2000 he described it all in his humorous travel memoir, "Turkey: Bright Sun, Strong Tea" (2005).
In 2000 he transitioned to the Web, where his websites guided millions of travelers from 230+ countries.
In 2016, standing in Istanbul's Sultan Ahmet Square, he remembered how it looked in 1968 during the hippy era. Characters appeared in his imagination, he wrote down their antics, and within a week he had 30,000 words of a humorous novel: "Istanbul Love Bus" (2018).
"Paris Girls Secret Society" (2017) was to be a sequel, but new characters appeared instead. Some of the Istanbul characters reappear on a Greek island in "Alexandros - the island" (2024). Fascinated by the similarities between today's world and the Gilded Age, he wrote "Serene - a novel of the Belle Époque" (2022).
Another humorous travel memoir centered on food is in the works (2025), as is another novel.
In 2000 he transitioned to the Web, where his websites guided millions of travelers from 230+ countries.
In 2016, standing in Istanbul's Sultan Ahmet Square, he remembered how it looked in 1968 during the hippy era. Characters appeared in his imagination, he wrote down their antics, and within a week he had 30,000 words of a humorous novel: "Istanbul Love Bus" (2018).
"Paris Girls Secret Society" (2017) was to be a sequel, but new characters appeared instead. Some of the Istanbul characters reappear on a Greek island in "Alexandros - the island" (2024). Fascinated by the similarities between today's world and the Gilded Age, he wrote "Serene - a novel of the Belle Époque" (2022).
Another humorous travel memoir centered on food is in the works (2025), as is another novel.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 16, 2022
2.5 stars [Phrasebook]
Almost a 3-star phrasebook. Engaging snippets of culture, a few vocabulary crossword games, some good cultural adages. On the other hand there is a page of cuss words (virtually never wise to experiment with as a foreigner), words for abortion and the morning-after pill, and half a dozen "gay" phrases, the uttering of which might get you beaten or hanged. There wasn't a section on how to navigate a one-night stand; this is the 2nd edition, and I think Lonely Planet didn't add that until the 3rd edition.
So, slightly above average phrase book weakened by some immoralities, slight repetition in the food sections, and suicidal phrases.
Almost a 3-star phrasebook. Engaging snippets of culture, a few vocabulary crossword games, some good cultural adages. On the other hand there is a page of cuss words (virtually never wise to experiment with as a foreigner), words for abortion and the morning-after pill, and half a dozen "gay" phrases, the uttering of which might get you beaten or hanged. There wasn't a section on how to navigate a one-night stand; this is the 2nd edition, and I think Lonely Planet didn't add that until the 3rd edition.
So, slightly above average phrase book weakened by some immoralities, slight repetition in the food sections, and suicidal phrases.
Displaying 1 of 1 review