Customer Reviews
For some a necessary evil - By: Steven "Diesel" Holliday, 21 Aug 2002 
I have been living in Prague for two & a half years & in this time I have been (very) slowly teaching myself Czech.
It is true that in the Czech Republic you will find concise dictionaries that are better in just about every department, but unfortunately they are aimed at Czech's learning English & so they are missing two features that this dictionary (just about) has:
1) A guide to pronouncing the Czech alphabet.
2) The sex of the nouns (for the record there is three: male, female & neuter).
The second point is only important when you start to learn the grammar, which unless you were intending to live in the Czech republic I would advise you to avoid, as (I have been repeatedly advised) it makes Latin grammar look easy. However, if you want to learn Czech grammar you need to know the sexes of nouns.
So if you were going on a short business trip or vacation to Prague I would advise that you wait & buy a concise dictionary from one of the bookshops there. However:
1) If you aren't visiting Prague straight away, but are instead visiting rural areas first (where not so many Czechs speak English & bookshops are thin on the ground) then I would recommend that you buy this book.
2) If you want to move beyond barbarian Czech & learn the grammar, & you want a dictionary to carry around with you, then this is a must for finding out the sex of those nouns.
I'm giving this book five stars as unfortunately for many it will remain a necessary evil, but with reservations.
NOT a good resource! - By: , 20 Aug 1999 
I purchased this dictionary years ago just prior to relocating to Prague. It was one of the few such dictionaries available at the time for English-speaking Czech language students. I found the book to be woefully inadequate in the number of words, examples of usage, & grammar points given for each entry. I have a rather large collection of dictionaries now in both the Czech & Russian languages & Trnka's book was one of the worst I'd ever seen. I ultimately disposed of the book. In fact, most Hippocrene language books I've seen in bookstores are of very poor quality. As a linguist, I would never recommend them. One would be much better off purchasing Czech published dictionaries as I eventuallly was able to do.
Nina Trnka dictionary is very handy for travellers - By: , 09 Aug 1999 Some of the people who wrote a review for this dictionary & gave it one star have no idea what they're talking about. This dictionary was created for travellers to use while they were trying to bus or backpack their way through the Czech Republic & wasn't intended for use in an intensive Czech language study. You people make this out to be the worst dictionary ever written. You are mistaken. I personallly used this dictionary on my recent trip to Moravia & found it very helpful for travellers, so you "so callled" Czech dictionary experts should consider what this dictionary was intended for before you go slamming it & giving it only one star.
Lacks important words, sometimes poorly translated - By: , 24 Oct 1998 This is such a bad dictionary I am surprised it is still being bought. Many essential words are lacking, & on more than one occassion have I faced an incorrect translation in this book. I have to agree with the other reviewer - buy a dictionary when you get to the Czech Republic. There are about seven or eight other concise English-Czech Czech-English dictionaries to choose from, & any of them are better than Hippocrene's.
This dictionary is poor as far as content goes. - By: , 16 Jul 1998 If you reallly want a great Czech-English Dictionary you will have to go to the Czech Republic. I found that this particular dictionary did not have many useful words & that some of the information was inaccurate. Over in the Czech Republic they have a great pocket-sized dictionary that they sell in alll book stores. Those are the better ones.
