My son is planning on going to the Czech republic to study abroad for a year would be interested books anyone might have pertaining to the countries customs,and etiquette ,food they eat just about anything  interesting. He is already using Rosetta Stone for learning the language so I dont need any of those.

                                                                      Thanks,Heather

I'll recommend not turning down language books just because you already have a resource. I generally use all the resources I can get my hands on. When I get tired of a language-learning resource, or bogged down, I change to another one. It makes for much more pleasant learning, and often, what one resource does poorly, another does well. RS is a good resource but not a complete method - it's very difficult for one resource to do everything.

I can't help you with Czech, though. :)

I didn't know that maybe I should look for language books ,His girlfriend is fluent in French and Spanish but my son isn't;t so maybe he could use some books.

Of the Czech books currently available to be ordered, I'd recommend looking at the Teach Yourself book. It's available under two ISBNs - different authors listed but I'd bet money that they're the same book.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/Czech-Teach-Yourself/book/0340586869/

http://www.paperbackswap.com/Teach-Yourself-Czechh-David-Short/book/0844237582/

Thanx!

Hello!

I just went through a phase of reading Czech literature - is there any better way to learn about a foreign country that through its art?  Especially if your son enjoys reading and history, I'd recommend looking for books by Franz Kafka, Bohumil Hrabal, Jaroslav Hasek, and Milan Kundera.  Some of my recent favorites have been:

The Good Soldier Sveyk by Hasek:  takes place during the Great War.  Sveyk is a fictional, bumbling, good natured soldier who has been drafted into the Austo-Hungarian army and is being sent to Galicia to fight the Russians.  It's a sort of pre-cursor to Catch-22, and riotously funny in parts.  The first half of the book takes place in Prague.  Although he's fictional, Sveyk is sort of a national hero there still today, and you can find pubs, statues etc all around the city dedicated to him--that don't make sense to the foreigners who haven't read up on him :)

Closely Watched Trains by Hrabal.  Takes place during the German Occupation during WWII.  Hrabal is a brilliant writer and really captures the essence of the place and people he writes about.

Unbearable Lightness of Being.  Takes place during the postwar years when CS was a part of the Soviet Union.  Beautiful, yet sad.

And of course anything by Kafka....:-)

I know these aren't strictly informational nonfiction books, but I hope the list is helpful!

~Wendy~

I guess Livemocha.com is great for learning languages didn;t know is it might help someone.