Europe by Train: The Number One Guide to Budget Travel

by Katie Wood, Robson Books

Release Date: August, 2001

Edition: Paperback

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Europe By Train - 2003 contains inaccurate info

I have not seen any editions prior to 2003, but I have read Katie Wood's "Europe By Train - 2003" and was surprised to find a number of inaccuracies in the Eastern Europe section. Surprisingly, Katie Wood still refers to the country of Ukraine, as "The Ukraine", a term used in Tsarist and Soviet Russia to denote the subjugated state of Ukraine. The correct and the only way is to say "Ukraine", without the article. Russian terminology is used throughout the Ukraine section, although the Ukrainian language is used to indicate the names of places in parenthesis. We still see "Kiev" rather than the correct "Kyiv", and "Lvov" rather than "Lviv". In her effort to impress her readers with her imagined fluency of a foreign language, Katie Wood and her research staff have even used the wrong name for "Lvov".
Her comments on just how close the Russian and Ukrainian languages are - that only two silly letters separate one from the other, for goodness sake, is quite ridiculous and completely false. In reality, a Russian speaker will usually not understand the Ukrainian language at all. On the other hand, a Ukrainian will understand the Russian language, especially if he chooses to. On the whole, Europe By Train - 2003 is somewhat inaccurate and it's not recommended. Luckily, there are numerous other rail guides available.