American English Compendium: 21st Century A Guidebook for Translators, Interpreters, Writers, Editors, and Advanced Language Students [Paperback]

Marv Rubinstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 1998

This Compendium helps one better understand how this language works, while providing five compact, quick-reference dictionaries, all in one portable book.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This dictionary made my day..." -- The Tokyo Times.

About the Author

Marv Rubinstein

Product Details

• Paperback: 345 pages
• Publisher: Schreiber,Shengold Publishing (February 24, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1887563385
• ISBN-13: 978-1887563383
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,862,226 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Many Uses of the Compendium, April 16, 2000

By 

Marla Schulman (Washington,DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American English Compendium: 21st Century A Guidebook for Translators, Interpreters, Writers, Editors, and Advanced Language Students (Paperback)

As a professional editor, translator, and project manager for large writing and translation assignments, I found myself using this book on a regular basis as a companion to the regular English language dictionaries I use routinely. When I run into an unusual term in English, or when I have to make a distiction between U.S. and U.K words or expressions, or when I need to check a computer acronym or abbrevation, I find myself referring to this book over and over again. It is an excellent companion to the regular dictionaries, and I highly recommand it to both native speakers of English and to foreigners who struggle with the many pecularities of American and other kinds of English.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent language & translation resource, April 17, 2000

By 

Stephen Want (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American English Compendium: 21st Century A Guidebook for Translators, Interpreters, Writers, Editors, and Advanced Language Students (Paperback)

This book is an excellent language and translation resource for those working with American and British English, particularly in its effort to cover comprehensively areas of language and speech not easily found in dictionaries, compendiums and lexicons. It has large sections dealing with colloquialisms, slang, abbreviations and acronyms, highlighting and explaining the kinds of language problems American/British English translators and interpreters commonly confront. It is also a fascinating and funny read for those interested in the current uneasy relationship between American and British English, as well as an exploration of the contradictions and complexities inherent in the languages. Voluminous to be helpful in most lingusitic situations, yet compact enough and well organized to be easily used, this is that rare kind of reference book: excellent and enduring value!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mid-Atlantic English, October 17, 2000

By 

Dan Poynter "Author-Publisher-Speaker" (Santa Barbara, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: 21st Century American English Compendium (Paperback)

As our world shrinks and our works flow across borders, our books will sell better if they are not perceived as "foreign". Ordinarily, we circumvent the foreign label by avoiding certain words. We try not to use words that can be spelled in two ways such as color/colour. We try to avoid geographical references such as "About the size of Massachusetts". And we try to avoid (English/Metric) measurements. We call this writing in "Mid-Atlantic English". Then when a distant reader picks up our book, it does not seem as though it was written for someone else.

The American English Compendium goes even further. It explains and often translates proverbs, slogans, aphorisms, expressions, similes, metaphors, slang, colloquialisms, acronyms, abbreviations, nicknames and words. Writers, editors, translators and other wordsmiths will find this book a valuable reference and just fun to read. For full coverage, click on Table of Contents in the left-hand column of this page.

Marv Rubinstein is an attorney and chemical engineer who recently retired from the Monterey Institute of International Studies where he taught American English to foreign students.

As a publisher, author of 113 books (including revisions and foreign-language editions) and over 500 magazine articles and a consultant to the publishing industry, I recommend this book to wordsmiths everywhere. [e-mail].