Customer Reviews

Arabicā English Bilingual Visual Dictionary (DK Visual Dictionaries)

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This dictionary might be quite good for an Arab visiting England, but for a Western tourist going to an Arab country it will be useful only for medical emergencies,etc. or for describing you own culture. It is just a rehash of the German, French, Spanish... dictionaries. That would be alright for a European culture but not for any Arab country that I have ever visited (5 in all). Where are all the things from the Arab's world? You can find everything from England of course, all the parts of a church but not even the word for minaret or the ababic "pulpit" (Minbar),etc. Lots of beatuiful northern landscapes (what about deserts?), all the games and sports which are not played, all the plants and trees which don't grow there (all the different types of English gardens!).All kinds of alcoholic beverages and all the food (cuts of pork) which you won't find in an Arabic country unless you just eat at the Hilton or Marriott (or, God forbid, Mac Donald's). Where are all the Arabic dishes: esfihas, chick pea spread, babghanouch, kibbe? Nothing! I wouldn't bother taking this on a trip to an Arabic country. I could probably get something more useful, even if less sofisticated, when I arrived there at the airport. With a culture so diferent the editors should have done a bit of research and editing/expansion before issuing a dictionary like this. Typical result of ignorance (arrogant lack of respect for?) of another culture!

For anyone using this as part of their learning Arabic, be warned that the entire book is full of pooly done transliterations. Vowels are wrong in many cases (such as Katif being Kitif for example) or even consonants (all the instances of dhaal' are turned into z which will lead you to sound like an Egyptian instead of learning the correct standard pronuciation of dhaal' being as in the beginning of "that").

Additionally it seems as if all the pictures in the books correpond to a European/American world so maybe this is geared for someone coming from the Arabic world to here.

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DK's VISUAL ARABIC-ENGLISH BILINGUAL DICTIONARY is an excellent text to complement beginning Modern Standard Arabic courses. Not only is it visually attractive, but the up-to-date vocabulary, arranged by subjects (appearance, study, work, sports, etc.), has all the words that students want to know right away. I believe that it is absolutely essential, when learning new (concrete) words in a foreign language, that the student start right away to associate each word with an image. When a student looks at a door, for instance, he or she immediately thinks of the Arabic word for it. There is none of this "That's a door and the word for door in Arabic is...."

Really cute dictionary with lots of project specific words. Example is a cooking section with all the arabic names for specialty cookware, tart pans, pots and such. Other sections include the ocean, gym, anatomy, etc... The only problem is that it's a small dictionary with really limited words, I could only find the word 'father' and not the more commonly used 'daddy' or 'baba'. Seems like a odd thing to leave out. This is definitely a very beginners dictionary, but helpful, and entertaining to go through.

the book is really good for the beginners in the arabic language and is good source of new vocabulary, i am pretty sure you will enjoy using this book.

I've been studying Arabic for the past two years with Al-Kitaab, and realized that although I could often talk about very complex topics in Arabic, I often lacked very simple vocabulary for everyday things. I found this book to be really fantastic and useful for learning everyday words (wall, lamp), as well as very detailed specific things (kinds of tools for example). My main complaint is that I wish it would give the words with tashkeel for easier pronunciation, as well as giving the plural form of the word. It also would have been very helpful to include some more culturally specific words.

Love this book! Very detailed, great pictures and like the fact it is in Arabic/English but also with pronunciation. It is very though from the human body to everyday living!

I came across this book at a local B&N. I checked it out quickly and loved the visuals.

I feel that the book is helpful, but it is geared towards life in the west. For example, the Construction Equipment section, or the sports section - A lot of which are not played in that part of the world. So in that aspect, I do agree with the other post. There is no desert, or minaret. It's not really geared toward Arab life, although it's an Arabic/English dictionary. But I've been studying Arabic since '08. I took two semesters at a university and the professor was great! It all depends what you want to use this for. But overall it wasn't horrible.

I still use this book to help communicate with my students and to help them understand english a little better. A wonderful tool for bringing world and cultures together as we are all one family of man.

I am not very happy with this,although it arrived on time and in perfect condition. I find it difficult to look up and is quite restricted in the words available. It is not a comprehensive dictionary. It is an interesting book to flick through, more of a coffee table book where you will learn something everytime you pick it up but as a dictionary it is poor.