Customer Reviews

Bosnian-English, English-Bosnian Dictionary (Hippocrene Concise Dictionary)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Albeit that there are not many dictionaries on the beautiful languages of Bosnian. This book is one of a very few resourses available on the language. It is a good reference, but not the last word on translation.

While this dictionary is brief, it provides a good, pocket-sized introduction to the Bosnian language.

Another good (and small) example is the Langenscheidt "Croatian" dictionary (which is no different than previous "Serbo-Croatian" editions). The Susan Kroll "Bosnian" dictionary is one to avoid.

Beyond these, one would do best by investing in a two-volume dictionary...there's not much in the medium (not too big, not too expensive range).

This book has an english word followed by a transliteration in Bosnian then from one to four words that SHOULD be translations. BUT...you find the words are derivatives of the word but take on a different meaning the word. For instance, "sit" will cover "sit on the table", "I will sit here", and then "Sit down". (This is an example as I was talking to a Bosnian interpretor and she quickly corrected me on just one of the variations i.e. sjesti=Sit down. But there is NO way of telling what the context of the word is. There are alot of commone words missing that you would expect any other kind of dictionary to contain.

I did find this dictionary useful in the begining, it was better than not having a dictionary. I have some special needs in this department, I wish there were a dictionary that had legal terms, and medical terms. Will as in 'Last Will and Testament 'is a very different matter from 'will you do this?' There were misspellings of words in English, which makes me wonder if some Bosnian words got misspelled. It would have been very helpful to know if a word was more used by Serbian, Croatian or Muslim people too. In Bosnia that was not a huge problem for me, but I traveled in Croatia as well and sometimes it would have been a help to know. Sometimes a word would be used all over the place and I would not know what it was. This was not always a matter of declensions or tenses. I would have liked if some of the 'bad' words were included. I learned on the ground that perfectly respectable Bosnian people do use 'bad' words. It is also not a service to people that words for basic bodily functions are stinted on. If you have a medical problem abroad and can't even find words to tell what is your problem, that could be deadly. My other problem with this book is that it is physically speaking poorly constructed. This is not the author's fault. My dictionary is falling apart! It began to fall apart during my first trip to Bosnia. Still it was a help at the time. When I got this dictionary it was what was available. I got it in 1998 shortly after meeting my Bosnian fiance. It was a big help to us, to him learning words in English, to my learning a bit of the lovely Bosnian language. I am glad that since 1998, more affordable dictionaries are out there. I did also get Celia Hawksworth's book 'Colloquial Serbian and Croatian.' It has been a help too.

You can buy a cheaper version of this dictionary by the same author, the same publisher, the same number of pages, and the same number of words.

The cheaper version is the Bosnian-English, English-Bosnian Hippocrene COMPACT dictionary. (Yes, the page size and type are smaller, but if you have normal eyesight, it will do just fine.)

If you want to save a few bucks, go with the COMPACT edition.

This is a small dictionary and suitable for its intended use. It contains enough of the words in regular use for a student to understand basic Bosnian.

Very well put together dictionary, very well organized, especially with the non-English characters. Only has pronunciation for the Bosnian alphabet and for English translations, seems geared more towards Bosnians learning English then the other way around, but I still find very helpful and use it almost daily.

This dictionary isn't too bad; however, beware! There are quite a few words that are translated into Serbo-Croatian and not Bosnian, such as biirth certificate. In Bosnian it is rodni list, but in this book it is krsni list, which to Bosnians is a substantial difference. If you know the Bosnian culture, the book is okay; however, if you're tryng to learn BOSNIAN, do not buy it.