NTC's Bulgarian and English Dictionary [Hardcover]

Elena Stankova (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0844249793 | ISBN-13: 978-0844249797 | Edition: 1

Over 10,000 Bulgarian and English words with pronunciation guide and key to pronunciation of Bulgarian letters.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (January 11, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0844249793
• ISBN-13: 978-0844249797
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,446,046 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for Bulgarians, slightly lacking for English speakers., December 6, 2003

By 

dinska "phoenixwinged" (Chicagoland, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: NTC's Bulgarian and English Dictionary (Hardcover)

My old Bulgarian to English/English to Bulgarian dictionary was past the stage of being dog-eared, so I ordered this one to give it a try. After using it for a few weeks, I find it a perfectly adequate practical dictionary. I'm Bulgarian-American, not a scholar, so I can't speak for every nuance, but the translations are sound.

What I do have to mention is that this is clearly a dictionary for Bulgarians repackaged to fit a wider user base. What this means is that there are no pronounciation guides in English for Bulgarian words, but there are pronounciation guides for English words in Bulgarian. As well, all word definitions are in Bulgarian, in both the Bulgarian to English and the English to Bulgarian sections of the book. This is fairly typical for Bulgarian/English dictionaries and does not make this book any more lacking than others on the market.

My point being is that if you're trying to learn Bulgarian for the first time for a brief trip or an occasion, you might do better with a travel dictionary or phrasebook. What I as a Bulgarian-American who knows the language might find quirky or quaint would be frustrating and confusing to someone looking at words for the first time.

They say never to buy phrasebooks, but in this case, if you fit the group above, you might rather have that instead.

On a side note, this book is bound extremely well and has a nice, durable cover. This one won't be getting dog-eared anytime soon!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best English-Bulgarian Dictionary Available!, May 13, 2004

By 

David A. Jones (Kennewick, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: NTC's Bulgarian and English Dictionary (Hardcover)

I will be serving a two-year Christian mission in Bulgaria. My first language is English and I have been learning Bulgarian, a task that would be nearly impossible without a good English-Bulgarian dictionary. I have looked at all the dictionaries on the market and this one is by far the best. The following three paragraphs are responses to the review made by "phoenixwinged".

It is true that the Bulgarian-to-English portion of the dictionary does not contain pronunciations for each individual Bulgarian word, but that is because Bulgarian can be read phonetically! The Bulgarian pronunciation guide in the front of the book is all you need to know in order to pronounce the words correctly. Once you memorize the Cyrillic alphabet (which is quite easy) you will be able to correctly pronounce any Bulgarian word. English, on the other hand, is not always spelled phonetically (i.e. knife, psychology, tough, etc.). This is why the pronunciations are provided only in the English-to-Bulgarian portion of the dictionary.

Contrary to what "phoenixwinged" stated, the definitions in the Bulgarian section of the dictionary are in English and the definitions in the English section of the dictionary are in Bulgarian. It is possible that "phoenixwinged" has an older edition of the book in which all of the definitions are presented in Bulgarian, but that is not the case with this edition.

It would be unwise to purchase a phrasebook instead of this dictionary. A phrasebook may be a useful companion to this dictionary, but certainly not a replacement. I have a Bulgarian phrasebook and it has not helped me very much at all. If you are serious about learning Bulgarian you need a dictionary, and this one is the best available!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fatally flawed for a beginning student, March 21, 2006

By 

Tobin D. Baker (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: NTC's Bulgarian and English Dictionary (Hardcover)

After reading the mostly positive reviews here I ordered this dictionary, since the only reference I currently have is the glossary at the end of my "Intensive Bulgarian" textbook. What a disappointment it was to finally receive it and discover that not only are no aspect pairs listed, but *no* perfective verbs are listed at all! This makes it virtually useless to me and anyone else who does not know the perfective forms to begin with.

The printing is also substandard (it looks like a photocopy of a textbook), but I would be more than willing to overlook its aesthetic drawbacks if the content were satisfactory. Sadly, it is not. I will be returning this book and, unless I can find a compact and affordable alternative, will make the investment in the Rankova/Atanasova Bulgarian-English and English-Bulgarian dictionaries, although these are considerably more comprehensive than my present needs warrant (and are hardly affordable at about $140 for both!). If anyone knows of a better alternative, please let me know!