Customer Reviews

Cambridge International Dictionary of English

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is probably one of the best dictionaries of international English to appear on the market - ever. Well-illustrated, and containing whole pages of grammar helps and lists of useful information relevant to every aspect of the use of the English language, this is the ultimate help for both teachers and students - as well as any other professional who comes into close and frequent contact with English.

By far, the greatest merit of this reference is that it is fair in respect to both British and American variants of the English language. Don't know what a pitch is, as in "They stepped onto the pitch to start the game?" Look it up to find that it's the British variant of "field". Perplexed when those Americans complain about dumpsters being emptied at 2:00 a.m.? It's in here too, as "skip" - and, what's more, for those learners who have no inkling as to what either a skip or a dumpster is, a well-illustrated "building and construction" table shows us what a skip is, along with several other implements.

What exactly is a pub? It's well-defined as "a building with one or more rooms where alcoholic drinks can be bought and drunk and where food is often available". But that, as is clearly explained, is only in England and Australia. In the US, it's a bar. All usages are clearly compared and contrasted with concise, carefully-worded examples.

The accompanying CD is another plus that vaults Cambridge's solid reputation into the 21st century. Along with providing everything the dictionary offers, it offers interactive pictures and the American and British pronunciation of the words - quite a handy tool for learners.

An excellent investment to be used for both a career and a lifetime, this will grace the lectern, the desk, and the copywriter's table with equal compatibility.

- Benjamin Gene Gardner

I selected this CD based on the (seemingly) good price and flattering comments on the Amazon website.
I need an electronic dictionary help me write a book about applying semantics to database modeling and design.

This CD disappointed me for five reasons:

1 No etymology
Essential if you need to fully understand and to compare the meanings of words.

2 Limited scope
The first three words I tried were not on the CD.

3 Slow load
It takes a loooong time to load (minutes). I'm using a 1000 mhz PC with 512MB ram and fast disks and all my other applications are lightning fast. (After it has loaded it is fast.) You have to choose to leave the application running or suffer the very slow startup every time you want to use it.

4 Audio does not always work
When I first loaded the application the pronounciation buttons worked. Now they don't work.(error message = Sound file not available). The word "audio" is not in the help file index!

5 Inhibiting copyright protection method
You have to put the CD in every 30 days or else the software stops running. I have dozens of applications on my machine and I travel a lot. If all software suppliers used this method I would have to carry dozens of CD's with me just in case one of them exceeded the 30 day limit. This creates an unnecessary administrative problem even for home users.

Why did I give it two stars?
Pronunciation: This CD will be people who want to know how to pronounce words. When the audio works, it works well and has both American and British sounds (but not for all words).

Spelling: I have always had trouble spelling "disappointed" and "unnecessary" Both of these words are in the dictionary so it helped me to prepare this review.

This dictionary literally is the best dictionary I've ever seen, I've never opened it to lookup a word and I didn't find it. You'll be amazed of how this book almost got everything you're looking for, from scientific words to slang, including charts of words origins and comparisons of english and other languages, its really amazing I would give it a 6 out of 5.

I tried to make a crossword based on the International Phonetic Alphabet. This dictionary is the only one I could find that fully explained English Pronunciation. All the major unabridged dictionaries slant towards either British (OED) or American (Webster's) pronunciations, but none of the American dictionaries cover IPA. This is becoming my favorite dictionary due to it's many unique features.

I have purchased several similar products on CD-ROM format. And none of them can be compared with the uniqueness of this dictionary.

The main selling points:
Pronunciations of headwords are really exceptional clear (British and American). Many of them are provided with ample examples to the point that second language learners know how & when to use new words from its contexts. With over 50,000 definitions and over 100,000 examples sentences, it should be adequate for day-to-day reading task. You may use different searching criteria to find specific word. But the search engine is intelligent enough to give you ample related words on its default setting. For example, when you input the word 'dictionary' you got 52 of related words from its outcome instantly. This is a revolution in lexicography over traditional method.

This is not a perfect dictionary and none in our world. I hope in the future edition, there will be much larger headword entry, more learner-oriented features and more pictures and illustrations in fancy cartoonish format.

The dictionary is perfect! It has pronunciation for British, American and Australian English. It has an extensive list of usage examples for each entry. It also has some sections with subject-correlated words; for example, shows all different cars and describe their names, shows the car parts and some expressions related to the issue.
It comes with a CD that was intended to be interesting, since it has a voice engine that pronounces the words for you. BUT the application takes power from the computer, takes forever to startup and is excessively slow.
In a brief, only the dictionary is worth it.

It is the book that enables your students produce English. With ample example sentences (100000), it is the thing that EFL learners are dying for.

This is easily the most useful English dictionary I have come across for the general reader. It clearly separates different meanings of a word by referring to broader categories. It uses a limited vocabulary to define all terms. It gives sets of false friends. For nouns, it indicates verbs with which they may be used. In some instances, drawings are used to clarify meanings.

Some friends would like to see maps and other geographical information in the dictionary. I myself do not find this essential, but if it is seen as essential in a very competitive market, let the editors take note for the next edition.

Will there be a web or CD edition as well?

Being a Chinese who is learning English as a foreign language, I always look for a good and comprehensive dictionary. This should of course one of my most favorite one.

All words are explained in plain English by using the 2000 "defining words", with so many examples, phrases, and many more supplementary information such as the difference between AUS, BR, AM and CAN style of English, picture illustrations, and "language portrait". This should, of course be a must-have English dictionary for all-types of learners, even for native English speaker.

I bought the "Cambridge International Dictionary of English on CD-ROM (ISBN:0521775752)" thinking that item would be better than "Cambridge Dictionary of American English (CD-ROM INSIDE)" and "The New Oxford American Dictionary on CD-ROM", it was terrible mistake. This software has a lot of technical problems, I didn't be able to work with this dictionary. Really, I don't recommend this item.
I recommend the "Cambridge International Dictionary of English (Paperback) (ISBN:0521484219)", "Cambridge Dictionary of American English (CD-ROM INSIDE) [ISBN:0-521-77974-X], "Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary: Of Current English (Paperback) (ISBN:019431510X)" or "The New Oxford American Dictionary on CD-ROM (ISBN:0195150619). Those are all better than Cambridge International Dictionary of English on CD-ROM (ISBN:0521775752).

I hope with this help you!!