Cassell's French & English Dictionary [Paperback]

J. H. Douglas (Compiler), Denis Girard (Compiler), W. Thompson (Compiler)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0020136803 | ISBN-13: 978-0020136804 | Publication Date: September 1, 1986

The greatest name in foreign language dictionaries is Cassell, the preeminent publisher of dictionaries for over 120 years.

For fast, easy reference and comprehensive coverage, Cassell's is unbeatable. With entries covering daily conversation as well as technical and professional terms, this handy pocket-sized dictionary is the only reference you need while traveling, studying, or working.

Cassell's is portable, easy to read and full of helpful usage information that's simple to access. This invaluable volume, backed by the world's foremost language authority, is the best pocket guide available to the French language.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, French

From the Back Cover

From the greatest name in foreign language dictionaries Cassell's French & English Dictionary For fast, easy reference and comprehensive listings, Cassell's French & English Dictionary is unbeatable. With over 55,000 entries covering daily conversation as well as technical and professional terms, this handy pocket-sized dictionary is all you need while traveling, studying, or tracking down meanings. Thousands of words, phrases, and idioms in everyday usage are included for maximum up-to-date reference, along with tables of regular and irregular verbs and a pronunciation guide for flexible, correct communication. Cassell's French & English Dictionary is legible and easy to read. It provides faster references for meanings and spellings and simpler access to complete information. This invaluable volume backed by the world's foremost authorities is the best pocket-sized guide to the French language available.

Product Details

• Paperback: 672 pages
• Publisher: Cassell's (September 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0020136803
• ISBN-13: 978-0020136804
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 4.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #185,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > French
  • #27 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > Phrasebooks - General
  • #42 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > Dictionaries; Polyglot

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great for quick reference -- needs updated! (details), September 25, 2009

By 

Patrick W. Crabtree "The Old Grottomaster" (Lucasville, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cassell's French & English Dictionary (Paperback)

I use this dictionary in reading European literature and upon encountering French phrases, (such as in War and Peace (Vintage Classics) and in Agatha Christie mysteries.) It's also useful during my intermittent trips to Canada.

Here's what you get:

-- 55,000 entries
-- different meanings of the same word (e.g., "lead") are separate and numbered
-- the verb guides are helpful
-- there are 658 pages in total
-- it's pretty easy and fast to find the word you're looking for

For me, here are the drawbacks:

-- while the publishers state, "legible and easy to read," I would challenge them on this point. I need a magnifying glass to clearly see the punctuation marks. The fonts are very small.
-- while this volume proclaims to be a "dictionary," don't expect any actual definitions... there are none. So I was lost on words such as "loggerhead" ("lourdaud"), "usurious" ("usurier") and, "affray" (bagarre). I still don't know what they mean.
-- this book contains no obscenities -- maybe that suits some folks but when I encounter such words in text or as people speak them (very common today), this book will not help me determine what was said. Merde!!!
-- Pocket-sized (as claimed)? Well... if you have really big military-type pockets.

And if you are expecting an up-to-date French-English dictionary, this isn't it. It was revised and subsequently published by Macmillan in 1966 from the original 1904 edition. As far as I could determine, it hasn't been revised since then -- just reprinted. This likely explains the total absence of obscene words which the publishers no doubt wanted to keep mum from curious high school French language students.

This book works okay for me, the casual user, but I suspect that you could find a better one out there given a little research.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cassell's French & English Dictionary, November 9, 2006

By 

April J. Rosenthal - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cassell's French & English Dictionary (Paperback)

This is very comprehensive and has helped enormously with my French studies.

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Dictionary for Singers, July 8, 2011

By 

Saxy - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Cassell's French & English Dictionary (Paperback)

As a Vocal Performance student, this resource is necessary for learning to pronounce the word properly as well as understanding the meaning of the word. The IPA is great. The definitions are concise. This is the Best all around dictionary with IPA that I've found. You can't go wrong with it!