85 of 85 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply the best dictionary on the market!, October 19, 2000
This review is from: Collins German Unabridged Dictionary, 4th Edition (Hardcover)
As a scholar of German literature and visual culture, this is the single most valuable resource on my shelf! This dictionary beats the stodgy and akward Oxford-Duden hands down in terms of colloquial accuracy, depth, and ease of use. Unlike the Duden and the Langenscheidt German-English dictionaries, this volume contains far more easily-accessible information for the non-native speaker of German. For example, under noun-entries, the gender as well as the plural, dative and genitive endings of a noun are all indicated in the first line of an entry-- there is no need to resort to annoying noun-classification charts like in the Duden, where you often have to flip through 1000 or so pages to find the accompanying noun-paradigm, e.g. just to figure out the plural of a given word. The same holds true for verbs: a wealth of idiomatic examples for the most common uses of a verb are given in each entry -- an excellent aid for those who do not possess the infallible instincts of a native speaker. What is more, I found the unit conversion and verb charts, as well as the correspondence and resume-writing tips in the "Language in Use" section very helpful during my studies abroad.
In short, this user-friendly bilingual dictionary is the standard against which all others must be measured!
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35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the right dictionary makes *ALL* the difference, August 19, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Collins German Unabridged Dictionary, 4th Edition (Hardcover)
Academics, this is the dictionary for you! German scholarship is vitally important to anyone in my field. I used to struggle over the abstract and often technical vocabulary, which made wading through German articles (let alone whole books) a major headache. Somehow I never had more than about an 80% certainty about what any given word meant, and by the bottom of the page that 20% of doubt would add up . . . I had grown very discouraged indeed, until one day, almost by accident, having borrowed my husband's Collins in lieu of my own Oxford-Duden, I discovered that the problem wasn't in fact any lack of skill on my part, but the fault of my dictionary, which for all its heft simply didn't include enough detail to get down to the technical meanings of words. What a revelation! I logged into Amazon.com & ordered my own copy. And now, with the Collins in hand, there's nothing I can't tackle. It has quite literally changed my life.
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolute Spitzenklasse!, March 15, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Collins German Unabridged Dictionary, 4th Edition (Hardcover)
This could well be the best two-way dictionary of any language pair anywhere. As an avid student of several foreign languages (incl. English and German) for 20 years, I have come to know what constitutes a first-rate dictionary. It is nothing short of a masterpiece.
I had been using a predecessor edition (2nd ed., 1991) for some 10 years, and even when it was published it was the best of its kind and constantly on my desk. This 4th edition raises the bar by featuring improvements across the board. The benefits derived from the increased computerised analysis of the huge word corpora Bank of English and Deutsche Textbörse are increasingly visible. Vorsprung durch Technik, indeed.
1. This exhaustive dictionary embraces, on 1000 pages in either section, every register from formal officialese via the standard language right down to vulgar slang. But it is in the real-life language where Collins has the finger right on the pulse. Many word entries are awash with examples of usage/idioms/set phrases/proverbs as actually used by natives as well as their natural translations. (I wish there were a way to download all this information into my brain because I would be able to handle any situation in flying colours.)
2. Inclusion of German words like Kardanwelle, Rochade, das Pull-Down-Menü, Überlaufanzeige etc. indicate extensive coverage of specialist terms in many fields as well as loan-words from the 90s.
3. The English section is equally impressive, listing e.g. cyberpet, establishing shot, trick or treat, decontextualize, nuclear reprocessing plant, memory expansion card, look-in, supergrass, wicked (UK slang). The word "go" and its associated phrasal verbs have an astounding range of translations.
4. Idiomatic phrases such as "to get away with sth" and "jdm etwas zumuten" which are contextually dependent are given several alternative and appropriate translations.
5. Certain bon mots and expressions which are used mostly in situations on one side of the Channel (or those whose counterpart is much less colourful!) are well translated.
Examples: set piece, pub crawl, single-track mind, car-boot sale, off-the-record, stomping groud, pipe dream; Stammtisch, Führungszeugnis, Geheimtipp, Kuschelrock, Dreitagebart, Wohngemeinschaft, Dunkelziffer, nicht mehr der jüngste sein etc. In fact, even "Ich schau dir in die Augen, Kleines", the classic line from the dubbed version of Casablanca, is listed. Hut ab!
6. This edition includes an audio CD with pronunciation (because they understand that there is a practical limit to phonetic script). The layout has been given a face-lift with 3 columns per page instead of 2 resulting in improved readability.
7. The dictionary's vast scope, depth and usability for both English and German learners and speakers (in equal measure) leave virtually no room for valid criticism. Yet some words and expressions seem to have escaped the researchers' keen eye for detail (so far); missing English words are e.g. polenta, present/current value (Fin), brown-noser, case-sensitive. Im deutschen Teil sind die folgenden durchaus geläufigen Wörter nicht aufgeführt: Quereinsteiger, Marktabschottung, Kasslerbraten, Regelwerk, verhandlungssicher, Töff (CH). But this is nit-picking.
Summa summarum: Kudos to the team of meticulous professionals behind this work for having brought out the Mercedes S-Klasse - with all the optional extras - of dictionaries. It's also an exemplary cross-border collaboration optimally blending British practicality and German precision.
Buy this dictionary - you may still be using it in 2012.
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