The Combined New Persian-English and English-Persian Dictionary [Hardcover]

Abbas Aryanpur-Kashani (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: Persian, English

Product Details

• Hardcover: 605 pages
• Publisher: Mazda Pub; Bilingual edition (January 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0939214296
• ISBN-13: 978-0939214297
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #109,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Persian & Farsi

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not perfect, but the best one out there, August 3, 2005

By 

C. Legendy (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Combined New Persian-English and English-Persian Dictionary (Hardcover)

If you're looking to buy a Persian dictionary, and don't already know it, there's a reality you have to face. Persian-English dictionaries are a lot worse than dictionaries for most other languages.

That said, Aryanpour is the best one out there, at least for MODERN Persian. If you're dealing with medieval texts, there is no better book than Steingass.

In every Persian class I've taken, people have started out with an assortment of dictionaries, and by the end of the course most, if not all the students decided to buy Aryanpour. I think that speaks volumes for its thoroughness and ease of use.

Copies of Aryanpour that I've seen were not very well printed-- the inking is uneven, sometimes the text becomes crooked --but far from illegible.

As for organization, I'd say the Persian-English section is much better than the English-Persian. The English-Persian section gives direct translations without context (for instance, if you're looking up the word "sentence," the author does not give you any way to distinguish between the word for "prison sentence," and that meaning "a group of words"). However, whenever there are multiple meanings in the Persian-English section, the author provides generally solid context.

Two more strenghts of this book: it includes prefixes and suffixes, explains how to use them, and gives definitions for a good number of words which take them; and it includes a lot of the Arabic words commonly found in the Persian language.

My main complaint about the book, besides its weaker English-Persian section, is that it does not always include diacritical marks on Persian text, which is particularly annoying if you're looking up an English word and have to guess on the pronunciation.

One complaint I've heard about this books is that it doesn't include transliterations, like some other dictionaries. I can only agree with this insofar as I have a problem with those words where the authors decided not to include the diacritical. Otherwise, it's really the reader's responsibility to learn to read the Persian script.

The bottom line is, this is book is worth having. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the ones currently on the market.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best Farsi English Dictionary I've used., January 18, 2007

By 

Zeno - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Combined New Persian-English and English Persian Dictionary (Hardcover)

This is the best dictionary of the 5 or 6 Farsi to English dictionaries I've come across. Obviously, the more Farsi you know the easier it is to use. What I like about this dictionary the most is that it has Farsi to English and English to Farsi in one volume. Furthermore, definitions for common words are usually followed by synonyms, related words and contextual examples, sometimes sentences utilizing the word being defined, sometimes common phrases. I don't know of any other Farsi dictionary that does that. This is also the dictionary that the U.S. military uses at the Defense Language Institute.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK but marred by not including Persian pronunciation, October 16, 2009

By 

Albert Haig (Australia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Combined New Persian-English and English-Persian Dictionary (Hardcover)

I am a native English speaker, learning Persian. This is an otherwise excellent dictionary, that suffers from one glaring defect. While it includes the pronunciation of English word entries, it does not include the pronunciation of Persian word entries. The Persian words do not include the vowel markings, without which it is impossible for a non-Persian to learn how to pronounce them. It is clearly designed for native Persian speakers to learn English, not vice-versa. But is so easily could be improved by including the Persian pronunciation! I hope the authors take note of this feedback, and include it in future editions. It would make the work twice as useful.