Customer Reviews

The Combined New Persian-English and English Persian Dictionary

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This dictionary is very useful. It has thousands of entries and is written by two men, one of whom is Iranian and studied in England for years. One may have to cross-reference some words, because it is a foreign language and meanings do not exactly correspond sometimes, until you find the one that fits best.
It even gives example uses, and derivatives of usage. I challenge you to find a better one, even in Iran...

This is a fairly good dictionary. Although it has some uneven inking, and the script is tiny, the translations are good. This book is written more for Persian to English translation. If you don't speak Persian and look up a word, it will give you many translations, but not all in the same context. Such as sentence - prison sentence or sentence of words in a book. Also, the English-Persian does not help with the pronunciation. In Farsi the vowels are written above and below the letters, and after 3rd grade, most of the words are understood and these vowels are no longer included in most written script. If you don't already know how to pronounce the word, it makes it difficult. The better book for English to Farsi translation is "An English-Persian Dictionary" by Dariush B. Gilani. However, this book, too, does not include context in the translation, so if you don't know the difference between "sentence" and "sentence", you will make some mistakes. I have not found a good dictionary for someone who has never spoken Farsi before. A combination of the two books listed above will be good for someone who has had a 3rd grade Persian education in the past.

If you want an accurate all encompassing dictionary this is a must buy. My instructor is an Iranian native and even he cant find a better dictionary. Keep in mind though this isn't a beginner's dictionary it is meant for people who can read farsi. What worked best for me, and helped me learn to read better was using the learners dictionary by dehghani in conjunction with this book. the learners dictionary uses phonetic spelling which is helpful for people who cannot read yet but need to know a words meaning. another book i would recommend is teach yourself farsi it will teach you fundamentals and the alphabet plus helps your writing. Make sure you get the older one I think it has a more extensive lesson on the alphabet. Well I digress but anyway after 6 months of learning farsi this dictionary is my most treasured tool if i need to find a word its in this dictionary. Good Luck!

This waws purchased for my Afghan friends who often must translate documents for the military. Not only was it a nice gift, as the book is very professional, but they were very pleased with how complete the dictionary was.

I am learning Persian, and one of the first things I look for when starting a new language is a good English-/insert language here/ dictionary. Based on some of the reviews and the limited number of choices, I purchased this dictionary.

Reasons I only rated it two stars:

1) Difficult to read: My first issue is that the Persian text is small, often blurred and always difficult to read. I always learn to read the language I'm studying, and therefore specifically wanted a dictionary that contained the Persian words in their native script. Perhaps a twenty-year-old can read them, but even with reading glasses I have difficulty making out many of the letters. I'm able to read most books and text without reading glasses.

2) Pronunciation: One of the reasons that I look for a dictionary is to learn how to pronounce new words. In Persian, as in Arabic, normal versions of the words do not contain written versions of short vowels. There is a method used to denote them called "diacriticals" that are normally used in children's book books and dictionaries, but the Persian words in the English-to-Persian portion of this dictionary do not include them. This dictionary should have either included transliteration or diacriticals to allow users to know how to properly pronounce the words.

3) Lack of clarity: When looking up English words for their Persian counterparts, I occasionally wasn't sure which word I was looking at. For instance, "miss": I *think* that this may be "a young woman", but can't tell from the entry and the Persian word listed isn't the one I've learned in any of my other resources. More detail or usage for which English word is being translated would be helpful.

All in all, I would regret purchasing this book if it weren't for the fact that I found that my native-speaking tutor enjoyed it and was able to gift it to him. I found the "Persian-English English-Persian Learner's Dictionary" by Yavar Dehghani to be a MUCH more useful resource, despite containing fewer words.

I find this dictionary very good, just the right size for a serious learner of Farsi. However, older persons who need glasses might have problems with Farsi entries, which should be bigger. Another drawback are the signs for the vowels, which are not indicated. I recommend it.

I feel like I need a magnifying glass to read this dictionary. I appreciate the fact that it has thousands of useful words, but could we make the font just a little larger. Also, it would be nice to have indented letter tabs for quick reference since there are so many words. I feel like it takes forever to just find the letter...