Customer Reviews

NTC's Compact Korean and English Dictionary (NTC Language Dictionaries)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the process of learning seven languages I've used many dictionaries and this is the worst I've ever seen. This is a real shame because it's the only Korean-English dictionary I've seen directed towards a native English speaker learning Korean. Those directed towards Koreans completely ignore issues a native English speaker might have. The completely romanized format is very frustrating. It's fine for English to Korean, but useless if you want to look up a Korean word. Most students of Korean learn hangeul within the first week of a Korean language course, so learning romanization is just an annoying step backwards. And for those who haven't learned the very simple hangeul, why force them to learn how to romanize a Korean word they might see on a sign or in a menu when that energy would be better spent learning how to look the word up directly in hangeul. The entries themselves are so short, so devoid of examples and consideration of idiomatic meanings to be almost useless. I know this is meant to be a very basic dictionary, but it has been stripped too far. Context must be taken into particular consideration with the Korean language, because of its notoriously case specific nature.

English-Korean is all right, but the Korean-English section is terribly confusing. Since the dictionary uses hangul, why are the Korean words alphabetized according to the romanizations? For a beginning Korean student, learning the hangul alphabetical order is challenge enough. Add a seemingly erratic romanization (there is no one standard system of writing Korean words in Roman letters), and you have a very confused student! For this much money, find a dictionary that is strictly hangul without confusing romanizations.

I second Minerva Rheault's motion: Romanizing Korean is not a good idea. However, my objection is somewhat different--any serious student of the Korean language will eventually look up items which are not in this dictionary. The sooner that student learns the Korean alphabet, the better.

Would you serve a drink to an alcoholic?
If not, then don't serve Romanization to a student of the Korean language.

This dicitonary is OK. When my Korean teacher (I am an expat living in Seoul, so I trust that she knows Korean backwards & forwards)checks my homework, often she says, "no one uses that word any more." It is also common to not find words that I need in this dictionary.

This is a good beginners dictionary. Its not too big that I can carry it with me while out and about, but not too small either (it won't fit in your pocket/normal size purse). The only down side is that the korean part is filed under romanization instead of hangul. It does have the hangul printed next to it, but I have found that the romanization can throw people off the correct pronunciation.

The book was in very good condition, looked brand new like it never been opened. Got here in a reasonable time too (ordered it around Christmas).

I found the text to really hold up to high standards as far as having fairly clear translations, also all words are written in the Korean character set as well as the translated phonetic form. It also includes a nice summary of the transcription system to make learning easier.

Several reviews here assume too much about what new students of Korean need to know. There is nothing wrong with the romanization since the hangul is right next to it. (Characters added might have been helpful as well.) Hangul is not phonetic. The romanization helps students who are outside a 'Korean is spoken here' area avoid serious errors. There are lots of pronunciation patterns that are made easier by the romanization.

I received this book the other day and in my opinion it was everything I hoped it would be. It suprised me because unlike other books it supplied with approximately 20,000 common words both in Korean and English reference. Those of you who are learning Korean or English would find this a great help.