Customer Reviews

Danish Dictionary: Danish-English, English-Danish (Routledge Bilingual Dictionaries)

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

 

 

This is one of the more comprehensive Danish-English dictionaries I've seen (and it's better than the Hippocrene dictionary on that strength alone), but the fact is that it was made for Danish speakers learning English, and not English speakers learning Danish. As a result, some very basic features are missing: the plural form of Danish nouns and the pronunciation of Danish words. Without that information, this dictionary is fairly worthless.

I'm in total agreement with the other two reviews. This dictionary has the vocabulary in place--but that's where a dictiorary's job should start. It's where the Routledge dictionary ends. Really necessary in a translation dictionary are the genders, plural forms, verb forms, good pronunciation keys, and idiomatic usages; even better are cross-referencing of cognates and "false friends," entries to help you understand nuances and etymology. This dictionary is sorely lacking in all these categories--most aggravating is the lack of plural forms, verb forms, and irregular forms in general. You can use this dictioary to read Danish, but you sure can't use it to help you write the language (not unless you want to write the Danish equivalent of "Me go store and buy two bits bread"). Routledge (I imagine) wouldn't have done this with an Italian or French dictionary: Danish is a small language and, with a cornered market, they did a cheap, slapdash job. Fortunately, there is a very good Danish-English Dictionary available. Unfortunately, it is published (as far as I can tell) only in Denmark. They're really good.

I agree completely with the previous reviewer. Routledge has published in a relatively inexpensive format a dictionary originally published in Denmark. The only addition is a VERY inadequate section on Danish pronunciation and noun and verb inflection. The dictionary should have pronunciations for all the Danish headwords and grammatical information on plurals, irregular verbs, etc., at the headwords. This has the potential to be a great dictionary for English-speaking learners of Danish. As it is, assuming it's aimed at the English-speaking market, why did Routledge even bother? Very disappointing. Danish deserves better.

I'm a computational linguist, and my company bought this book so I could build them a Danish-English online dictionary. I speak Norwegian fluently. I've spent about 3 full days with this book. I have a Danish-English dictionary by Jens Axelsen published by Gyldendal which is much better, but it's not available in the US. Here are my primary beefs:

1. Its Norwegian counterpart doesn't have the genders at all. This one has the genders, but only in Danish-English, not the other way around. If you're Danish, you don't need the genders, but if you're English-speaking, you need the genders to write, not to read.

2. You need a section that lists all the irregular verbs and their inflections like you find in the Cassels dictionaries. You also need the irregular nouns and adjectives declined someplace.

3. When it lists the translations, it always lists all the nouns first, then the verbs, etc.. It should list the most common senses first. So the first translation for 'common' is the noun referring to a central park, as in "The Boston Common". The first translation listed should be an adjective.

4. The coverage could be better. Examples of missing English entries that I feel really should have been included:
antitrust
argumentative
astronaut
bicentennial
caddy
menu (in Eng-Dan, not Dan-Eng)

5. Frequently a very good translation if left out in Eng-Dan, but present when you look it up in Dan-Eng. MENU is an extreme example. APPROACH > TILNÆRMELSE is missing, but TILNÆRMELSE is only translated as APPROACH.

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Another issue -- see that Danish phrase in light blue on the front cover? It's ungrammatical. It should read "DANSKE ORDBØGER" or "DANSK ORDBOG"

Right now this is the most complete Danish dictionary Amazon stocks. I agree with the other reviewers about its shortcomings. While it does give the gender of Danish nouns, it doesn't give the plurals. Some common idioms are listed, but the selection seems to have been made with Danish speakers in mind. I recommend using this dictionary in conjunction with a purely Danish "retskrivnings" dictionary like Politiken's Danskordbog. If you find yourself in Denmark, buy the two-volume red Gyldendals dictionary ($80 each, special-ordered at Amazon) edited by Jens Axelsen. Gyldendals, unfortunately, doesn't give pronunciations either. If you want something to hold in your hand while you stroll through museums, buy the Berlitz.

Thinking about this dictionary again after several years, the most basic objection to it suddenly occurs to me: you can't lay it open on a desk! It is a huge book (with huge type, and yawning white spaces) so it's useless as a portable dictionary. But say you want to sit down and do translation with it: the cheap and stiff binding forces you have to hold the book open with both hands...and then let it flop closed while you turn back to the book you were reading or the paper you were writing...then turn away from that and prize open the dictionary again... *OR* you can cut this Gordian knot by breaking the spine in as many places as possible and, in the time between this and when all the pages fall out, special order the Gyldendal or Hippocrene dictionaries. That's the most gratifying option.

I was pleased to receive this book as quickly as I did, and the condition was as I had been told; excellent! The book helps me in writing to Danish family in Denmark, as I find it hard to remember the spellings and usage of Danish words. The book further provides examples of usage in a variety of different situations. I purchased the book used through Amazon, and have always been well pleased with the books I purchased in that manner.

This is an amazingly complete dictionary for being so small. It has lots of colloquial phrases as well as accurate translation. Tusind tak.