Customer Reviews

English-Hebrew/Hebrew-English Compact Dictionary

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

 

 

The red Zilberman dictionary is an exceptional language companion for both Hebrew and english speakers. It is a compact and convenient dictionary that, in addition to having more than 55,000 entries, is aesthetically pleasing with good print (clear and not to small) and is printed on a good white, sturdy paper stock (no thin, acid or off-white paper).

English speakers will benefit from fully dotted entries (nikudot), many modern phrases, and the fact that verbs are listed in all of the common binyanim for that root (you may find the same root in pa'al, nifal, and hifil, for instance). It identifies words as verbs or nouns and tells you the gender of the noun. Hebrew speakers will benefit from a similarly vast vocabulary (including many words that I don't even recognize!), many formal and vernacular phrases, and listings with excellent pronunciation. On both the Hebrew and English sides of the dictionary there is an excellent grammar and pronunciation introduction for native speakes of the opposite langauge.

Having used the Oxford, Ben Yehuda, and Bantam Meggido, I feel very comfortable recommending the Zilberman as the best Hebrew-English dictionary. I think it's a hands-down choice. And if you really want your hebrew skills to soar, you should also pick up the 501 Hebrew Verbs book.

I find this dictionary useful and concise as well as informative. There's hardly a word I am looking for that cannot be found here. I travel alot for translation/interpretation purposes, and when I bring this book along I feel secure and safe. It is light yet consists of all the latest words and phrases.

i am using this dictionary for over 3 years now (almost daily) for my hebrew studies at the university and there is hardly a word that i couldn't find there. Nevertheless, translations to english sound awkward from time to time (I am not a native speaker). One reviewer complained that it does not contain gender in case of nouns - well, it does, but only in Hebrew-English part. it contains many idioms as well. Most of my fellow Hebrew-students use Oxford, but my Zilberman beats them quite often, especially in the domain of idioms and frequently used constructions. i really recommend it.

Looking for a compact but fairly comprehensive dictionary as an aid in translation, I chose this one mainly on the basis of reviews, as well as a process of elimination of those I knew to be inadequate. It is up-to-date and generally the words we look for are included. I still prefer a comprehensive dictionary on my desk, but this is definitely a good solution when traveling or on a low budget.

I returned this dictionary because it did not provide the gender of nouns, nor how to pluralize exceptional nouns such as the Hebrew word for chair, "kise". For verbs it lists the past tense, third person, masculine, rather than the infinitive. In summary it was not as good as my Lingvosoft dictionary for my Palm PDA which takes up much lase space. My Prolog hard-cover dictionary is much better though a little physically bigger.