Customer Reviews

Estonian-English/English-Estonian Standard Dictionary (Hippocrene Concise Dictionary)

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Possibly the compilers of the dictionary are not native speakers, but this is no excuse for the poor contents of book. Most disturbing is that many of the Estonian words listed in the dictionary are not colloquial, but rather poorly Estonianized English or Russian words. You will have difficult time explaining yourself to locals who do not understand those languages. Why not get something more up-to-date, there are plenty of good dictionaries published in Estonia.

Having studied the Estonian language for some time and having spent time studying in Tartu, Estonia, I found that this dictionary is near useless. It is good if you want to have "something" in your pocket as you travel around the country, however there are many other dictionaries which are better. This is the only dictionary I found that would fit in a jacket pocket though and that is pretty much its main advantage.

The writers are not Estonian. This explains why many of the words in this dictionary are not true Estonian, merely Estonianized versions of English or Russian.

The Hippocrene dictionary was the first Estonian-English/English-Estonian dictionary that I bought. I was continually frustrated by the absence of words which I wanted to check, in both Estonian and English. The TEA pocket dictionary, published by TEA Kirjastus in Tallinn is much more reliable. Now that I have a copy, I can't even remember where I have abandoned the Hippocrene dictionary.

The TEA dictionary is not available yet through Amazon. You'll find it only if you go to TEA's Estonian website and register as a user.

OK, Amazon, stock the TEA publications! They are very good!