Customer Reviews

HarperCollins German Dictionary: German-English/English-German

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but not of much use otherwise. I know most people will rate my review "not helpful", since that always happens to negative reviews. But so be it.

I wanted to replace my old Cassells dictionary which was published 1976 and therefore out of date. But as it turns out, this dictionary will not replace it. One reason for it, is that a lot of words are missing. This is understandable given the fact that it has only 400+ pages and my Cassells has 1200+. But somehow I missed that when ordering it, since it got so many good reviews. One other problem is that the words it contains, are not really explained and usually contain only one synonym, where in my Cassells it has a whole paragraph explaining the different meanings (and usuage) of the word.

To sum it up, you get what you pay for. It is dirt cheap and it will be good enough for travel. But otherwise it is pretty useless.

Maybe my review is too negative, but I have to counter all the raving reviews.

I ordered this dictionary based on all the fulsome reviews. (Some of) the good news: This dictionary tends to give phrases rather than words in isolation. Example: Close = in der Nähe, etc. This is essential in German because the preposition takes a particular case. The bad news: This dictionary is printed in the tiniest type, on the cheapest, natural-coloured paper just one step above newsprint. I've had things wrapped in better paper than this! It's also saddle-bound. This might seem a very superficial criticism, but a dictionary, particularly pocket size, gets a tremendous workout. Mine just arrived, but I can see it starting to fall apart in a month or two. The less-than-white paper and tiny print make it hard to read. After all the effort that went into the content, it's a real shame that it was so shabbily printed. Yes, it was cheap, but I would sooner have paid twice as much and get something that would hold up for a couple of years. I've had my Langenscheidt Pocket Dictionary for 16 years and it's still going strong. The content of this one is better, but.... Shame on you, Harper Collins!

Used this book all of the time in my German classes! Wish I had had this sooner, would have made everything a lot simpler. Its easy to use, easy to understand, and great when you need to find something quick. This should be a book every college student, studying German, should be required to have.

If you aren't sure about buying this Dictonary, I would really recommend it because it is very good. It has excellent German-English translations as well as English-German.