Customer Reviews

Hippocrene Concise Dictionary: Haitian Creole-English English-Haitian Creole (Hippocrene Concise Dictionary)

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I recently took a trip to Haiti and ordered this dictionary for use on the trip. I have mixed feelings about this dictionary. On the one hand, it has a handy size (it fit in my back pocket). On the other hand, it seemed really sparse for words, and many times I would close the book in frustration saying "pa gen" ("it doesn't have it"). Another person on the trip with me used a copy of the same dictionary and expressed the exact same frustration. It says it contains "over 8,000 entries" but that has to be both sides of the book. I counted up the maximum number of entries on a page (26) and multiplied by the total number of pages in the Creole section (142) and the total is roughly 3,600. That's the maximum, and doesn't take into consideration the numerous half pages of entries (or less). As a beginner at Haitian Creole, there were definitely a great number of words in here that I didn't know. However, trying to converse in Haiti using this book was very hit and miss. I think the success rate was about 50%; half the time they had the word I was looking for, half the time they didn't. I remember wishing I had brought Creole Made Easy with me, because the dictionary in the back has close to 5,000 Creole entries, and this includes phrases - not just single words. The Hippocrene dictionary didn't have any phrases, just single words, and didn't even have "hello" in it! I would recommend Creole Made Easy as a great start to learning the language, and then again as a better dictionary than this one.

This is one of the better dicitionaries out there on Haitian Creole. It alone will not make you fluent in the language, but it is a must-have for beginner/intermediate students of the language.

The only flaw is some of the words have the beginning letter missing due to not enough space on the page.

An excellent purchase.

This dictionary is useful for its simplicity. It contains very straightforward, readable entries. Its small size allows you to throw it in your pocket as you're walking around Haiti. It lacks a few obvious entries, which can be frustrating at times; it contains few technical terms (I was involved with a medical team). However, in my opinion, its usefulness outweighs these criticisms. I left mine with a friend in Haiti and plan to buy another one.