Customer Reviews

Langenscheidt's Universal Dictionary: Latin-English, English-Latin (English and Latin Edition)

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My experience with Langenscheidt dictionaries has always been very satisfactory, so I bought this one without hesitation. This one, however, a notch below their usual standards for thoroughness and usefulness. On the other hand, it is also, smaller than most Langenscheidt dictionaries (with the exception of the Lilliput series), and the smallest Latin dictionary I'd ever seen. For example, it's much thinner than the Collins Gem. If you're looking for a dictionary that will fit into your shirt pocket, then this is the one. The dictionary does, however have several drawbacks:

- This dictionary contains very little grammatical information. Unlike the Collins Gem or the Bantam Latin dictionaries, you will not find here tables of declinations and conjugations. Langenscheidt usually does include brief summaries of the grammar in its dictionaries, and it would have added at most 10 more pages to what is a very thin dictionary. I feel that especially for Latin, such a summary would have added great value to this dictionary.

- The entries themselves contain very little grammatical information, and what they do contain is presented in a non-standard way. For many verbs, not just of the first conjugation, only the 1st person singular present active indicative is given. When the infinitive is given, it's often given LAST, which is very non-standard as far as I can tell. For example: do, dedi, datum, dare...

- The entries do not come with common expressions or examples of use, as in the Bantam dictionary.

Summary:

This is a fun and inexpensive dictionary to have, and I'm happy I got it. The Collins Gem dictionary is a better dictionary, and so is the Bantam. If you really want to carry a Latin dictionary with you and don't want the bulge of the Collins Gem, then by all means get this one. Keep in mind, though, that it absolutely cannot be your only dictionary. It cannot even be your only pocket dictionary.

I often read a latin text book when I'm in the waiting room to get my allergy shots. This dictionary is really great to grab for that purpose because it literally fits in your shirt pocket. I find that it's actually faster to use this small dictionary than to flip to the back of the book I'm reading to look at the vocabulary section.

Right now, all of the Latin I read is adapted (not real, classical Latin) so I have not yet come across any words I couldn't find in this dictionary. I'm sure once I'm reading unadapted Latin it will become inadequate, but it will still be useful since it's so small to carry.

The print is sharp and clear, so even though the print is small, it's not too difficult to see.

There a bunch of approximately similar small Latin dictionaries on the market. In terms of content, there may not be much to choose. What sets the Langenscheidt apart from the competition is its sturdiness. It has a plastic cover with cloth binding, and can take years of hard thumbing, being carried around in pockets and backpacks, etc. Most other similar ones have paper covers and glued binding and disintegrate quickly. So this one is the best buy for your money.