Customer Reviews

5 Language Visual Dictionary

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While I enjoy the real live pictures used to illustrate the vocabulary, I am frustrated by the fact that they use the indefinite pronoun to identify gender. For many words, this is not a problem, but for some words, the indefinite pronouns in French and Italian are ambiguous.

For example: garlic - l'ail - der Knoblauch - el ajo - l'aglio

Are "l'ail" and "l'aglio" masculine or feminine? No respectable dictionary should ever leave the gender of a word ambiguous. I hope that they correct this problem in future editions. Until then, I prefer the Firefly Five Language Dictionary, which tastefully adds a gender flag as a superscript after each word:
The Firefly Five Language Visual Dictionary: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian

The "5 Language Visual Dictionary" is one of the most unique books I have seen on learning languages. This book introduces the reader to over 6,000 words used in everyday vocabulary. There are 1,600 full-color images.

What is amazing about this book is how many words really do look similar in all the languages. So, if you get a visual picture of the word, you will more than likely be able to recognize it rather easily in all languages.

For example: Internet, l'internet, das Internet, el internet, Internet.

Ok, that was an easy example.

How about: refrigerator, le frigidaire, (der Kuhlschrank), el refrigerado, il frigorifero.

This dictionary is divided thematically. It covers most aspects of the everyday world. The five languages are always presented in the same order.

English
French
German
Spanish
Italian

Nouns are given with their definite articles reflecting the gender (masculine, feminine or neuter) and the verbs are indicated by a (v) after the English words.

Contents: About the Dictionary, How to Use this Book, People, Appearance, Health, Home, Services, Shopping, Food, Eating Out, Study, Work, Transportation, Sports, Leisure and Environment.

You will find a medical diagrams, a family tree, all sorts of clothing examples, information on medical conditions and alternative therapy and rooms in a house (loved the kitchen complete with all the "les ustensiles de cuisine.")

You will also enjoy the workshop, garden, shopping malls, floral arranging, food section (the types of fish and exotic fruits were interesting too), delicatessen, school, work, transportation, sports, orchestra, home entertainment, the Earth, the Animal Kingdom, towns, calendars and continents.

There is also an Index in each language. They went all out on this book!

Ideal for:

Students
Travelers
Business people
Anyone who wants to look through visual pictures of items throughout the world

Children leaning the names of items in the world. You could just show them the pictures and teach them the names in any language.

Fascinating view of our world. A must for all libraries, schools and homes. Definitely a must-have for travelers of all ages.

~The Rebecca Review

I'm learning Spanish on my own, and have found a few components to be entirely essential. A basic course, a book on grammar, one on verbs, a progressive reader, and one for improving one's vocabulary of words. I'm happy to say that this visual dictinoary meets the needs of improving one's vocabulary most admirably.

Arranged thematically, the dictionary is pictures, pictures, and more pictures that appeals to the visual learner, aiding retention because the impression lasts. Almost any imaginable theme is included in the book, from people, dressing, fashion, services, animals, study, work, and on and on. I find it useful to flip to a common daily theme, say, the office, and then read through the various descriptions. After that I try to recall as many items as I can once I'm actually in the office. It's surprising how many words you can remember once you learn it with a visual point of reference, as compared to simply a long, boring, word list.

The fact that each item has a corresponding entry French, German, and Italian in addition to English and Spanish, just makes it an even more incredible resource that will be useful to all learner's of the major European languages. Another bonus is a box in almost every thematic spread with relevant phrases and conversational sentences which only adds to the value of this fantastic book.

I give it 5 stars because it does an excellent job of presenting the top 5 European languages in an easily comparable way. It will NOT teach you a language. But it's intriguing to see word similarities. I've studied all 5 languages (and am currently studying German full-time). I can't say whether folks who have no background in any more than one of the languages would find the book as much fun as I do. But as soon as I saw it I wanted a copy. Too bad it's out of print, although Amazon still has copies available (3-6 weeks' wait).

This dictionary is absolutely fabulous, both as a reference and as a learning tool. You will be hard pressed to find a more comprehensive visual dictionary on the market, as there are over 6,000 words with over 1,600 vibrant images in this book. The words are organized categorically -- hotel, food, travel, etc. making it exceptionally easy to find words.

You should know that this book contains 5 languages total, but the English used is the type used in Britain. This doesn't detract from the quality of the dictionary, but some words will jump out at you if you are from the States (like me). You can easily understand the American equivalent and it is actually kind of cool to see how they say it in England.

There is one minor problem with this dictionary: They do not specify the gender for all the words in French -- such as "l'appareil-photo". The gender could go either way due to the apostrophe and the book does not specify in these cases. Not to worry, however. For one, there are patterns with the French gender system which will allow you to make an educated guess. Second, the gender of a word is not as important as you think (if you make a mistake, its not too critical).

If you frequently study these languages or plan on studying them, this dictionary will help you quite a bit. For the money, you really can't go wrong.

I found this book most helpful in tutoring adult ESL. When tutoring one might have a Spanish speaker one hour and a student from Vietnam or Ivory Coast who may have some second language knowledge of French the next hour. Importantly, the pictures are engaging, clear and interesting. Now, I miss this book because it passed the ultimate test: it was stolen from the tutoring center.

I love my dictionary that I bought from amazon.com. In fact, the price was just perfect and I enjoy using it everyday. I think buying books from amazon.com is worth it.

I highly recommend this book for everybody that speaks at least one of the languages that are included, and wants to improve his/her knowledge of one or more of the others. Of course, this is a good resource for people that already have some background in a foreign language: it does not teach grammar or syntax, but will expand significantly your vocabulary, and help remember the words that we learn. I personally purchased it and I am very happy with it. I am a mother-tongue in Italian, and I am fluent in English and Spanish, and a beginner in German. I use the book to fix some new words in English and Spanish, and to expand my so far limited vocabulary in German.
The only negative side (that I found so far): be aware that the book teaches the British form of English words, and not the American English version. I personally have tried using some new words from the book in conversations in the US (where I live), and some friends corrected me saying that those English forms are never used here.

As an ESL tutor and member of a multi-lingual family, this is an indispensable resource book. The excellent photos D&K is know for make this easy to use and very timely. People love spending time looking through the book for pleasure well after they have found the information they needed.

This visual dictionary has more than 1,600 colourful images and its 400 pages are divided into 19 chapters as follows: About the dictionary, How to use this book, People, Appearance, Health, Home, Services, Shopping, Food, Eating out, Study, Work, Transport, Sports, Leisure, Environment, Reference, Index and Acknowledgments.
For each picture you get its meaning in five languages, and for each word you have its definite article showing the gender. Very interesting is the presence of pictures showing actions, so that you get the verbs as well as some useful phrases. At the end of the "Reference" section you have "particles and antonyms" and "useful phrases" - essential phrases, greetings, signs, help, directions, accommodation, eating and drinking. The index is divided into five parts, one for each language, and the names have their gender shown by means of the letters m, n, f .
I particularly enjoy playing with this book by showing a picture and letting my friends guess its meaning in the foreign languages they have studied, and think it's a useful tool for teachers, students or professionals, for the topics are covered in detail. Last but not least, the dictionary is published by DK, i.e. it's a Dorling Kindersley Book, a Penguin Company.