Customer Reviews

Longman Advanced American Dictionary, Paper (Laad)

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This is a wonderful book for ESL students. The definitions are easy to understand, and the examples really help clarify the meaning and use of each word. There are also pictures of many things that aid in definition. I recommend it for intermediate - advanced ESL students. It is much clearer than a dictionary written for native English speakers.

The more I use Longman Advanced American Dictionary (LAAD), the more I find myself liking it. It is a highly practical reference tool on how to say things correctly or write something properly. Not as detailed as Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (OALD), but less crowded and easier to use. In fact, for the type of audience it targets, LAAD is the closest competition to OALD solely dedicated to the American, rather than British, English. (Be it mentioned, however, that Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary overall will blow any competition out of the water).

The Strengths of Longman Advanced American Dictionary:
1. Generous and fairly comprehensive corpus of words and phrases with numerous clear examples of their usage and guidelines regarding the context in which such words/phrases are used in the American English.
2. A nice colored section on American trivia
3. A short but useful pictorial dictionary section
4. Short blurbs on famous people (artists, scientists, sports stars, actors, political figures) that shaped American history and culture, often with photos of these people; descriptions of important US places (cities, geographical areas and landmarks) are also included.
5. Two separate sections on TOEFL (Test of English as Foreign Language) and TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) preparation. Even though they are of no practical use to me, it was still interesting to browse through these sections, and I can see how they might be helpful to someone who is planning to take these tests.
6. A descriptive pronunciation section that addresses subtle nuances of the American English (e.g. that in American speech, "dog" rhymes with "frog", but not with "cog").

The Drawbacks of Longman Advanced American Dictionary:
1. This dictionary is not for people who primarily need a dictionary for... well, word definition. Definitions are given in a very simplistic manner. It is surprising to me that a publication bearing the title "advanced" defines words on a grade-school level (e.g. in the entry for the word "peyote" one will find the following:
<<a drug made from a Mexican cactus, which makes people imagine that strange things are happening to them>>
Now compare this to the definition from Webster's New World Collegiate Dictionary: <<a small, spineless cactus (Lophophora williamsii) of N Mexico, and the SW U.S., with rounded stems, whose buttonlike tops (mescal buttons) are chewed, specif., in religious ceremonies by Mexican Indians, for their hallucinogenic effects>>
I realize that Longman Publishing House prides itself on defining all dictionary entries using only a basic set of 2,000 words, but I still strongly believe that such approach impoverishes the book as a whole. An advanced user should know full well what "hallucinogenic" means, and should be given definitions accordingly, on an advanced level.
2. The phonetic transcription is an awkward modification of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Longman either should have stuck with the IPA (the way OALD does), or utilized the phonetic transcription utilized in America by Webster's and American Heritage dictionaries.
3. It helps somewhat to know that A.A. Milne is a famous British writer of children's books, but it would have been quite a bit more useful to mention that he was the author of Winnie the Pooh stories.
4. No origin of the words (etymology) is included. Once again, a shortcoming for the advanced level.
5. The pronunciation of the verb to slough is listed as rhyming with "cow", instead of "puff". A somewhat surprising oversight on the part of Longman. The noun slough is transcribed correctly, however. So far, this has been the only notable error I have come across after a fairly detailed perusal of the dictionary.

Note: this article reviews Longman Advanced American Dictionary, 2005 Hardback edition without CD-ROM.

WHEN I LOOKED IT IN THE WEBB PAGE VIEW, IT WAS MENTIONED " LOOKS NEW", BUT WHEN I BOUGHT IT, IT WAS WRITTEN IN SCRIBBLING ON THE SIDE AND TOP OF THE BOOK.

I felt ripped off by this paperback dictionary. For $35 you only get 84,000 words defined. By comparison, you can pay $25 for the American Heritage College Dictionary in hardback and get over 200,000 words defined.

I feel Longman is exploiting their customers, who are primarily ESL students.(...)