Customer Reviews

The MacMillan Visual Dictionary : English, Spanish, French, German (Multilingual)

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I saw this book at a Borders bookstore once in Torrance, CA in 1994 or 1995. I thought it was an awesome book and decided that the next time I had some free cash I'd go back and get it. But when I went back it was gone. I asked about it at the info desk and the nice lady told me it was out of print and that they couldn't even order me one!

A year later, in Seattle, I chanced to see it at a Barnes and Noble... in the discount stack, of all places. I snatched it up immediately. Some new employee had made a horrible mistake, I figured. I couldn't believe I was getting such an awesome book for the paltry sum of $40.

It appears I made the right choice, too. I checked on this just today to see if I could buy one for a friend as a present and I see that they are still out of print and that the cheapest they can be found is about $110... used!

This really is one of the best reference books I own. It might seem like 25,000 entries isn't many (for a dictionary), but keep in mind that they're pretty much all nouns and a few adjectives. 25,000 entries isn't much, but 25,000 nouns is HUGE.

Just this morning I was trying to find the French word for "okra". I have five other English-French dictionairies, but none of them had this word. Not even my nice, thick Oxford. But there it was on page 69 of my Visual Dictionary.

I guess I'm just writing this review because I can't understand how such a useful book remains out of print. I only wish they'd release another version with four more languages!

PS - In case you're wondering: okra = le gombo.

This is the most useful and fun dictionary you will ever own. The illustrations are fantastic and wonderfully detailed, and on every subject imaginable under the sun, from bicycles to spaceships. You will not only find it an invaluable reference for the proper terminology in foreign language, but also in your own native tongue. An invaluable reference work for the multilingual person.

The knowledge in this book seems so basic, but there are a lot of words that I didn't know before. I'm mostly interested in how different the German words are from English. It is lucky for me that the English words are on the top of each list and German at the bottom, so I'm likely to see what I might know before I get down to what is really strange. I don't know Spanish or French either, but they might make some kind of sense to me. Each language has its own index in the back. If you want to see what pages the funny stuff is on, look up "infundibulum" in the English index. On the Reptile page (98), the VENOMOUS SNAKE'S HEAD is called "KOPF EINER GIFTSCHLANGE" in German. That's like calling a secret military tribunal a legal proceding.

Best pictionary media I have seen.

This book is so interesting, and for designers it is a must!! I can't believe how much is actually in this book, and the extent of the details on the products.

I've bought this book for my work. I work in a hardware store in Uruguay and I have many foreign customers. With this book I'll have technical vocabulary for all the stuff I sell, and it's easy to understand specially when you don't know the language you are talking like German or French.
I love dictionaries and encyclopedias and this one is EXCELENT!!! You have the picture, the name, and every piece that involves the item.

You may have heard that phrase, "How can I know what the word is in Spanish [or given foreign language; here, French or German can be substituted] if I do not know what it is in English?" Certainly that is applicable in the areas of science, buildings, machinery, and electronics, and it can be as well for clothing, sports items, and household items. So comprehensive and detailed is this book! The words would be completely useless without the 3,500 terrifically detailed pictures, which show us things like the pedicel and exocarp in a peach and the hydraulic coupler and lifting link in a tractor. Who knew that there was a way to know all the many parts in one thing!

I have used a number of the sections, such as gardening and the vegetable kingdom, to help me communicate with my Spanish-speaking landscapers in detail that surprises them. Many indoor-focused terms -- in the areas of food, clothing, furnishings, machinery, parts of the house -- are useful with Spanish-speaking or English-speaking individuals and friends in work settings or social settings. In its entirety, this dictionary is useful for the highly visual and detailed way in which it helps you learn new words and understand the physical composition of things animal, vegetable, mineral, and man-made.

I've bought this book a couple of months ago. I'm reall happy with it because, althouht it's a second hand book, it looks new.

Also, the seller has been great giving info about the shipping and the book.

It was just a little delayed (1,5 months) but it was worthy.