Customer Reviews

Malagasy-English/English-Malagasy: Dictionary and Phrasebook (Hippocrene Dictionary & Phrasebook)

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I am a former Peace Corps volunteer from Madagascar and currently a resident in the country after four years. I am fluent in the Malagasy language. I do not recommend this dictionary to anyone traveling to madagascar. This dictionary is difficult to use, insufficient, and often incorrect. It is also very expensive compared to the dictionaries available in any major city in Madagascar.

There are two excellent dictionaries in print in Madagascar. They are printed by the malagasy lutheran press. The malgasy-english dictionary is pink and sells for 4,000 Ariary (2 dollars) in the capital. The better of the two english-malgasy dictionaries available in madagascar is the yellow, pocket dictionary. This dictionary includes a list of useful obolana (proverbs) and their translations as well as some cryptic grammar notes (but what grammar notes aren't cryptic).

In short- don't buy this online if you are going to madagascar as you can buy cheap, good dictionaries when you get there (even at the airport). If you want to learn some words before you get there go to the online dictionary at http://malagasyworld.org/bins/homePage

Good luck. Mazotoa!

Being a relative unknown language this book has done a good job in many respects. There are difficulties with the language in that it is more of a spoken language rather than written. It is also difficult if not impossible to learn the sounds of the Malagasy language as the Malagasy elide (omit) many syllables in their speech, therefore making it necessary to actually hear the Malagasy speak. Also, there are 22 regions in Madagascar and sometimes it is hard even for the Malagasy to understand each other. The biggest problem I have with this dictionary is the ability to cross-reference words from one language to the other. The same words do not appear in both languages (Malagasy and English). Also, there are some words which are not able to be translated from Malagasy but are important in their sentence structure and are not explained in the book. This may be a harsh critism since the book is not intended to be a grammar book! Therefore I gave the book a 4 for it's intended purpose.

This dictionary was quite useful to me on a recent trip to Madagascar. It has wonderful sections divided into subject matter such as:
"Meeting & Greetings", "Eating/Meals", "Camping", "Typical Travel Interactions". and other such helpful categories. As this seems to be the only Malagasy dictionary available in the U.S., it definately served its purpose well!

This book is excellent for what it is. It is not an all encompassing dictionary to make you proficient in the language. However, it is a great little book to give you the basics. I used it extensively. The only problem I had was the pronunciation section was hard to follow.

I would prefer more of the phrasebook but when you do not have what you like, you have to like what you have. There is a short introduction to the Malgasy language and then dictionary kicks in.