Customer Reviews

Al Mawrid (English-Arabic dictionary)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Mawrid Arabic-English is a good, complete dictionary, perhaps - no, certainly - the best published in the Middle East. It works in alphabetical order, which is good for the beginner as well as for the intermediate learner who's searched through a root-order dictionary without success for a word. The major flaw with this book is that it's aimed at Arab readers and as a result, simple grammatical information like broken plurals or masdars is not shown with the base noun or verb. Learners of Arabic will find the root-order Wehr more useful, but if they can afford two, buy this too, especially as Wehr hasn't been updated in over 25 years while the Mawrid is frequently updated. (I own both.)

The Mawrid English-Arabic dictionary is perhaps the best available because, though the Oxford English-Arabic Dictionary of Current Usage is more useful to learners of Arabic for reasons of Arabic grammatical content, the Oxford is 40 years old and the language had expanded significantly. Again, buy both, but here the Mawrid English-Arabic would be my first choice (you can always use Wehr to look up the grammatical info).

A few years ago, a brother at a masjid gave this dictionary to me as a gift. Before that, the Hans Wehr dictionary was all I had to go on. Since this dictionary isn't based on the three consonant root system, there is no need to know the root of an arabic word before looking it up. There have been quite a few words which I could not find in my Hans Wehr because I simply didn't know the root. I use this dictionary to look up words when I don't know the root. Once a word is found, I can easily find the root by looking at the arabic definition and similar words provided. Knowing the root enables me to use my Hans Wehr in order to find the verb forms, examples of usage, and more elaborate definitions in english.

This dictionary doesn't give the verb forms and the definitions are not that detailed because examples of word usage is nonexistent. The book is also too large and a real pain in the neck to carry around. It's good for looking up words quickly and finding roots, but for more serious study of arabic there is no substitute for the Hans Wehr dictionary of modern written arabic.

If you want Al-Mawrid, buy the hardcover version; do not buy Al-Quareeb Al-Mawrid, which is a shoddy knock-off.

1) The very positive reviews of this book on amazon are for a DIFFERENT BOOK! The first few reviews are labelled so, and later reviews, while not so labelled, refer to features like the "The fine hardcover binding..." and "... a dictionary for Arabic and English brovrebs [sic: proverbs] - translated back and forth" which are not included in this paperback edition. Also, both books have the same number of reviews. Without having checked all the reviews individually, I believe Amazon has cross-linked the reviews of the hardback version to the paperback version as if they were the same aside from the binding, but THEY ARE NOT.

2) The typeset is too small - if you are not fairly familiar with the basic arabic script, you will have difficulty discerning the Arabic spelling of some words.

3) The English-Arabic portion is poorly organized for translation into Arabic. For example, the entry "flush" is followed by 16 definitions, without English equivalents or indication of parts of speech. Multiple undifferentiated definitions of English words are common. The book appears to be an Arabic dictionary of English and an English dictionary of Arabic bound together. If you are a student of Arabic and need to translate English words into Arabic, this dictionary is of little use.

4) The paperback edition currently being shipped is VERY poorly bound. The first time I opened the book a dozen pages fell out of it, and more have fallen out since then. I have now owned this book about three weeks.

This is the best English - Arabic out today! This is a great tool for students of all levels. I am an advanced student who religiously uses Hans Weir (3-letter root), and this is a great supplement. It has more words than the Oxford dictionary and the definitions are CLOSER TO THE PRECISE MEANING! Added plus: If you decide to use the Arabic - English portion, it has the words classified by how they are spelled, and not by the root. So if you come across a word and can't figure out its root, not to fear... Al Marwid will save the day!

The Mawrid Dictionary is a real help especially for the Beginners in Arabic. Why? The Arabic words are sorted alphabetically instead according to the roots (e.g. bait=House, is typically a tough job to find as it has to be looked up normally below ba - ya - ta; whereby the middle letter ya is weak). The content of words is oriented to newspapers rather than to classical Arabic texts where it is also helpful but what would need to understand the systems of roots in Arabic to properly understand the complexity of meaning. This dictionary is helping therefore beginners to find up words easily as well as advanced translators for modern standard Arabic. For classical translations on scientifical level it is not intended.

This is an Arabic-English Dictionary. It is very helpful if you are trying to learn Arabic but of course the words are not romanized/transliterated so you have to at least know how to read arabic script and recognize root words. It is similar to Hans Wehr's but adds the bonus of giving you Arabic Synonyms for most entries.

This Arabic-English dictionary by Rohi Baalbaki should not be confused with The English-Arabic dictionary by Muneer Baalbaki.

This is a wonderful book for Arabs. It helps to explain numerous English words in full detail. It comes in a leather bound, large volume with very clear, readable type. For the student of Arabic, it is not the book you had in mind. The title would have you think Arabic words will have an English definition. It is just the opposite. It has numerous other features which help the non-English speaking student such as translation of familiar expressions back and forth.

Do not buy this dictionary if you are not learning Arabic script!

If English is your primary language and you are a student of Arabic you will want to have the Al-Mawrid Modern English-Arabic dictionary as well as this one. Unfortunately, the introduction and preface in both dictionaries is written in Arabic

This dictionary is just what you need for translation FROM Arabic TO English. Arabic words are arranged alphabetically.

If you are translating FROM English TO Arabic you will need the other dictionary.

This is *the* reference to written arabic. All of the words are accented so it really helps beginner's pronunciation (like me). The fine hardcover binding is worth the price.

Words are voweled (unlike Wehr, which vowels only the transliterations). Great addition to my library.