Customer Reviews

Oxford Dictionary: English-Hebrew/Hebrew-English (Hebrew Edition)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have to say that I respect Oxford Dictionaries, that they are definitely quality material. This dictionary is no exception. However, there is still something to be desired in this product.

Upon reading the book description before the purchase, I was impressed with the number of available vocabulary entries. It says the dictionary contains 80,000 entries, so I assumed there would be 40,000 in each half of the book. But that's not the case. About 2/3 of the total words are on the English-Hebrew side. That leaves roughly 25,000 Hebrew-English entries. This is not bad, but this setup is more suitable for Hebrew students learning English than the other way around. Therefore, native English speakers reading intermediate or advanced material in Hebrew will become frustrated when the word they want isn't there! I wish the book description had mentioned the weakness as well as the merit . That's why I gave 4 stars instead of 5.

For every Hebrew word, they helpfully give you an English one. For every English word, they unhelpfully give you many Hebrew words with no explanation to distinguish the choices. Between the "English to Hebrew" and "Hebrew to English" sections of the dictionary there is a section explaining English grammar to native Hebrew speakers.

I assume this is an excellent book if you are trying to learn English, but it is next to useless for going the other way.

I disagree with the poster who said this is no good for English speakers learning Hebrew. It may not be entirely useful for composition, but for an English speaker reading Hebrew, it's fabulous. My husband and I wore out our copy over the course of two years while reading Hari Poter vCheder haSodot (Hebrew translation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets). I've just bought the hardback and hope it will last us longer.

This is the best H/E - E/H dictionary I've found. I rarely come across a word that isn't in it, and for a comprehensive dictionary its pretty small and easy to carry around. A must have for Hebrew learners (or Hebrew speakers learning English). I recommend getting the Hebrew Verb Tables by Tamir Publishers as well.

I am an English speaker and have used the Oxford EN/HE dictionary extensively in both "directions" over the years. I have found it extremely useful. It holds a very comprehensive collection of words and expressions, covering all areas of modern Hebrew from the elevated language found in Ha'Aretz and Amos Oz to the everyday language heard on the street. All Hebrew is written with nikud (vowels), which is essential for correct pronunciation. Synonyms are usually given to distinguish among multiple translations. Phrases are listed under their key words, making them easy to find. Finally, Hebrew words are listed under all their currently used spellings (usually, with & without the extra vavs and yuds given to replace vowels).

This dictionary looks even better in comparison with its absolutely pitiful competition. Every other dictionary I have seen in this size has been severely lacking.

I would have liked a larger font and, it would be great also, if the dictionary gave the gender of all nouns. Otherwise, this is a functional reference.

This is a lovely dictionary for someone who is a beginner, and still needs to read with nikkud. I found it easy to look up words I didn't know. The expressions and idioms that are included were really handy to get some idea of how to express myself. More advanced speakers of Hebrew will find it very helpful too. If the typeface could be a little larger, it would have been handy, but it wasn't a huge drawback. I highly recommend this dictionary.

I agree with the previous reviewer who wrote that the writers of this dictionary had the Israeli native learning English in mind when creating it.

Pros:

-Vowel dots throughout
-Wide range of subjects

Cons:

-English-Hebrew section way larger compared to the Hebrew-English
-English section has quite a lot of abbreviations, for example FYI, without giving the reader the key in English (in this case, for example 'for your information')
-English section lacks many country and ethnic names
-No Hebrew grammar explanation (only that of English)
-Print size sometimes seems too small to read comfortably
-This edition is more than 10 years old by now, therefore you can't find recently popularized terms in it (like 'cell phone' or 'global warming')

Overall it's good, but could have been better made and needs to be updated.

This dictionary has been great so far. It is very helpful to have vowels with the block print to know how the words are pronounced. It also includes many idioms and phrases that can be quite helpful for conversational purposes. There have been several instances, however, when I haven't been able to find a word. But that is my only complaint. Overall, it is very well organized and adequate to help develop a working knowledge of modern Hebrew.

This dictionary is geared to assist people who are native Hebrew speakers. As a native English speaker trying to learn Hebrew I found it extremely beneficial to use this as my primary translation resource as it helped me learn how to think in Hebrew. I am not someone who is very good at learning new languages. What I found in my journey in learning Hebrew was that although there are words that mean the same thing in both Hebrew and English, how and why they are put together is very different. From that, it became an imperative for me to learn to think in Hebrew as much as it was for me to learn vocabulary. If you really want to learn to communicate in modern Hebrew, this is the best dictionary, IMHO.