Customer Reviews

The Oxford-Duden German Dictionary

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As a professor of German studies at a college and a reviewer of German-English and English-German books and dictionaries, I can vouch for the finely tuned qualities of this masterful work. With the thoroughness, that Duden is known for and the expertise of the publishing of Oxford, this book has all the new spelling rules, phonetic pronunciation guides, a wonderfully complete guide for German as well as English correspondence, useful phrases, and comprehensive guides for English and German grammar. While the book is heavy, it is for desk and reference work viable and highly recommended. Oxford might have done well to print the book on the new, thinner paper that I have seen modern, rather bulky Books such as the BOOK OF MORMON and the BIBLE printed on. Their thickness has been reduced by almost one half the bulk and thus are easier to place in one's briefcase. For desk and reference work, however, nothing on the market at present can equal it for those reasons I have listed.

This is about the only reference you need to learn German. The International Phonetic Alphabet, now used in most Oxford dictionaries, helps pronunciation a lot. The grammatical sketch at the back of the book saves you buying a 'Teach Yourself German Grammar' book. The new typeface and layout is very clear. The entries give precise definitions and include many examples in sentences, so that you get a feeling for the word's function. Note though that it is big and heavy, which looks good on a bookshelf but is not very portable.

The dictionary is well formatted, easy to use. It is quite heavy so certainly not a travel dictionary but it is excellent for home-use.

I purchased the Oxford Duden German Dictionary new but at a reduced price. The book is fine except for two pages that have nothing readable written on them, namely pages 219 and 238. I have glanced over the rest of the pages but I may have missed other pages. I would like to receive copies of these two pages so I can then have a new book in its entirity. Thank you. Dr. Ed Bills

I last studied German in college in 1959/60 so it's very rusty. Given, that, this dictionary is just fine for me. I still remember many of the spelling and pronunciation rules which helps a lot when looking up a word in German.

For every German student, a friend in need is this ditionary indeed. Simple definition and easy cross reference are very helpful for begginers, and various idioms and multiple entries are for experts. But you may refer the dictionary only at home, because it is too heavy to tote (about 2kg! ). So if you have to bring it daily to your classroom or office, perhaps you need another smoller one, with this excellent dictionary at your home.