Customer Reviews

The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I purchased this book along with 'Beginner's Hindi Script' and 'Say it in Hindi'. It is very clear. Many other books and dictionaries I have looked at use cheap, rough paper and the type does not print well on the paper. The syllable characters in this dictionary are crisp and clear; large enough to see; the English transliteration is right next to the Devanagari script; examples of many kinds are included with many of the words so you can see all of the variants and idioms. I sometimes have a problem where I can't find a word I want to know the meaning of because it is perhaps written in a tense that I need to know the root of first. However, this is due to the fact that I am a beginning student of the language, I'm sure. Looking up the various words in this dictionary has certainly helped me learn the syllabary more quickly. This is the best Hindi dictionary I have found so far.

My only regret is that there is no English-Hindi counterpart. This book includes all common usages of words in conjunction with verbs, as well as variations and related words. Also very helpful is the origin of each word, and its spelling in its language of origin. If you are student of Hindi, I could not recommend a better book. Mr. McGregor is my hero.

This dictionary is really worthwhile! Being only Hindi-English actually helped me, by forcing me to accelerate my learning of devanagari. Of course, after the devanagari spelling is the roman transliteration as well. Because it's only Hindi-English, you get a bigger number of entries in a still-manageable size. For the budget-conscious Hindi student, this is a must have.

This dictionary is worthy of much veneration. Besides the multitudinous number of words provided, the print is very clear and legible. Etymology of words is also given, which is a nice feature because one can see whence a particular word originated, and that alone is reason enough to buy this dictionary.

And despite what one reviewer claimed about there being no Roman transliteration provided, that is not true. Words are listed first in the Devanagari, followed by a transliteration.

It would've been nice if there was also an English-Hindi section included, but, aside from that trifling shortfall, the dictionary as it is is deserving of 5 stars.

It includes a wide variety of words, whether standard language or dialects. Etymology of words is also interesting. It is easy to manipulate, not too thick and easily transportable. Headword presentation and examples are clear.

This dictionary is very complete however it only goes one way. It is superb for finding the meaning of Hindi words. However, as it only goes one way, this dictionary cannot be used to find the Hindi equivalents of English words. I would recommend the Oxford English-Hindi Dictionary by S. K. Verma for that.

The words are listed in Devanagari, although roman transliteration is placed alongside. This makes this dictionary inappropriate for people who just want to learn some rough phrases. For any English speaker seriously learning Hindi (that is becoming literate in Hindi) this dictionary is a must.

This is a very nice dictionary--particularly helpful are the etymologies listed for each Hindi word. The print is also much clearer than other available Hindi-English dictionaries.

The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary is everything I hoped it would be. The Devanagari script is easily readable, the word selection is reasonably comprehensive, and the explanations are good.

I only wish there was a good English-Hindi Dictionary that I could pair with this volume. I looked around quite a bit before getting this dictionary, and I'm still looking for the right English-Hindi edition. Right now I'm using Teach Yourself Hindi Dictionary for English-to-Hindi, but it only has a few select words.

As in my review of Verma's Oxford English-Hindi dictionary, I preface this by saying that I am an American English speaker, but one who was trained at the University of Wisconsin in Hindi and have several years of Hindi language experience, including two years in northern India.

MacGregor has developed an excellent resource, but both of the Oxford Hindi dictionaries should be more inclusive of contemporary Hinglish, Urdu and Marathi loan words, borrowed English, and Bollywood/Hindi internet slang usage. Bombay is an influential city and a good dictionary should reflect that. Ideally I would like a dictionary to allow me to translate most of what I might see in a contemporary Bollywood movie such as one of the "Munna Bhai" films.

As in my other review I recommend Hindi beginners try to find a class in Hindi, get an audio course, and a native speaker tutor if at all possible. Too many sounds in Hindi do not have an easy English phonetic equivalent. As tempting as having a romanized version of this dictionary might be, there is no substitute for Devanagari, and the proliferation of different transliteration systems can be more confusing than helpful. Oxford was right on in sticking with Devanagari.

Keep up the good work Oxford!

I agree with many other reviewers in that this is best suited to intermediate/advanced or serious students of Hindi. Casual users or beginners may find it quite frustrating as all the entries are in Hindi.

I bought it BECAUSE the entries are in Hindi and it forces me to learn Hindi at a much faster pace. It is an excellent resource and I am thoroughly pleased with this purchase!