Customer Reviews

The Oxford Russian Dictionary: Russian-English - English-Russian (English and Russian Edition)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

For the price, this is an excellent dictionary. In response to the person who writes below that this dictionary lacks Russian phonetic pronunciation, saying "I was disappointed that there is no guide to the pronounciation of the Russian words. My desktop English dictionary gives the phonetic spelling of English words. So why not a Russian-English dictionary that gives the phonetic spelling of the Russian words?," I think it should be pointed out that Russian spelling is, with very few (and generally well known) exceptions, phonetic. I.e., with very few exceptions, a word is pronounced exactly as it is spelled. The only difficulty you might have with Russian pronunciation is determining where the accent falls in a word you're not familiar with. This dictionary, like almost all Russian dictionaries, indicates where the accent (udareniye) falls for each word and variant positions (where necessary) based on changing the case, number, tense, etc. Since Russian spelling is already almost 100% phonetic, providing an additional phonetic spelling of each word in the dictionary would be redundant and a waste of space -- except, perhaps, only for those who have not learned the Cyrillic alphabet -- something which the authors of this dictionary probably assume its readers have already done. The best Russian dictionaries I think are the Oxford hardcover editions, and, for American English speakers, such as myself, the dictionary by Kenneth Katzner. This dictionary is very handy though when you need something more compact. Even better is the old (1980's) version of the Oxford Russian/English English/Russian Pocket Dictionary which is smaller and more comprehensive, but apparently out of print. There is a new version of Oxford Russian/English English/Russian Pocket Dictionary (available on Amazon) -- but it lacks the old version's genuine "pocket" size and the content is somewhat different (it was edited by different people).

I never thought that I would give up using Smirnitsky's Russian-English or Mueller's English-Russian dictionaries; I relied on them for so long. But any more I find myself automatically reaching for my new Oxford when I need to look up a word! My wife does too, when she's looking for the right word in English. I recommend it highly if you regularly need a good Russian dictionary.

Very up to date. Large number of words. Great for language study or travel. Includes alternate meanings. Excellent choice of typeset. Very easy to read & use compared to other pocket dictionaries. And, a real bargain !

I am studying Russian in advance of a vacation I plan this summer; I am using a combination of tapes, software (useless by itself), books, primer, and a Russian aquaintance at work. I got this book because it was inexpensive, small, and contained both an excellent selection of words and some of the grammatical concepts. Unfortunately, it suffers from poor paperback quality printing. The low end paper used for the pages allowed some ink seepage; this makes the Cyrillic script, which I am still mastering, difficult to read in some places particularly when it comes to distinguishing the lower case forms of "na" (looks like an H only smaller) and "yi" (looks like a backwards N).

It does contain good information, but I would not recommend it if you need reading glasses or prefer to read in low light.

I thought that this dictionary was great for aiding in learning the Russian language. However, you can't rely on this dictionary alone to learn the language, it is meant to be a reference book.

For the cost of the book, it is a good value. I went elsewhere because I wanted the book right away and paid double the Amazon price (still not expensive, but I could have saved some money).

I would definitely take some time to work on learning the Cyrillic alphabet before diving into this dictionary head first. The pronouncation is going to be very difficult, so audio CDs or taking a class on Russian would definitely be a huge benefit.

I've had this dictionary since the first year of my Russian studies, and I've appreciated this dictionary for both it's inclusion of all of the words I'd been looking up and it's small size - easy to carry around in a backpack. However, this year I've started getting into higher level russian with a greater variety of vocabulary words in the reading assignments. Recently this dictionary has been failing me more and mor, making it neccesary to turn to my classmate's dictionaries, which is quite a bother. A year or two ago I would have given this dictionary a five star rating, but that has significantly gone down since I've realized how insufficient this dictionary has been for me.

The two best things about this dictionary are that it is very light weight and inexpensive. It appears to be a good reference, however the print is so small and blurry that I can't read it even with my reading glasses on. Hence, the low rating. Fortunately, for my recent trip to Ukraine, I also brought the excellent but very heavy and large, dictionary by Kenneth Katzner.

This is a good dictionary, especially if you are studying russian language in a school type setting. In response to some of the somewhat negative reviews, this is a dictionary and not meant to teach the language but as a tool to expand vocabulary, which it can do just fine. For travelers who just want to learn a few words and phrases to get around, there are a few travel guides out there with easy phonetically spelled words. I've had this dictionary for 4 semesters and hasn't let me down yet. It is almost time to upgrade to a more advanced version but this a great supplement to use while studying the language. Highly recommended.

It is hard to review a dictionary. I cannot verify all 45,000 entries are accurate, there isn't a plotline you judge or characters to hate. It is a book full of words in English and Cyrillic Russian.

However, I can tell you how useful it is. This is the size of a supermarket paperback novel, so it is highly portable. To make a dictionary this small and affordable, you have to sacrifice on a little readability. I haven't found anything that is unreadable, but some words need to be squinted at longer than others.

If this is the only dictionary you can afford, you will do just fine with it. However, I will carry this one in my laptop bag and search for a more readable version to keep on my desk.

I am learning russian so I have a plethora of books (~15). This dictionary is good but not as good as the standard Langenscheidt's. Langensheidt's is more durable, more pocket-sized, and all around better.
Buy Langenscheidt's Pocket Russian Dictionary: Russian-English/English-Russian and you'll be happy.