The Pocket Modern Welsh Dictionary: A Guide to the Living Language [Paperback]

Gareth King (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198645317 | ISBN-13: 978-0198645313 | Publication Date: July 13, 2000

This dictionary gives a unique and invaluable description of today's Welsh, illustrated by examples drawn from a wide range of contemporary sources. It will be of interest and help to native Welsh speakers and to English speakers studying or working in Welsh.

Editorial Reviews

Review

`a boon for any student of the Welsh language' Writers News, July 2000

`it is a pleasure to use ... as both a practical word-search tool for English L1 learners using the vocabulary of everyday life, and also as a browse handbook to support the ongoing process of Welsh learning ... The book is of a convenient size for (large) pocket use, and its clear print and adequate space in the margins will encourage its regular use as a companion to any Welsh-language course. Highly recommended for students and contaning many practical lessons for future compilers of Welsh and English dictionaries.' Cathair O Dochartaigh, Language, Culture and Curriculum, Vol 13:3, 2000

`This new dictionary has not only caught up with the state of the art...but has leapfrogged it.' Customer review

`This book is avowedly designed for the needs of Welsh learners and in my opinion it succeeds in this magnificently...It is full of really helpful and down-to-earth information for the beginner and has been a great help to me as I begin to study the language.' Customer comments

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (July 13, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198645317
• ISBN-13: 978-0198645313
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,331,810 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #58 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Celtic
  • #58 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Welsh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a near-perfect companion to nearly any beginner's Welsh course., November 18, 2001

By 

The MacUidhir (Vinland) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Pocket Modern Welsh Dictionary: A Guide to the Living Language (Paperback)

Let me begin by stating that I write here as a student of Celtic languages, history, and culture.

This dictionary presents itself in a very comprehensive manner. It gives the word, whether it is a noun/verb/adjective/etc., the gender of the nouns, and throughout the course of the text there is a large quantity of grammatical reference material that is very helpful. It also places many entries within the bounds of an example sentence, so you can see how many words are actually used, which is especially helpful in understanding idioms, metaphors, and the like. My only complaint with this text is that, like most dictionaries, it does *not* include a phonetic transcription, either in syllables or phonetic notation. This sort of thing is enormously useful, and especially so when learning a language like Welsh, which is a very intimidating language initially to an English-speaker. I recommend acquiring this dictionary along with the 'Hugo Three-Month Language Course' offered by Phylip Brake, as it is the best I have seen in Welsh language aids. It *does* include the words in English syllables!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant resource!, August 7, 2005

By 

Beth (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pocket Modern Welsh Dictionary: A Guide to the Living Language (Paperback)

I've just started teaching myself Welsh, and this book has been so, so useful. It's clear and easy to understand, with mini-sections on mutations, pronounciation, the numbers, the common pronouns, how to say yes and no, a brief but helpful guide to Welsh grammar (for a more thorough guide see www.bbc.co.uk/wales/learnwelsh/grammar, an extremely helpful webside), how to say placenames in Welsh, etc etc etc.
The only thing it's missing are some verb tables!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent learner's dictionary, November 13, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Pocket Modern Welsh Dictionary: A Guide to the Living Language (Paperback)

The prolific Gareth King has contributed yet another opus to his set of aids for Welsh learners, to go along with his grammar, books of exercises, and introductory textbook (Colloquial Welsh), all published by Routledge. For the learner grappling with spoken Welsh, this is by far the best dictionary I have seen to date, and its price is very reasonable. The usage notes are tremendously helpful, and have illuminated some problems I have long wondered about. Be warned, though, that King's dictionary is a guide to spoken, not literary Welsh--the two are practically different languages, with many differences in grammar and vocabulary. If you plan to learn Welsh only for reading purposes, this book will be of limited use. As the previous reviewer noted, it is not comprehensive, but it doesn't aim to be. However,if you know all that's in this book, you are probably ready to move on to other dictionaries anyway. Spoken Welsh is a fluid entity, and King has made some decisions that other native speakers may not agree with. It would be nice to see some native speakers, especially teachers, review this book.