The Oxford Picture Dictionary: English-Vietnamese Editon (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A comprehensive, flexible, and up-to-date vocabulary reference and teaching tool for English language learning. The Oxford Picture Dictionary and its components create a highly teachable programme that can be used as a complete, four-skills beginning course, or as a language development supplement and practical reference. NEW Grammar Activity Book

Language Notes

Text: English, Vietnamese

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2nd edition (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019435203X
• ISBN-13: 978-0194352031
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #57,144 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #1 in	Books > Nonfiction > Foreign Language Nonfiction > More Languages > Vietnamese
  #9 in	Books > Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > Southeast Asian
  #12 in	Books > Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > English as a Foreign Language > English for Children

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellant for beginners, January 21, 2007

By	Jonathan Boeck "alleyrat001" (Watervliet, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I purchased this book to assist a Vietnamese immigrant that I work with. She knows very little English, but attempts to communicate ideas and concepts with her co-workers. This can be very frustrating for her because we speak English, and have little motivation to learn Vietnamese. So, she's stuck having to learn the language from people that are not teachers, speak too fast, frequently use common slang terms, and have an attitude that "She'll eventually pick it up". I feel sympathy for her, so I bought it for her.

This book contains a few thousand words and pictures, all in the context that they're seen and used. For example, there is a two page spread of an intersection of roads. In that picture, there are pictures of various businesses such as laundromats, bakeries, beauty salon, and such. Car, motorcycle, truck, bus, etc. Parking meters, traffic lights, crosswalks, road, curb, corner, mailbox, fire hydrant, parking space, and many other things you'd find at an intersection of streets in a city. Many of these picture spreads also have verbs identified with a picture. For example, there is a picture of a car backing into a parking spot and noted "park the car", a bicyclist is noted with "ride a bicycle", "wait for the light", "walk across the street", etc.

What makes it perfect is that beneath the English word is the Vietnamese word so the student can identify the nouns and verbs more clearly and what action the picture is conveying, such as "learn to drive", "plant a tree", "hang up your clothes", "wash your hair", etc. In certain instances, the verbs are presented in the order they'd be performed, such as: Wake up, take a shower, eat breakfast, go to work, leave work, go shopping, go home, eat dinner, go to bed. This helps with associating the nouns and verbs with the situations. Pick up the receiver, listen for the dial tone, put coins in the telephone, dial the telephone number, have a conversation, hang up the receiver. That sort of thing. All with clearly identified pictures.

The amount of material is pretty extensive, covering 3,700 words. These words are grouped into 12 broad categories: Everyday Language, People, Housing, Food, Clothing, Health, Community, Transportation, Areas of Study, Plants and Animals, Work, and Recreation.

Each category is then broken down into several picture spreads with all the pictures and activities defined. For example, the section on community is broken down into these picture spreads: City streets, an intersection, a mall, a childcare center, U.S. Mail, a bank, a library, the legal system, crime, public safety, emergencies and natural disasters. All things and related concepts are identified in English and Vietnamese. Very nice.

Some spreads resemble comic book panes. Job Search is an example showing a young man looking for a job, looking for a Help Wanted sign, Looking in the newspaper, Calling for information, asking about the hours, filling out an application, going for an interview, and eventually getting hired. All with relevant and understandable pictures.

For a beginner who knows little English, this gets them started so they can identify time, days, past, present, future, emotions, and other concepts they'll encounter every day. They will still need a native speaker, or someone who is fluent in English, who can assist with correct pronunciations.

After several months to a year (depending on the students circumstances) of studying this book, they will need to move onto an English *grammar* book so they can construct their sentences correctly, instead of the typical, "Me go home", "You no work tomorrow?", or "I are use blue cleaner, yes?" and that sort of thing. There is some coverage of verb forms, but it's virtually useless without more extensive coverage (and definitely needs a teacher).

The back of the book contains an index, in Vietnamese, so the student can look up Vietnamese words and flip to the page were the English word, picture, and spelling is. There is also a simple English dictionary with pronunciation key, but will be of little help to a Vietnamese speaker since the English pronunciation key will be as clear as Arabic or Hebrew. How can they possibly understand the difference between "a" as in "Bake" or "a" as in "Father" unless they actually speak the language? Therefore, this pronunciation key isn't going to be very useful until they are very familiar with a few hundred words or more, along with their correct pronunciation. Then they may associate how to pronounce "a" (with the little straight line above it) with "cake".

Overall, this book, along with a native speaker, is an outstanding start for a new Vietnamese student of English. I highly recommend this book.

- Alleyrat

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars oxford dictionary, June 12, 2000

By	Joe F. Troy (USA) - See all my reviews

This book was exactly what I had been looking for! It was easy to comprehend and the pictures are well done. The pictures are also a great learning tool. If you are looking for a great English/Vietnamese dictionary take advantage of the time I spent researching this product and buy it. You won't be sorry!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow, July 5, 2005

By	John S. Parsons - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Excellent resource book both to refresh my own limited knowledge of Vietnamese and to find the right English/Vietnamese equivalent for my Vietnamese students.