Dictionary Reviews

The Cameo Bible is a favorite of mine due to its size, readable print and the high degree of quality craftmanship that is employed by Cambridge University Press.

Best of all it is the Authorized (King James) Version so that you know you are reading the pure, uncorrupted, Word of God.

"The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." (Psalm 12:6,7)

If you are sick and tired of your bibles falling apart through constant use, then this bible is the ONE to get!!This bible is the absollute best that I own!!!. If you are looking for a durable, long lasting, well made bible: This is it!!! (or any bible published by Cambridge University Press, for that matter)> The print is clear and readable too. The only drawback is the raised letters in the text. If you find this feature annoying, then you may wish to consider the Concord Reference or the Concord Wide Margin Reference (I have that one as well) instead. All in all, I am pleased with this bible and fully expect to pass it down to my future children.

This Bible by far is the BEST I've ever owned! I came upon this Bible quite by accident. I had been to several stores and could not find a size I liked so I kept looking and what a blessing, I finally found it. The perfect Bible, the perfect size with perfect features. I was almost certain I would have to give up something to have a Bible this size (ie. concordance, dictionary, maps, chain reference) but when I opened it up and looked inside, to my amazement, ALL of these things were included!! So I sacrificed nothing by going with this "easier-to-handle" size but instead I got the perfect Bible containing EVERY feature I desire in a Bible. The dictionary is the best I've seen in a Bible (many scriptural references to go along with the dictionary information), the concordance is logically organized (I've seen many concordances which AREN'T!), and the chain reference has been very helpful to me in my studying.

My only wish is that they would offer it in more than 2 colors. I do have to say though the burgundy one looks great. It's my favorite of the two colors. I have the black one. I bought the burgundy one for my daughter with complete faith that it will last her for many, many years. The calfskin binding is a little on the rough side at first but it gets softer and softer the longer you own and handle it. It's also very durable. The India paper wasn't quite as "sticky" as other new Bible pages. They "break in" very quickly. They too seem to get softer with much use.

Rest assured, if you choose to purchase this Bible you definitely will not be disappointed!! And it's certainly worth more than it's price--for God's Holy Word is a precious and priceless treasure!!

I lost my Langenscheidt's French pocket dictionary the last day of a month's tour of Le Midi and I was devastated. Besides the compact size and solid construction, the French idioms and useful phrases are quite complete and easy to find as variants under the main roots. The chart of irregular verbs is very helpful. The type face is easy to read. When you open the book, it stays open. The use of a so-called universally recognized pronunciation chart is the only weakness. Most users of this book are not attuned to such symbols. It would be much more helpful if the words were spelled out phonetically.

I've had this dictionary since high school and am still using it in University. It's great! The book cover IS different, plasticky. I've recently lost my copy and am now using a friend's Larousse French-English dictionary, it is not the same at all, the definitions are not as helpful, and it's bigger in size! go figure! So I guess I'll be buying a new copy now!

Easier to use than the Larouse -- it just feels better. Whether it is the flex binding or the quality of the paper, you just get to the words sooner in the Langensheidt. The text is so complete that there is very little guilt in not going to the Unabridged Dictionaries, which are too ponderous to be consulted with ease.

I am currently a 23 year old college student. It has been quite a while since I have taken the 3 years of spanish in highschool. I am pursuing a BA degree so I am required to complete 2 years of a college-level foreign language. I would love to continue with Spanish, but because it has been so long, I believe I have become a bit rusty.I had originally tested into Spanish 201 on the college placement exam, although that was immediately after highschool graduation. So, here I am basically 'spanishless' and my school is telling me that if I want to pursue Spanish, then I have to start in 102, not 101. I attempted it, and withdrew eventually... So, here I was, on the prowl for anything I could lay my hands on to help me strengthen my Spanish, and voila...I stumbled across this book. I am so glad that I decided upon the purchase of this book compared to any others that exist. I've seen the others, but this is the only one I personally own, and it is THE BEST in my opinion. Whether you want to refresh your memory of such things as vocabulary or conjugation of verbs; or if you are just an enthusiastic beginner, I STRONGLY recommend this book! I even purchased a 2nd one for my grandmother, now does that tell ya anything? I LOVE THIS BOOK!

S. Hawson's way of explaining Spanish grammar makes it easy for anyone to understand. If you only want to buy one book in order to speak proper Spanish, let this be it!

I have studied Spanish before, but it was very hard for me to put it all together. This book has helped me out so much! It has practice exercises that build on each other as you progress through the book and anybody can understand it. It also includes information on proper etiquette, spanish websites, and other spanish resources. Definately a must!

If you work with stylistics this is a basic book. What makes the book special is that it does not only introduces what Fowler calls linguistic criticism but also discuss many problematic points that anyone who works with stylistics faces. The books covers every topic of this sort of work, from terminology to practical analysis.

As an introduction to the critical study of discourse, Linguistic Criticism gives special attention to literary texts. According to Roger Fowler, Linguistics is the support to a criticism that would consider both language and context in order to point out the special effects of language into the discourse. For him, the task of considering the subjective aspects of literature with a scientific eye towards its discourse only can be achieved with the support of Linguistics. A part from that, the author does not believe that literature is the only kind of discourse that deserves such approach. The reader will also find a large bibliography about every topic discussed.

If nowadays Linguistics Scholars have too much to fight over little small branchs of the big Discipline Linguistics has become, why don't the begginers at this "science" start to take profit of all that? If you need some ideas of how you can combine some of the linguistics traditions without breaking them into small unuseful stuff, here you got many! The author reviews how can one well use linguistics towards literature getting acurated analysis. How? You have to read the book! But be aware it is not a book for outsiders of the linguistics world... Then you can think a little more about what linguistics is, what will the cool as in order to work with it you do need to think instead of fighting...

This what this book is about. The reader finds out how much he can discover while reading a literary or non literary work...

Lonely Planet always publishes great phrasebooks, and this one's no different. Luckily, they provide the original cyrillic script alongside of the phonetic transcriptions, so you can actually read things while inside the country (unlike their Central Asian phrasebook, which was entirely in phonetic transcription). I haven't been to Mongolia yet, but this book is definatly coming with me when I go! Its content is very similar to their Russian phrasebook, which I found extremely useful while in Russia.

I took this phrase book to Mongolia with me in the summer of 2001 and foud it to be extremely helpful. While there is a phrase section in Lonely Planet's main book on Mongolia (which I HIGHLY recommend as an essential if travelling to Mongolia), this book was much more comprehensive. I found it very useful when trying to communicate with our non-english speaking driver when out in the middle of the Gobi desert. Even if you are unable to pronounce the words correctly, you can at least show whoever you're trying to communicate with the word you are trying to say. Mongolia is a travel experience far different from anywhere else in the world. Communication is a vital part of making that experience more enriching. For that, I recommend this phrase book.

Wherever you travel in the world, the Lonely Planet guides are the most helpful, the most lucid, and the most fun to read. After struggling with Mongolian-English dictionaries, this book was a breath of fresh air. Their phonetic transcriptions of the Cyrillic are by far the easiest and least technical that I've found. And on top of that it is convenient and pocket-sized!

This is a very nice book and the one we used in my Old Norse class at BYU, and the selections are all very good, very interesting. However, I agree with the reviewer that this is, despite the title, hardly the best introdruction to the language.

What I recommend is this: Get yourself Stefán Einarsson's fine book, "Icelandic: Grammar, Texts, Glossary", which is set up in lessons for the beginner and which you can get real cheap here at Amazon. That book is modern Icelandic, so the readings aren't about Egill Skallagrímsson or Snorri's Edda, but not only is the Old Norse spirit very much alive in modern Iceland (and all the people very familiar with the old stories), but the language has changed extraordinarily little in the last thousand years (very very minor things), so that if you learn modern Icelandic even reasonably well (which you will from Einarsson), you can easily pick up the sagas with no problem.

Then, when you've finished with his book, you can get Gordon, which will be much more enjoyable then. Alternatively, you can get the texts of lots of the sagas online from Icelandic sites and get hardcopy English versions here at Amazon to use as "ponies". (Hrafnkels saga is a good one to start with, or Snorra Edda.) Good luck!

Please don't send away 30 dollars thinking that this book is going to teach you to read Old Norse / Old Icelandic. If you're hoping for a basic grammar, with graded lessons, you're going to be disappointed. This is an excellent work, an indispensable work, but it's a reader for those who have already learned the basics of Old Icelandic.

After a brief introduction to Scandinavian history, the Viking expansion, and saga literature, the author gives about 160 pages of West Norse, normalized into classical Icelandic. Most of the selections are from the sagas, and they are well annotated, and a full vocabulary is included in the back of the book. There is also a section on what he calls "East Norse" (the Old Norse particular to Denmark, Norway and Sweden), and a small section dealing with the language of the runic inscriptions.

There is a 40 or 50 page section where he presents the grammar, but it's more along the lines of an outline of the grammar. It's sufficient for someone who already has a good knowledge of Old English, OHG, or Gothic, but my hat's off to anyone with the determination to acquire a reading knowledge of the language from this grammatical sketch alone.

There's the rub: where DO you get the introduction to Old Icelandic that will enable you to use this book with benefit? The superb learning grammar "Old Icelandic: an Introductory Course" by Valfells and Cathey is out of print. Kenneth Chapman wrote "Graded Readings and Exercises in Old Icelandic" about 35 years ago, but that's disappeared as well. Until either of those works is reprinted, or a new introduction is written, it's going to be tough.

But none of this is meant to take anything away from Gordon's work; it's a wonderful, scholarly work. Problem is, you really do need to have something of a background before you use it.

G.V. Gordon's book is an excellent introduction to the Old Norse Language. It explains the intricacies of Norse grammar lucidly, and is very easy to work with. The fact that one cannot obtain it here, is really unfortunate; however, on the positive side, I know for a fact that at least one other major internet site has it.

The best book I've seen on Gothic. Layman friendly. These folks also sell Asatru rituals in West Goth and Old English.
This is the only book on Gothic I know of that is aimed at normal people and not PHds. This book belongs in the library of every student of the Old Ways. Wyatt Kaldenberg

This is a highly praise worthy book. A good knowledge of Old English is helpful when tackling Gothic but not completely necessary since the book covers most of what you need to know. It's too bad no one speaks Gothic, or any east Germanic dialct anymore it would be interesting to see how the language modernized.

While most Gothic language introductions and grammars assume a very thorough knowledge of Germanic comparative linguistics, this one actually defines most of the technical terms it uses. Has a good explanation of the rules and even some exercises (no answers, though). Seems adequate for classroom or self- study. Texts in Gothic are used from the very beginning (some original, some from ancient sources). Above all, the way the rules are presented and the choice of readings make this book a FUN learning experience.

i just got this for christmas, and i like it; the only gripe i have is it doesn't have the readings of the characters: just the compounds it can fit into. but aside from that, VERY cool: gives the stroke #, all the common/some uncommon compounds, stroke order, and all 1945 kanji, so it's good by me ^_^

The preface part of the book tells you what all the symbols used in the book mean, and how to read the definitions (e.g., this one [%] is for business terms). It also explains KUN and ON readings (that helps me every time), Jukugo compounds, statistical hints (not a cut and dry formula, because one doesn't exist) about when a kanji is being used for its ON/KUN reading. Furthermore, the terms Gojuon-jun, Joyo kanji, Okurigana, and Ateji are defined. Lastly, it gives a light treatment of radicals, phonetic and non-phonetic compounds, and a kanji learning strategy.

It’s not a very long preface, though. It is, however, concise, and prepares you for learning Kanji, and becoming literate - not just for using the book. After reading the preface to this book I knew without doubt that i wanted to use this one.

The fat part of the book is straight forward. Occasionally I need to read up on a symbol or convention of the book. However, its extremely delightful to use.

The dictionary is divided into 14 sections. Section 1 has all the kanji with radicals of 1 stroke, section 2 has all the kanji with radicals of 2 strokes,... and section 14 has kanji whose radicals have a stroke count of 14. Within each radical set in each section the kanji are ordered by increasing stroke count. So section 3 starts off with a radical with a stroke count of 3, then the all the kanji that use that radical are listed under it. The stroke count for the first Kanji can be as low as 3 (or stroke count of the radical) and go as high as 23 (I haven't seen one yet, but it says so in the preface - which i just referred to find out - see how easy it is to use?), then the next radical is introduced (stroke count of 3) and it begins again.

All the radicals for a section are listed in a smaller font size down the outer edge of the pages, and the radical whose set (all the kanji that use this radical) you're in has a visible dot next to it. This is a great feature that makes looking up a kanji by radical (or just the radical) much, much faster. Other wise a student (beginner like me) would have to deduce which radical section they're in by looking at a kanji on the page that may contain 2 radicals of equal stroke count. This way also enables an animated like search. If you're in section 4, which is probably the 2nd largest section, you can flick through pages rapidly while following the moving dot down to the radical you know you want.
Or if you're at either end of the book you can flick through hundreds of pages until you see the stroke count of the radical your looking for that is listed in the upper outer corner in big bold font and then slow your rate down to comb more carefully. That’s nice.

Under the kanji are the readings and, usually, loads of compounds to help you get a grip on the meaning, and exposes you to some common compounds for kanji, plus kanji period. All the pronunciations or readings are written in Kana exclusively. The Kana are listed in the preface without pronunciations. The book requires you know the Kana â€" it’s a dictionary not a Kana book! You can still use this dictionary if you just want to know the meaning of the kanji in question.

However, you may lose one of the most powerful features of the book if you don’t know a kanji’s reading at least: Kanji look up by reading or pronunciation. If you’ve seen the pronunciation of a Kanji though (maybe the furigana for it) then you’ll still get this feature. You can also look up Kanji by stroke count, though honestly, it should be used as a last resort, unless the kanji you’re looking for is simple. I don’t use it much. Except for when I’m trying to find Kanji that I’ve seen on my favorite cartoons like YYH, RK, DB/Z. I find all the ones I can decipher correctly from a paused video screen. My favorite feature of the book, though not one I use a whole lot right now, is the Radical table on the back cover.

Looking up Hard Kanji
If you see a kanji whose strokes are hard to count (so you can’t look it up that way) guess what the radical may be for it, then look in the Radical table to find the page that the set for this radical starts on. If what you guessed wasn’t a radical, use another piece of the Kanji as the radical you look for. Say you found one that’s listed (there are 214 radicals in this table and the book). Guess a stroke count for the kanji, which gives you an idea of how far forward you need to go forward from the radical set's starting page. Say it’s about 16 strokes and your radical is only 4 strokes, you've got a long way to go. Flick forward while keeping and eye on the dotted radicals listed on the side of the pages so you don’t leave your radical’s section. Stop and look at kanji on an arbitrary page, they have circled numbers down and to the right of them which are their stroke counts. Do that until you find a 16, then go slowly backwards until you find the first 16-stroke kanji for your radical. Then you page forward until you see the radical you have been looking for. If you’re guess wasn’t right for either the radical or stroke count then you’ll have to try again. In your search though, you’ll likely see an interesting looking kanji that you’ll want to read â€" you’ve just learned a new Kanji!

This is possibly the most useful Japanese dictionary. It allows lookup of Kanji by Radical, on/kun readings (kana), or total stroke number. It gives numerous compounds for each kanji, and includes rarely used kana readings. It shows the stroke order. It also has Business usage for each character. There is no romanji, so that is definitely a plus. And since it contains the Jouyou Kanji, most Kanji that you encounter will be in this dictionary. I highly recommend it to intermediate-advanced students of Japanese, or if you just wanna read some stuff, or build up your vocabulary. Looks nice as well.

The Larousse Pocket Dictionnaire is a good first dictionary for students of French. If you want full entries with the most colloquial phrases, or if you're going to do heavy translating, consider a larger dictionary.

Plusses: It is a very convenient size: it literally fits in your pocket. It has 80.000+ words. Great price! Its french.

Minuses: The cover will not hold up to heavy wear. There are no tabs-by-letter to help you quickly locate the area of the dictionary you're looking for (though its so compact this isn't really a problem).

This book is part of the LAROUSSE family of French Dictionaries. I own the entire series. This by far is the first buy for the French student. In the chart below, you will see how it stacks up.

*** MINI Dictionary *** 40,000 Translations *** 0314 Pages *** Pocket Ditionary *** 80,000 Translations *** 0768 Pages *** Concise Dictionary *** 130,000 Translations *** 1290 Pages *** Advanced Dictionary *** 400,000 Translations *** 2232 Pages

I omitted the unabridged dictionary because I believe it is being phased out by the advanced dictionary.

This dictionary does NOT contain the most sought after body parts, phrases, and idioms. The larger dictionaries, and the Street French Dictionary and Thesaurus does.

Furthermore, this dictionary will fit in a locker, and is not a mammoth like the Advanced Dictionary (recommended for college / Advanced Placement courses).

This dictionary does not contain conjugations.

This dictionary contains up-to-date coverage of contemporary French, the latest terminology, abbreviations, acronyms, and proper nouns.

It is HIGHLY recommended for a first French dictionary.

Larousse sets the standard for French dictionaries, no matter the size. This "nouveau dictionnaire de poche: français-anglais/anglais-français" (April 1999) is a quite good french-english/english-french pocket dictionary. However, for less than five dollars more one can obtain a better "pocket" Larousse (dictionnaire compact, January 2000), which is almost the same size (2/3 inch thicker). It is the same dictionary, but with 120,000 translations (instead of the 80,000 translations in this one). This smaller dictionary is also excellent for quick translations and has very up-to-date usages. As with any dictionary, keep an eye out for revised editions each year.

Let's Learn Kanji is systematic, it gives you a wealth of basic kanji knowledge (including stroke order and radicals) as well as providing space to practice AND regular worksheets/mini tests so you can monitor your progress! Often kanji books offer only examples and written explanations, or focus soley on repeated written practice. The addition of the mini tests for consolidating your learning makes this book a must have. I studied some kanji previously but found my self directed study slow. While I agree with the other reviewer that the pace seem stedious at first, I after a month I can claim some serious progress! My only concern with this text is that from time to time the mini tests do not have an answer key. All in all an excellent book for self study by motivated beginners!

I have been writing Japanese for years, and I started with the author's "Let's Learn Hiragana" and "Let's Learn Katakana." I loved both books, especially the Hiragana. I learned Kanji from various sources, spent hundreds of dollars on books (literally), yet none of them were as beautifully written as this one. If you want to learn the characters in depth, and want to really enjoy writing them (yes, it is artistic and even fun to do) and not just be flabbergasted and frustrated, this is the book to start with (or even switch over to). I might get this book just to improve my handwriting!

I am a kid, and let me be frank, this book is probably the bestthere is you there. This can teach you just about every thing abegiiner needs to know!