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Title: Collins German Unabridged Dictionary, 4th Edition by Peter Terrell, Veronika Schnorr, Wendy V.A. Morris ISBN: 0-06-270235-1 Publisher: HarperResource Pub. Date: 01 December, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $55.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.88 (16 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Absolute Spitzenklasse!
Comment: This could well be the best two-way dictionary of any language pair anywhere. As an avid student of several foreign languages (incl. English and German) for 20 years, I have come to know what constitutes a first-rate dictionary. It is nothing short of a masterpiece.
I had been using a predecessor edition (2nd ed., 1991) for some 10 years, and even when it was published it was the best of its kind and constantly on my desk. This 4th edition raises the bar by featuring improvements across the board. The benefits derived from the increased computerised analysis of the huge word corpora Bank of English and Deutsche Textbörse are increasingly visible. Vorsprung durch Technik, indeed.
1. This exhaustive dictionary embraces, on 1000 pages in either section, every register from formal officialese via the standard language right down to vulgar slang. But it is in the real-life language where Collins has the finger right on the pulse. Many word entries are awash with examples of usage/idioms/set phrases/proverbs as actually used by natives as well as their natural translations. (I wish there were a way to download all this information into my brain because I would be able to handle any situation in flying colours.)
2. Inclusion of German words like Kardanwelle, Rochade, das Pull-Down-Menü, Überlaufanzeige etc. indicate extensive coverage of specialist terms in many fields as well as loan-words from the 90s.
3. The English section is equally impressive, listing e.g. cyberpet, establishing shot, trick or treat, decontextualize, nuclear reprocessing plant, memory expansion card, look-in, supergrass, wicked (UK slang). The word "go" and its associated phrasal verbs have an astounding range of translations.
4. Idiomatic phrases such as "to get away with sth" and "jdm etwas zumuten" which are contextually dependent are given several alternative and appropriate translations.
5. Certain bon mots and expressions which are used mostly in situations on one side of the Channel (or those whose counterpart is much less colourful!) are well translated.
Examples: set piece, pub crawl, single-track mind, car-boot sale, off-the-record, stomping groud, pipe dream; Stammtisch, Führungszeugnis, Geheimtipp, Kuschelrock, Dreitagebart, Wohngemeinschaft, Dunkelziffer, nicht mehr der jüngste sein etc. In fact, even "Ich schau dir in die Augen, Kleines", the classic line from the dubbed version of Casablanca, is listed. Hut ab!
6. This edition includes an audio CD with pronunciation (because they understand that there is a practical limit to phonetic script). The layout has been given a face-lift with 3 columns per page instead of 2 resulting in improved readability.
7. The dictionary's vast scope, depth and usability for both English and German learners and speakers (in equal measure) leave virtually no room for valid criticism. Yet some words and expressions seem to have escaped the researchers' keen eye for detail (so far); missing English words are e.g. polenta, present/current value (Fin), brown-noser, case-sensitive. Im deutschen Teil sind die folgenden durchaus geläufigen Wörter nicht aufgeführt: Quereinsteiger, Marktabschottung, Kasslerbraten, Regelwerk, verhandlungssicher, Töff (CH). But this is nit-picking.
Summa summarum: Kudos to the team of meticulous professionals behind this work for having brought out the Mercedes S-Klasse - with all the optional extras - of dictionaries. It's also an exemplary cross-border collaboration optimally blending British practicality and German precision.
Buy this dictionary - you may still be using it in 2012.
Rating: 5
Summary: Simply the best dictionary on the market!
Comment: As a scholar of German literature and visual culture, this is the single most valuable resource on my shelf! This dictionary beats the stodgy and akward Oxford-Duden hands down in terms of colloquial accuracy, depth, and ease of use. Unlike the Duden and the Langenscheidt German-English dictionaries, this volume contains far more easily-accessible information for the non-native speaker of German. For example, under noun-entries, the gender as well as the plural, dative and genitive endings of a noun are all indicated in the first line of an entry-- there is no need to resort to annoying noun-classification charts like in the Duden, where you often have to flip through 1000 or so pages to find the accompanying noun-paradigm, e.g. just to figure out the plural of a given word. The same holds true for verbs: a wealth of idiomatic examples for the most common uses of a verb are given in each entry -- an excellent aid for those who do not possess the infallible instincts of a native speaker. What is more, I found the unit conversion and verb charts, as well as the correspondence and resume-writing tips in the "Language in Use" section very helpful during my studies abroad.
In short, this user-friendly bilingual dictionary is the standard against which all others must be measured!
Rating: 5
Summary: the best German-English dictionary available
Comment: The Collins German Dictionary, with 800,000 entries, has more words and definitions than other comparable dictionaries such as the Oxford Duden, the Langenscheidts and the Cassells (which should be avoided because it is so outdated). It also gives complete grammar explanations in the preface, and it includes a list of regular German noun endings, their genders, genitives, and plurals. There is also a handy reference of all the abbreviations, field labels, and style labels on the inside cover. It also includes the past and participial forms for all strong verbs, and it gives past subjunctives within the text. The Collins also gives declensions for pronouns such as "wer" and "jemand," and it lists proper nouns within the text. Verbs that differ from the stem of the infinitive are listed in their imperative singular form ("hilf," "sprich," etc.). The traditional orthography is given in the body of the dictionary, with a symbol indicating words that have changed on account of the spelling reform of 1996.
Its main drawback is that the binding tends to collapse with frequent use, even though it is a hardback.
While abbreviations are listed in alphabetical order in the text, their definitions are not given to you immediately. For example, if you look up "usf.," you are told that it is an abbreviation of "und so fort;" then you must look up fort to discover that "usf." means "and so forth." The Collins listing of German verbs is at the very end of the dictionary, which makes it hard to find.
Note that there are a variety of Collins dictionaries. The unabridged version has 800,000 entries, while the College Edition has 380,000 entries, and the Concise edition has 195,000 entries. Some of the smaller dictionaries have entries listed in red or in blue, which is helpful for finding words more quickly. If you are beginning to learn German, it is useful
to have a smaller dictionary to save time while looking up the
same word over and over again.
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Title: 501 German Verbs by Henry Strutz ISBN: 0764102842 Publisher: Barron's Educational Series Pub. Date: 01 April, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Mastering German Vocabulary: A Thematic Approach (Mastering Vocabulary) by Gabriele Forst, Veronika Schnorr, Martin Crellin, Adelheid Schnorr-Dummler, Raymond Sudmeyer ISBN: 0812091086 Publisher: Barron's Educational Series Pub. Date: 01 August, 1995 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: German Quickly: A Grammar for Reading German (American University Studies. Series Vi, Foreign Language Instruction, Vol 5) by April Wilson ISBN: 0820423246 Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing Pub. Date: 01 September, 1993 List Price(USD): $48.95 |
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Title: Hammer's German Grammar and Usage, Fourth Edition by Martin Durrell ISBN: 0071396543 Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books Pub. Date: 25 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
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Title: Essential German Grammar by Guy Stern ISBN: 0486204227 Publisher: Dover Publications Pub. Date: 01 June, 1963 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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