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Title: Langenscheidt's Pocket Dictionary Korean/English English/Korean by Langenscheidt Staff, Langenscheidt Publishers, Langenscheidt Editorial ISBN: 1-58573-056-4 Publisher: Langenscheidt Publishing Group Pub. Date: 15 February, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.38 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST
Comment: This is one of the best I've seen for beginner-intermediate levels for several reasons:
The dictionary offers both hangul and romanization for everything, and this is one of the better romanization schemes I've seen because it works in the morphophonological changes to match real pronunciation. I'm good at hangul and familiar with several romanizations such as Yale like what is used in linguistic publications. The romanization used in this dictionary is very good, and I recommend it for beginners.
The Korean-English section is listed in alphabetical order by romanization. Unless you're mentally challenged, it's very easy to use and words are easy to find. For example, only the unvoiced letters are found at the beginning of words: ch, k, p, t; So there aren't j, g, b, d entries.
The English-Korean section has some of the best coverage of English vocabulary found lacking in many foreign language dictionaries, such as phrasal verbs and more colloquial usage including various uses of vulgar language. For example, almost every way we can use "take" or "get" in English is described and phrasal verbs get their own entries, such as "take out (from bag, pocket) kko(naeda; stain chiuda; appendix, tooth ppopptta; word from text ppaenaeda; money from bank inch'urhada; (to dinner etc) terigo nagada; insurance policy ...e tu(lda; take it out on s.o. nuguege hwap'urihada". All the other phrasal verbs starting with "take" have similarly detailed entries. If you want to say "crash" you'll have to know that a thunder crash (chi'da), a market crash (punggoehada), a computer crash (kojangnada), and to crash when you want to sleep (chada) all have different ways to say in Korean (but you'll still have to come up with your objects to those verbs--it does effectively translate crash). This dictionary details it all out.
The vocabulary is up-to-date including words and phrases like "surf the Net".
For people who study or have studied Japanese, the Langenscheidt Japanese one has the same English entries for easy comparison between the two languages. I use both in addition to other dictionaries by Minjung Seorim. These dictionaries have been well-planned, it is too bad that many students of Korean get tunnel-vision with their dictionaries. (The Japanese version which has been planned in the same way has 5-stars). If you can learn to read Hangul, then you can read this romanization too, and both are included in the dictionary. That makes it all the better.
I hope Langenscheidt comes out with a larger, more advanced version up to par with their European language dictionaries.
Rating: 3
Summary: Great for those with no knowledge of Hangul BUT...
Comment: I bought this at a time when I had no knowledge of Hangul at all (about 2 months ago). My oh my how much things can change within 2 months (a testament to the ease of learning the Korean alphabet). This dictionary is now only used to double check pronounciation and to look for phrases in English to Korean that I can't work out or find in my preferred Korean<->English dictionary, "Minjung's Pocket English-Korean, Korean-English Dictionary".
PRO'S: Romanization makes it easy for beginners with pronounciation of Korean. Font and typeface are very well presented. English to Korean section provides well thought out translations and variants into Korean. Compact size.
CON'S: Korean section is by romanization first, bad if you are looking for a Korean word in Hangul on the quick. Doesn't cover phrase endings (-nida, -yo, etc, etc...found this the most frustrating when using this dictionary for translation work).
Overall, this is a good dictionary, don't get me wrong about that. You'll just need to supplement it with a more robust dictionary from one of the Korean publishers (Minjung or Dong-ah) to get the most out of your Korean studies.
P.S. As other's have mentioned, if you get this with the "Elementary Korean" text, they are MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE. Invest in a Korean-published dictionary if you get that text first before you get this Langenscheidt one.
Rating: 3
Summary: Any Good? Depends on what you need!
Comment: Here's how the book's organized:
The Korean section is listed alphabetically by English phonetic spelling of the Korean word. It lists single or multiple meanings and includes ways to use the word within a phrase. It also list the han-gul (Korean symbology).
The English section is alphabetized by English (of course). It also lists the phonetic pronunciation, the han-gul, and offers phrases and different usages.
Here's how it works.
The book's pretty good if you're bolstering your *English to Korean* vocabulary. Start in English, find the phonetic and han-gul spelling. If you want to, you can flip to the Korean, look it up by phonetic spelling and find related words. Cool.
It's not so hot if you want to look up a Korean word because you have to know it's English phonetic spelling. This is no easy task because different speakers have different pronounciations. Does the word start with a pa or ba, se or te, sha or cha? I had a heck of a time finding even the most common words.
It's really lousy if you know, are learning, or translating han-gul. It's not organized by Korean symbols, except for as much as they follow the phonetic spelling of the words. If you're given the han-gul, you first have to pronounce it, figure out the phonetic spelling and then hope you're pronouncing it the way the book expects you to. Yuck.
Also, if you're on the verge of bifocals be prepared for eyestrain. The English text is pretty clear, but the han-gul is tough. It's in bold-face, I suppose to make it stand out, but all it does for me is make the symbols harder to read. That being said, my young son has no trouble with it at all (the punk).
All and all, the book is a reasonable secondary source as long as you keep the limitations in mind.
One last thing. I got this dictionary with the "Elementary Korean" textbook. The combo is a *complete* waste. The textbook is in han-gul which you can't look it up in the dictionary! Don't take the combo unless you're looking for two completely different sources.
Hope this helps....
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Title: Elementary Korean by Ross King, Jaehoon Yeon ISBN: 0804820791 Publisher: Charles E Tuttle Co Pub. Date: April, 2000 List Price(USD): $69.37 |
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Title: Lonely Planet Korean Phrasebook (LONELY PLANET KOREAN PHRASEBOOK) by Minkyoung Kim, J. D. Hilts ISBN: 1740591666 Publisher: Lonely Planet Pub. Date: May, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Your First 100 Words in Korean : Beginner's Quick & Easy Guide to Demystifying Korean Script by Jane Wightwick ISBN: 0658011405 Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books Pub. Date: 24 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Korean at a Glance by Grace Holt, Daniel D. Holt ISBN: 081203998X Publisher: Barrons Educational Series Pub. Date: August, 1988 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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