Customer Reviews

Worth the purchase but no use on its own. - By: JR Anderson, 04 Feb 2007
I don't quite know why there is such a lack of decent Russian dictionaries available; perhaps being a lexicographer is not a serious profession amongst Russophones or something? Anyway, I have yet to find a dictionary that stands out for being very helpful & easy to use, although this one is not too bad. It contains most of the words you will need at intermediate level & examples of usage are includedin some entries but very little space has been dedicated to grammar (some 20 odd pages) which is a serious downfall. Anyone who knows anything about Russian will be aware that one needs more than a nounin the nominative case & a verbin the infinite to communicate, yet there are but a few measly pages detailing irregular formations. On the other hand, it does cover a fair amount of set phrases & idioms considering its size & there is a brief section on pronunciation. Allin all, I would recommend this dictionary because it is better than the others of a comparable size. Don't, however, expect it to suffice for reading literary texts, nor for acting as a grammar reference.

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Not for learners of russian! - By: Martin Anderson, 19 Nov 2006
What's the point of giving the english pronunciation of words, or having russian abbreviations to describe entries? This book is not for english speaking students of the russian language - but the other way around! I wasted my money buying this book.