Langenscheidt's Compact German Dictionary: German-English English-German (Langenscheidt Compact Dictionaries)

We bought this to help out with guests from what used to be East Germany. Guess what, all Germans don't speak English, they learned Russian behind the wall. Anyway, in the german to english section there had been a mistake and about 100 pages were misbound, replaced by english pages. I didn't find it, but of course our guests found this during the weekend, and it was amazing how often the word they were looking for would have been in that section. I'm sure I could get Amazon to replace it, but it's too late now.

First, it should be obvious that this being essentially a pocket dictionary, isn't going to be the most comprehensive dictionary around. That being said, I hate this dictionary. It is incredibly frustrating to use: under any given entry there will follow a list of a dozen or more words, but without any indication as to how they are supposed to be used or in what context. If you don't already posses a substantial command of the language you will end up pretty far from what you really want to say. I greatly prefer the Webster's New World Dictionary. It is much more user-friendly and will help you find the RIGHT word.

This dictionary has a confusing way of using acronyms in its definitions. Recommend getting a different dictionary.

What can I say? It's a dictionary. Langenscheidt's Dictionary has been around forever and is as good as any. If it would only translate for me...

Translations (German/English and English/German very accurate. Dictionary very useful for everyday usage of common language questions.

If there is a negative it is physical. The book is rather thick and a little unwieldy as a result.