Rating: 
Summary: The ONLY Arabic dictionary for serious students!
Review: This dictionary was required for the three years of Arabic that I took at the university. It enjoys a unique status as a "famous" dictionary. According to the introduction, it is an updated and expanded English version of Mr. Wehr's 1952 Arabic-German dictionary. And it is not a bad book! Though I wouldn't say that it is intended for travelers, beginners or armchair linguists. (My review refers to the pocket-book sized edition.) THE GOOD: 1) It is small and easily transportable. This makes it especially pleasing to the university crowd. 2) It has quite a lot of words. All of these entries mean that I was almost always able to find the word that I was looking for. 3) Useful entries. The entries include all of the stuff that you would usually find in a foreign language dictionary, but they are also incredibly tailored to Arabic learners. For example, the verbs in the dictionary include Roman numerals indicating the meanings of the derived stems - and believe you me - this was very nice! Also, the nouns include the plural forms - also a very helpful feature. 4) While the Arabic words in the dictionary don't have diacritical marks indicating Arabic vowel sounds, it does have phonetic transliterations. This makes it easy to pronounce unfamiliar words, plurals and case endings. THE BAD: 1) It is a small paperback dictionary. This makes for two problems - the covers wear out extremely fast, and the book doesn't stay open to any page without some sort of major intervention. 2) This dictionary is for MODERN WRITTEN Arabic only! This is too bad, because you won't find and spoken colloquialisms or dialect expressions. In fact, the first six pages of the book explain the problems and difficulties associated with creating a multi-use Arabic dictionary. 3) There are no example sentences for the entries. This would have been useful for those "ten definitions" type of words. 4) There are no appendices. Also too bad. 5) I said it before, and I'll say it again: this dictionary is not for anyone who does not have at least some Arabic under his or her belt! Users need to know how to read and write in Arabic, as well as how to look up words based on their root. If you can't do these, or have no intention of ever learning how - then you shouldn't get this book. Even though I have written more bad things than good things, I just want to make it clear that this is an incredibly useful dictionary for serious Arabic learners. In fact, as far as I could tell, it was THE ONLY DICTIONARY among my colleagues. Worth every dinar!
Rating:
Summary: The ONLY Arabic dictionary for serious students!
Review: This dictionary was required for the three years of Arabic that I took at the university. It enjoys a unique status as a "famous" dictionary. According to the introduction, it is an updated and expanded English version of Mr. Wehr's 1952 Arabic-German dictionary. And it is not a bad book! Though I wouldn't say that it is intended for travelers, beginners or armchair linguists. (My review refers to the pocket-book sized edition.) THE GOOD: 1) It is small and easily transportable. This makes it especially pleasing to the university crowd. 2) It has quite a lot of words. All of these entries mean that I was almost always able to find the word that I was looking for. 3) Useful entries. The entries include all of the stuff that you would usually find in a foreign language dictionary, but they are also incredibly tailored to Arabic learners. For example, the verbs in the dictionary include Roman numerals indicating the meanings of the derived stems - and believe you me - this was very nice! Also, the nouns include the plural forms - also a very helpful feature. 4) While the Arabic words in the dictionary don't have diacritical marks indicating Arabic vowel sounds, it does have phonetic transliterations. This makes it easy to pronounce unfamiliar words, plurals and case endings. THE BAD: 1) It is a small paperback dictionary. This makes for two problems - the covers wear out extremely fast, and the book doesn't stay open to any page without some sort of major intervention. 2) This dictionary is for MODERN WRITTEN Arabic only! This is too bad, because you won't find and spoken colloquialisms or dialect expressions. In fact, the first six pages of the book explain the problems and difficulties associated with creating a multi-use Arabic dictionary. 3) There are no example sentences for the entries. This would have been useful for those "ten definitions" type of words. 4) There are no appendices. Also too bad. 5) I said it before, and I'll say it again: this dictionary is not for anyone who does not have at least some Arabic under his or her belt! Users need to know how to read and write in Arabic, as well as how to look up words based on their root. If you can't do these, or have no intention of ever learning how - then you shouldn't get this book. Even though I have written more bad things than good things, I just want to make it clear that this is an incredibly useful dictionary for serious Arabic learners. In fact, as far as I could tell, it was THE ONLY DICTIONARY among my colleagues. Worth every dinar!
Rating:
Summary: Aboo Imraan's review of the Hans Wehr Dictionary
Review: This English-Arabic dictionary is second best to E.W. Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon. For those Muslims who have been studying Arabic for several years then you will benefit from this book only in regards to the Arabic Verb Forms. Hans Wehr did an excellent job of arranging the verb forms but the only offset is that he did so using the Roman letters and not the standard Wazan that the old Arabic Scholars have observed in explaining the different verb forms. I do not recommend the Hans Wehr for study of the classical Arabic or Islamic Studies as it contains modern meanings of words as Arabs use today and not as it was understood in the time of our beloved Prophet(may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). However if you do buy this dictionary buy both the small hardback and the large hardback as they will last longer. The small hardcopy is very hard on the eyes though for you students of knowledge who spend long hours studying. I have found this dictionary helpful when I could not walk around with the Arabic-English Lexicon but it also came in handy when I completed my studies of the 3 Madinah Books commonly used in the Islamic University of Madinah, K.S.A. May Allah make us all to know and understand His Book and the authentic narrations of His Prophet (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)in the Arabic Language.
Rating: 
Summary: The Arabic-English dictionary to invest in
Review: This is the Arabic-English dictionary that every student of the Arabic language should invest in. It is exceptionally useful for even the beginning student, though it is necessary to have some basic grammatical knowledge of Arabic to facilitate its usage. Used in conjunction with 201 Arabic Verbs (ISBN: 0812005473) you should be able to find virtually any word in Modern Standard Arabic that you are looking for. In fact, I highly recommend both books for students of the language.
Rating:
Summary: The Arabic-English dictionary to invest in
Review: This is the Arabic-English dictionary that every student of the Arabic language should invest in. It is exceptionally useful for even the beginning student, though it is necessary to have some basic grammatical knowledge of Arabic to facilitate its usage. Used in conjunction with 201 Arabic Verbs (ISBN: 0812005473) you should be able to find virtually any word in Modern Standard Arabic that you are looking for. In fact, I highly recommend both books for students of the language.
Rating:
Summary: The best and only Arabic Dictionary.
Review: This is the ONLY dictionary of Arabic-English that is worth the paper it's printed on...fortunatly the Hans Wehr is worth so much more! The dictionary is concise and exact and has words listed by their Arabic root (as all proper Arabic dictionaries should be). This dictionary is very well sought...if it's in stock, order it now as it's likely to be backordered again soon.
Rating:
Summary: Hands down best arabic to english dictionary
Review: This is, by far, the best arabic to english dictionary. Rather than just giving 1 word "translations," the book will give you a real definition in terms of all the possibilities of the meaning of the word. It also gives definitions for words that apply in certain contexts, phrases, or with certain prepositions.
Rating:
Summary: HANS WEHR IS A PROPHET AND MILTON COWAN HIS MESSAGER
Review: UP TO NOW I HAVE USED THE 3RD EDITION AND I FOUND IT GENIOUS. THE ONLY INCONVENIENCE (AND NOT A SMALL ONE) IS THE MINUSCULE SIZE OF THE FONTS-ABOUT 1 mm in height (about 1/25 inch, I believe). I HOPE THIS POINT WAS IMPROVED IN THE 4TH EDITION, THOUGH THE AMAZON SITE GIVES NO INFO ON THIS. IF ANYONE CAN TELL ME SOMETHING ABOUT IT- WELLCOME.
Rating:
Summary: Know some Arabic verb grammar
Review: While the dictionary is the best one there is for not only
standard written Arabic, it also covers a wealth of colloquial
words of various dialects of the spoken. You should know how
certain vowels in certain verb radicals can become assimilated
and yield surprising spellings.Otherwise you could end up
against a brick wall looking for something apparently obvious.
I recommend "Contemporary Arabic Readers: Newpaper Arabic" by Ernest McCarus for a good coverage of assimilated radical vowels
in regular and irregular verbs, which covers all the rules,
but be prepared to spend some time learning them. What I have never understood is how the authors compiled all this
information. This is simply a collosal, everlasting intellectual
achievement. Jorge Gruner
Rating:
Summary: Know some Arabic verb grammar
Review: While the dictionary is the best one there is for not only
standard written Arabic, it also covers a wealth of colloquial
words of various dialects of the spoken. You should know how
certain vowels in certain verb radicals can become assimilated
and yield surprising spellings.Otherwise you could end up
against a brick wall looking for something apparently obvious.
I recommend "Contemporary Arabic Readers: Newpaper Arabic" by Ernest McCarus for a good coverage of assimilated radical vowels
in regular and irregular verbs, which covers all the rules,
but be prepared to spend some time learning them. What I have never understood is how the authors compiled all this
information. This is simply a collosal, everlasting intellectual
achievement. Jorge Gruner
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