Five-Language Visual Dictionary

Rating:
Summary: not a pedagogical tool
Review: Although, in theory, one might consider books such as this helpful in achieving fluency in five languages simultaneously, this is false. Anyone who speaks more than two languages knows that we store each language in its own special place in our brain, and that location is determined by similarity to other languages also located in our brain. So, when learning Swedish, all of my errors were in German. Never did I mistakenly select a French word while attempting to speak Swedish. Similarly, when learning Italian, never did I reach for a German word by accident. My mistakes were nearly always in Spanish (occasionally in French). The best example of all may be Japanese, for which there was no transfer effect whatsoever. Every mistake I make in Japanese is just bad Japanese, not a word from one of my other languages.

The point is: due to the compartmentalization of languages, this type of book does not facilitate language learning. While I am a big advocate of simultaneous translation, this book, unlike dual language literary texts, offers only individual words, not phrases, for the many colorful entries presented.

I will say that the book is filled with photographs, and this is its true virtue. You may have been wondering how to describe a particular food item in German, Spanish, Italian and French. If so, you may be able to find out the answer to your question here. The sections are thematically arranged, so you can turn quickly to your area of interest, say, auto care, to find out all of the vocabulary that you are looking for. But, of course, a person only needs car part vocabulary when dealing with a broken car, which can happen in only one country at a time.

Rating:
Summary: Pictures worth a thousand words
Review: I found this book most helpful in tutoring adult ESL. When tutoring one might have a Spanish speaker one hour and a student from Vietnam or Ivory Coast who may have some second language knowledge of French the next hour. Importantly, the pictures are engaging, clear and interesting. Now, I miss this book because it passed the ultimate test: it was stolen from the tutoring center.

Rating:
Summary: Learn Five Languages at Once
Review: The "5 Language Visual Dictionary" is one of the most unique books I have seen on learning languages. This book introduces the reader to over 6,000 words used in everyday vocabulary. There are 1,600 full-color images.

What is amazing about this book is how many words really do look similar in all the languages. So, if you get a visual picture of the word, you will more than likely be able to recognize it rather easily in all languages.

For example: Internet, l'internet, das Internet, el internet, Internet.

Ok, that was an easy example.

How about: refrigerator, le frigidaire, (der Kuhlschrank), el refrigerado, il frigorifero.

This dictionary is divided thematically. It covers most aspects of the everyday world. The five languages are always presented in the same order.

English
French
German
Spanish
Italian

Nouns are given with their definite articles reflecting the gender (masculine, feminine or neuter) and the verbs are indicated by a (v) after the English words.

Contents: About the Dictionary, How to Use this Book, People, Appearance, Health, Home, Services, Shopping, Food, Eating Out, Study, Work, Transportation, Sports, Leisure and Environment.

You will find a medical diagrams, a family tree, all sorts of clothing examples, information on medical conditions and alternative therapy and rooms in a house (loved the kitchen complete with all the "les ustensiles de cuisine.")

You will also enjoy the workshop, garden, shopping malls, floral arranging, food section (the types of fish and exotic fruits were interesting too), delicatessen, school, work, transportation, sports, orchestra, home entertainment, the Earth, the Animal Kingdom, towns, calendars and continents.

There is also an Index in each language. They went all out on this book!

Ideal for:

Students
Travelers
Business people
Anyone who wants to look through visual pictures of items throughout the world

Children leaning the names of items in the world. You could just show them the pictures and teach them the names in any language.

Fascinating view of our world. A must for all libraries, schools and homes. Definitely a must-have for travelers of all ages.

~TheRebeccaReview.com

Rating:
Summary: Useful, informative and enjoyable
Review: This visual dictionary has more than 1,600 colourful images and its 400 pages are divided into 19 chapters as follows: About the dictionary, How to use this book, People, Appearance, Health, Home, Services, Shopping, Food, Eating out, Study, Work, Transport, Sports, Leisure, Environment, Reference, Index and Acknowledgments.
For each picture you get its meaning in five languages, and for each word you have its definite article showing the gender. Very interesting is the presence of pictures showing actions, so that you get the verbs as well as some useful phrases. At the end of the "Reference" section you have "particles and antonyms" and "useful phrases" - essential phrases, greetings, signs, help, directions, accommodation, eating and drinking. The index is divided into five parts, one for each language, and the names have their gender shown by means of the letters m, n, f .
I particularly enjoy playing with this book by showing a picture and letting my friends guess its meaning in the foreign languages they have studied, and think it's a useful tool for teachers, students or professionals, for the topics are covered in detail. Last but not least, the dictionary is published by DK, i.e. it's a Dorling Kindersley Book, a Penguin Company.