Dutch/English Dictionary

Rating:
Summary: Decent Woordenboek but lacking...
Review: A Dutch friend of mine from Amsterdam sent me this book as a little gift for Christmas, to aid me along in my study of the Dutch language. A Van Dale it isn't. But then, one usually doesn't lug around an $80 Van Dale on their trips around Amsterdam, do they?

So this dictionary does its job as a quick little reference. However, Langenscheidt really perfected the class of small dictionaries. My little Langenscheidt Deutsch-Englisch/English-German Wörterbuch contains far more information in a much smaller package.

My biggest grievence with this dictionary is the supposed help it gives to English speakers with pronunciations of Dutch words. It's absolutely abysmal in some respects. I don't know if they were basing it on dialect or what, but, for example, if you pronounced "koninklijk" (royal) the way they transcribe "koan-ing-klerk" you would be far off. So it definitely lost some ground here. Otherwise it's decent.

I would try and find a Prisma, as they're far superior, popular with the Dutch themselves, and not that expensive. Bottom line, you get what you pay for, and I think had I actually paid for this I wouldn't have been disappointed, but it still remains in my eyes only average.

Rating:
Summary: Not great
Review: Since most Dutch speak English, I mainly wanted this book to interpret restaurant menus. It's not very helpful, even with the separate food section. For example, one thing you see all over Amsterdam is "broodjes." The dictionary definition is "roll; bun." That's true, but when you see this in a window, they're talking about sandwiches.

I'm looking for another travel dictionary!