Cambridge Dictionary of American English

Rating:
Summary: You say tomato...
Review: I have found this book an invaluable tool in learning American English as a foreign language (English English being my mother tongue). Fluency has eluded me thusfar, but I have noted a steady improvement, since using this book, not least in some of the more recondite elements of the American idiom. I mean, like, the other day this total dork is like, totally in-my-face, like freaking me out, and I'm, like, "whatever."

Rating:
Summary: The International Dictionary is more complete
Review: This dictionary is nice, but if you are really looking for a nice reference, try the Cambridge International Dictionary. It is much better and more complete.
The CD that comes with it has a slow application that consumes a lot of power from your computer (talking about Pentium 4!!!).
I do believe the best combination as a reference is the International Dictionary plus an American Slang dictionary :-)

Rating:
Summary: Some good dictionary innovations, but content a little thin
Review: This dictionary, which is relatively small compared to other American dictionaries, has some excellent characteristics that I wish other makers of American dictionaries would include, but doesn't offer much in the way of breadth or depth to make it useful to anyone other learners of English, children, foreigners, etc.

The good: (1) Words with multiple meanings are indicated not by some arbitrary number, like most dictionaries, but by a word or very short phrase that is boxed in, immediately after the headword entry. This makes it easier to get an overview of what a word with multiple meanings might mean as well as quickly finding the definition sought. (2) Pronunciations are marked in IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), and not some scheme invented by the dictionary makers. While IPA may be a slightly less "intuitive" scheme for pronunciations than those used by other dictionary makers, it is international, it is standard, and it is invaluable to anyone who has learned more than one language. Plus it is described in the front matter of the dictionary, so it should be accesible to anyone. (3) The dictionary makes an attempt to improve upon the standard labeling of verbs as either transitive or intrasitive by creating more categories specifying more precisely the kind of predicate each verb can take. (4) The dictionary makes a good attempt to label words according to register (formality-level of speech), by marking words like "absolve" (=officially remove guilt) as formal, and "hot" (=attractive) as informal, and several other categories. Unfortunately very few words in the dictionary actually carry these labels.

The bad: (1) First and foremost, this dictionary is simply very thin on words. Plenty of commonly used words are simply missing. Especially notable is the lack of proper nouns--there a few, but important ones, whose pronunciations would be of particular use to foreigners in the U.S. like the names of U.S. states and major cities are just not there. (2) The dictionary's selection of illustrations seems strangely uneven. There are rather hilarious or disturbing (depending on your take) illustrations of "paunch" and "Heimlich maneuver", and illustrations about various cooking implements and clothing items, but no maps, for example. (3) The words do not have any etymological information. While a word's history and origin may not be of immediate interest to someone interested in a word's definition, it is certainly helpful when comparing similar words and for really learning about how a language works.

The copy I am revewing is borrowed from someone else and I don't have the CD-ROM to try out, so I can't comment on it. However, at less than $20, I'd say this book could be very helpful for the learner of English who wants to carry a substantial dictionary with easy accessibility around with him or her, and overall would be a fine addition to any dictionary collection. I can't recommend that this dictionary is adequate for anyone who only plans to have one dictionary of English. If you're only going to purchase one dictionary, get the American Heritage Dictionary or the Merriam-Webster; they have they own flaws, but they are much more comprehensive than this.