- Hardcover: 2088 pages
- Publisher: Collins; Standard Fourth edition edition (1 Jun 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0004705858
- ISBN-13: 978-0004705859
- Product Dimensions: 26.6 x 20 x 7.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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- #84 in Books > Languages > By Language > German > By Publisher > Collins
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Product Description
Product Description
Covering all the vocabulary of current issues, with evidence drawn from Collins’ unique multi-million word databanks of contemporary German and English, the fourth edition also incorporates all of the changes from the recent German spelling reforms for up-to-the-minute accuracy.
Collins are delighted to announce the publication of the fourth edition of Collins German Dictionary. The dictionary has been extensively revised and updated to cover all the vocabulary of current issues (alcopop, netiquette, windfall tax, Elchtest, Reformstau), and all changes from the recent German spelling reform have been incorporated into the text. Thousands of new phrases and indicators have been added from evidence and examples drawn from Collins’ unique multi-million word databases of contemporary English and German, ensuring the user has the most complete and accurate picture of real language available today.
New to this edition are special entries on German life and culture which provide the user with detailed information about Germany and the German-speaking world – politics, education, festivals and traditions – where a simple translation is not enough.
Further new features are improved user-friendliness in style and layout, information on hyphenation and more help on pronunciation, with phonetics now included for German as well as English headwords.
All the proven features are retained – complete reliability and the most up-to-date coverage – reaffirming this as the German/English dictionary for the new millennium.
From the Publisher
Acclaimed for its comprehensive vocabulary coverage, Collins' top-of-the-range German Dictionary is the most authoritative and reliable German dictionary on the market. Drawing on the vast resources of Collins' multi-million-word language databanks, it provides the user with an incomparably accurate, up-to-date picture of how real German is used today.
While the specialised nature of some of the entries ensures that it will be the dictionary of choice for academics, university and higher level school students, and language professionals, there is much which any language learner will find accessible. The clear typography and uncluttered layout, for example, and the highlighted keyword features, provide the most user-friendly aid to translation possible. There is also help available for typical translation problems and detailed information about Germany and the German-speaking world in the form of extended cultural entries.
Complex entries and common lexical structures have been given in-depth treatment with special layouts, and pronunciation is clearly shown for both languages.
The Language In Use section shows hundreds of contemporary examples of how everyday German is used. It includes guidance on essay-writing and correspondence, and gives help in expressing yourself in a wide variety of situations, with categories such as "Likes, Dislikes and Preferences", "Comparisons" and "Obligation".
The combination of the German dictionary and the Language In Use supplement provides such a complete tool for language learning that satisfaction is guaranteed!
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
42 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This could well be the best two-way dictionary of any language pair anywhere. As an avid student of several foreign languages (incl. English and German) for 20 years, I have come to know what constitutes a first-rate dictionary. It is nothing short of a masterpiece. I had been using a predecessor edition (2nd ed., 1991) for some 10 years, and even when it was published it was the best of its kind and constantly on my desk. This 4th edition raises the bar by featuring improvements across the board. The benefits derived from the increased computerised analysis of the huge word corpora Bank of English and Deutsche Textbörse are increasingly visible. Vorsprung durch Technik, indeed.
1. This exhaustive dictionary embraces, on 1000 pages in either section, every register from formal officialese via the standard language right down to vulgar slang. But it is in the real-life language where Collins has the finger right on the pulse. Many word entries are awash with examples of usage/idioms/set phrases/proverbs as actually used by natives as well as their natural translations. (I wish there were a way to download all this information into my brain because I would be able to handle any situation in flying colours.)
2. Inclusion of German words like Kardanwelle, Rochade, das Pull-Down-Menü, Überlaufanzeige etc. indicate extensive coverage of specialist terms in many fields as well as loan-words from the 90s which now part of daily life.
3. The English section is equally impressive, listing e.g. cyberpet, establishing shot, trick or treat, decontextualize, nuclear reprocessing plant, memory expansion card, look-in, supergrass, wicked (UK slang). The word "go" and its associated phrasal verbs have an astounding range of translations.
4. Idiomatic phrases such as "to get away with sth" and "jdm etwas zumuten" which are contextually dependent are given several alternative and appropriate translations.
5. Certain bon mots and expressions which are used mostly in situations on one side of the Channel (or those whose counterpart is much less colourful!) are well translated.
Examples: set piece, pub crawl, single-track mind, car-boot sale, off-the-record, stomping groud, pipe dream; Stammtisch, Führungszeugnis, Geheimtipp, Kuschelrock, Dreitagebart, Wohngemeinschaft, Dunkelziffer, nicht mehr der jüngste sein etc. In fact, even "Ich schau dir in die Augen, Kleines", the classic line from the dubbed version of Casablanca, is listed. Hut ab!
6. This edition includes an audio CD with pronunciation (because they understand that there is a practical limit to phonetic script). The layout has been given a face-lift with 3 columns per page instead of 2 resulting in improved readability.
7. The dictionary's vast scope, depth and usability for both English and German learners and speakers (in equal measure) leave virtually no room for valid criticism. Yet some words and expressions seem to have escaped the researchers' keen eye for detail (so far); missing English words are e.g. polenta, present/current value (Fin), brown-noser, case-sensitive. Im deutschen Teil sind die folgenden durchaus geläufigen Wörter nicht aufgeführt: Quereinsteiger, Marktabschottung, Kasslerbraten, Regelwerk, verhandlungssicher, Töff (CH). But this is nit-picking.
Summa summarum: kudos to the team of meticulous professionals behind this work for having brought out the Mercedes S-Klasse - with all the optional extras - of dictionaries.
Buy this dictionary - you may still be using it in 2012.
27 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A comprehensive German-English, English-German dictionary which incorporates the latest German spelling reform and has an excellent section on language in use. There are many good examples, idioms and proverbs included in the definitions. Also suitable for Germans learning English - published by PONS in Germany.
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