Customer Reviews

Collins Concise German-English Dictionary (Collins Concise German Dictionary) (German Edition)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I just thought, that I would write a review for anyone who is interested in buying this dictionary. I am a student of German and own a normal physical copy of the German Oxford dictionary, but I loathe it! Because it is so bulky, and normally takes me quite a while to find words that I want because the text can be very small, with many different meanings of words, I easily get lost.

I don't normally use the English dictionary, only to highlight and get short meanings of words when reading, so I am not sure of the feel of the English dictionaries. However, this particular dictionary feels almost like an "app". A few words of warning though, I haven't found a way to search for German words, by using the English word in a search - you have to know the word you are looking up! But the meanings are still translated into English, so I personally haven't found this a problem, but other users might. I guess the only other warning I can make is that, users should be a little weary when highlighting words in a German book, because it doesn't pick up separable verbs. This may be a problem for users who have just begun German and perhaps picked a child's book to pick of a few new words, because they may not be away of separable verbs yet. I have found in this situation that it is good enough to, just highlight the word and then click more and finally just type the separable verb in.

I guess those warnings should maybe knock it down to 4 stars, but it is just so useful and has saved me so much time that, I refuse to mark it lower than five.

Now you know a few warnings, hopefully users won't be disappointed with a product that has saved me so much more time whilst studying German!

Enjoy Rob

I absolutely welcome this new Kindle version of the 2007 edition of a familiar dictionary which will be of great benefit whether you are a student, traveller or in a German speaking country on business. I finally decided on 5 stars but only after much thought particularly taking into account the price and that it is only a "one way" dictionary but recognising its outstanding utility and of course the essential portability of the Kindle.

The underlying Collins dictionary is itself an invaluable resource for contemporary idiomatic German with numerous examples and usages that will cover many situations. It is "Concise" only in the overly modest terminology of British lexicography. It is still a great guide for the novice in dealing with tricky problems of plurals and the "strong" verb forms and beginners who use it regularly will find themselves gradually and painlessly learning new phrases and meanings. The Kindle edition is a model of clarity and spacing, improved on the print version and with added very useful hyperlinks for longer entries on common verbs with transitive, intransitive, and reflexive forms etc.

This Kindle edition is fully integrated with the Kindle and can be set to look up words directly from a text. "Kindleising" a German dictionary is an extraordinary challenge because of the structure of the language. I found the Kindle version unerringly reliable with case endings and plural forms. It manages most common compound nouns pretty well because of the coverage of the underlying dictionary but given the infinite variety of the language there will inevitably be words where the constituent parts must be looked up separately. The Kindle dictionary will not, however, recognise simple separable verbs but will mostly, but not always, pick them up when recombined at the end of a subordinate clause or in past participles or infinitives with -zu- .

Intangible Press are to be congratulated on the considerable achievement in Kindleising this dictionary to such a high standard with such complex material. Further in the tradition of British lexicography Harper Collins could be expected to recognise its status as a true new edition by including an additional Kindle preface setting out the principles of the edition. The Kindle edition of the Collins Concise German-English Dictionary is currently by far the best translation e-dictionary available in the language and probably in any language. It represents a major step forward in the publication not only of e-dictionaries but of e-reference works in general.

**Update June 2012** Just seen that Intelligible Press have considerably reduced the price of this dictionary so I now have absolutely no reservation about the 5 stars. Not just outstanding quality, a bargain as well.

An excellent product which makes life a lot easier for any English reader who wants to read German books on their Kindle. No it doesn't contain translations for every word in the German language - I haven't found any German-English dictionary that does - but for reading German novels it is very useful now that I've set it as my default dictionary. Much easier than having to refer to my bulky Oxford or Duden dictionaries which will now only have to be used for the odd more obscure word. I suspect some of the reviewers who have given low ratings actually wanted to translate English into German - which it doesn't claim to do.

There doesn't appear to be a great choice of German dictionaries available for Kindle so I opted for this one, based on Collins' reputation over the years. An earlier reviewer said he was disappointed in that some rather basic words were not covered by the dictionary. I recently read Daemonen (Klagenfurter Kneipen-Krimi)and set Collins as the default dictionary. I would say it found about 75 to 80% of the terms I was looking for. Would I still buy it again? For the price, probably yes - but don't expect too much from it.

It is really worth while purchasing this dictionary and its sister one English-German to have on your Kindle. They work very well and of course the English-German one is brilliant as your set translation dictionary for reading a German book. It may seem a bit expensive to buy the two when there are cheaper German-English dictionaries available for Kindle but it is money well spent.

I am on a German course and bought this dictionary to run on my Kindle for use while I am learning German. As a German > English dictionary it is excellent, and the integration of the dictionary and the Kindle is also excellent.
The dictionary easily, and more quickly than a paper dictionary, enables you to look up German words. It is thorough in the information it gives. It does of course require you to have a basic understanding of the structure of the German language, i.e. seperable verbs.

What it does not pretend to be is an English > German dictionary. If that is what you want it is NOT for you.

I am sure it will remain my day to day German to English dictionary for years to come.

I would definitely recommend this dictionary. Easy to use, and for a concise dictionary, it rarely lacks a word or indeed phrase. Well worth the money!

As I'm studying German for my degree , I always need some kind of Dictionary with me all the time , especially for when I'm away from home and can't carry the hardback version of this dictionary that I rely on for pretty much all my work.

It's important to notice that this dictionary e-book only has the German-English version and not the other way round - for anyone who needs to translate I would recommend buying both dictionaries together. It's pretty much as I expected , easy to use and with the Kindle I can easily search for any kinds of words without needing to spend a long time flicking through pages!

One of the most important factors for me when buying this dictionary was also how it presents grammar - the gender of each noun and what preposition/case the verbs can take are easily listed alongside some example sentences. All in all I would really recommended this Dictionary , as it is as good as the book version and saves me a lot of time!

This is absolutely brilliant and what a time-saver! Most of the time I can't be bothered to look up a word I don't understand unless it is absolutely crucial but this is so quick and easy. No more picking up a heavy dictionary and leaving through it until you finally find the word you are looking for, or having to read near a computer so you can check on-line.

It's true that it doesn't always work with every word but so far the results are good enough for me. The meaning just pops up and if you need to know more you can go through to the dictionary by pressing one button, get examples of usage and further variations and with one click you're back to your novel again. I don't think this is expensive at all. I've never used the English dictionary on my Kindle so it's no problem for me to have the German/English one as my default. If you don't know how to do this, just look at the Kindle help info on the website.

I'm now going to buy more German books on Kindle (cheaper than ordering German books from the UK) and feel sure my German will benefit.

If you need a decent German dictionary on your tablet, this is the one, though not the cheapest as you have to buy both parts - English - German and German-English. It's not as good as the Oxford Duden but then you wouldn't expect it to be. You can enhance the German on your iPad by downloading the Duden meta dictionary (I think that's the right term) so that you can get more exact definitions.
A good dictionary and an excellent ebook.