Oxford Russian Dictionary

This a UK English-Russian/Russian-UK English Dictionary. It is very fine and complete for UK, but not USA English. It makes some efforts with each new edition to give more American English but...

One example will show why I write 3 star USA.

In most parts of the USA, a person in a public place will ask "where is the nearest restroom?" Rare/never do I hear "where is the nearest toilet?" If this dictionary is really going to present American (USA) English, it needs to have such a basic common word. Listing words with UK and USA spelling is great. However it needs also have basic USA English words. Just think you are standing is one of Moscow's airports, you need to find the restroom. Do not count on this dictionary to help. If you do, you may also need a change of cloths, before you figure out the needed word!

While smaller the Random House pocket Russian dictionary has better coverage of USA English. At least you can find the word for restroom!

This dictionary is helpful, but limited in help for USA English.

This product is very difficult to use. The supposed russian phrases are not there. This is just a plain dictionary in 2 languages. Not at all what it is advertised as having in it!

I've had this for a short while and have already discovered several words missing, that sent me scurrying back to my Katzner, where the words were clearly defined. Katzner appears to have more phrases and usage examples too. The Oxford also feels cheap for its price - the paper and nondescript fonts and page design are disappointing. Only a couple of pages of extras on grammar, verb conjugations, and letter samples. The Oxford is good to have, but if I had to carry only one Russian dictionary around, it would be Katzner.

Usually my reviews pertain to classical-music since that's my biggest field of interest by far! However, of all the several dictionaries I've so far been consulting relative to various translations and other work that these days has necessitated my dealing with the Russian language, this most certainly is the best! Pocket and concise dictionaries just won't hack it with my type of work; and this one truly is worth it!!! It has a good word-database as well as lots of expressions covered; also good is that it gives the stress for all the Russian words (VERY VITAL in that language!!). Most highly recommended!

I have many Russian English dictionaries, including some you can only get in Russia and some written entirely in Russian and this is by far the most complete and helpful dictionary I have. I use it almost exclusively.

I must confess though that I don't use the English-> Russian part very often. I'm usually translating from Russian. I usally learn new words from movies and books and am not looking up so many words just from English. In correspondence I use it and it always has what I need.

You can look up some of the most clever dialogue in films with this dictionary.

Of course, a dictionary is not a grammar book and there are stylistic things about Russian that create ennumerable combinations of useage that a dictionary cannot address.

There are some complaints I have but they are not addressed by any other dictionaries I have seen. For example, the ppp is troublesome because it's hard get the stress right and they try to put all the most common ones in there but they miss them sometimes but so do all the other dictionaries. In that case you have to guess from grammar rules or consult the real dictionaries for such that are written totally in Russian.

The only places it fails me are in situations where you need to go to a Russian dictionary that is written entirely in Russian. There are a few classics used there. It would not be possible in general to create such a dictionary for English speakers because the assumptions about language familiarity and grammar could not be met by any but fairly advanced users and in that case, why not just use the actual dictionary Russian speakers use?

If you want to buy one dictionary, get this one. Don't get the concise version though, spend the money and get the full version. It's worth it!