English-Russian, Russian-English Dictionary

I just recently returned from a two year stay in Russia. Before going to Russia I didn't not know any Russian. I found that this dictionary was more usefull and more complete than any other dictionary I used. It is the only Russian-English dictionary based on American English which helped considerably when I was trying to find more difficult words. I very highly value this book.

I am very disappointed that this dictionary does not give the phonetic pronunciation of the Russian words in English.

I was devastated when my Kazner dictionary was stolen and immediately searched the shops for another one. It's definitions are far more up to date and comprehensible than Oxford's and I found it a more valuable aid for translation than any other dictionary. It contains up to date vocabulary that is succintly translated and it has good examples. It is also portable and very easy to use. If you need grammatical information than buy a grammar book. N.B I am from England not America and still found it better than any of the English dictionaries on offer.

and other reasons not to buy this book. It has its place and, in general, is not a bad dictionary for a begining Russian student. I relied on it through both the Basic and Intermediate Russian courses at DLI and even managed to get a hard-cover version in Minsk. I too would have said, "great dictionary" until I got hold of the Muller/Smirnitsky combo and got to where I could understand the entries in Ozhegov. If you're serious about learning Russian, nothing less than Smirnitsky will do. Keep Katzner and Oxford on hand but don't go to them first. Also consider investing in a Daum and Schenk Russian Verbs dictionary if you are worried about participles and verb government/usage. I have yet to find anything better.

The Katzner dictionary is most helpful for students who want to know the difference between different Russian words which correspond to one English word. Associated with each Russian translation is a brief English explanation of the meaning. This helps avoid misusing a word which is a proper translation for one meaning of a word, but not for another. Look at any entry of an English preposition or common verb and there are often ten or more corresponding Russian words whose differences are carefully explained. Many entries in both the Russian-English and English-Russian sections of the dictionary contain Russian phrases or sentences which are fully accented to aid the beginner or intermediate student to learn proper pronunciation. You can learn more about the dictionary at the wordfind site and even see a sample page there. Even if you are not just beginning your study of Russian, you will find this book to be well-organized and carefully constructed to show iregular forms of verbs and nouns. One of the more interesting sections of the dictionary is its Glossary of Proper Nouns which includes the Russian names of countries, U.S. states, Canadian provinces and cities and geographical features of the world as well as a list of famous names.