English-Russian, Russian-English Dictionary

Other dictionaries have given me such a hard time in the past--There are so many small words (as, of, at, etc.) that play a very important role in communication, but do not translate directly from English to Russian. Also, sometimes you can't be sure if when you look up a word (especially a word with more than one meaning) whether the translation you find means what you want it to mean.

This Dictionary, because it is definitive, tells you each definition of the words you look up, not unlike your classic Webster's dictionary.

I would recommend this dictionary to anyone who is interested in understanding (and being understood in) Russian or English.

I have to agree with those who enthuse about this dictionary's idiomatic, American English translations. This is the only dictionary to use for Americans who are dealing with contemporary Russian usage, though it is less useful for those who are dealing with historical or literary translation.

However, I also share the dismay of the reviewer whose dictionary fell to pieces after a year. Mine has been in this sorry state for years and I've actually lost a few pages of words beginning with "ka"! Kak im ne stydno?? Even a paperback can be sewn into its binding rather than glued.

Unfortunately, I have no suggestions. I don't recommend Oxford for the type of translation I do but the Katzner hardcover is apparently out of print. Pomogite nam! Give us a new hardcover edition!

Overall, I found this to be the best Russian-English dictionary that I have used to date. However, I think its worth a note that it does not fare well with regular use. I used mine as a reference for my russian courses for less than one year and the binding split in two. Now all of the pages are falling out, which I find a bit frustrating. In my opinion, reference books should be durable, as they are meant to be used regularly, and this dictionary just didn't hold up. Given the price, I was fairly disappointed with the quality.

One of the residual after-effects of the Cold War is that most Russian/English - English/Russian dictionaries were written using British English. While in many ways I appreciate British English, such dictionaries come up lacking for Russian-speakers that want to learn American English or for American-English-speakers that want to learn Russian. For instance, most Russian-published dictionaries use British English, which can be a trifle annoying for all those Americans who don't know what a pram is!

Kenneth Katzner's wonderful dictionary was the first (or at least one of the first) dictionaries specifically written using American English. As a former Russian teacher in the United States, I found this book a "God-send" for some of the things that my students in the United States wanted me to teach them. While I'm a fluent Russian speaker, I simply don't use some types of vocabulary anymore since I live in the United States and sometimes I have great difficulty recalling certain sorts of words and acronyms in English let alone Russian. This dictionary was wonderful not only for me as a Russian and English literate teacher, but also for my students who often times couldn't find words exclusive to American English in their dictionaries.

Some versions of the dictionary have handy grammar and culture references as well (There have been several editions published over the years and Katzner wonderfully updates this book every few years). I say different editions because I have owned several copies of this book over the years (I bought a few and others were publisher's samples) and usually keep just one, giving any extras away to my students (usually as a prize in class). One of my favorite features of one of the editions was a reference glossary with commonly used abbreviations (such as Dr., Str., etc.). Other additions also have Russian/English glossaries of place names (countries, geographical features, states, etc.). Try to buy the most recent edition of this book if possible since it will have the most updates and helpful features.

I highly recommend this book for either American -English speaker trying to learn Russian or Russian-speakers trying to learn American English. It's the very first dictionary that any American-English-speaker studying Russian should buy.

This dictionary doesn't have pronunciation transcription, for example in any other dictionaries, if you look word DEBT, you can see the transcription how to pronounce it: [det] . When you know how to pronounce, then you can remember this word (add to your vocabulary).
Also even though it says that this dictionary based on American English, I looked if I can find some very simple words, and I couldn't find many words. For example look Russian word 'stranniy', you get translation 'strange', 'odd'. But not 'weird', why? Americans are using 'weird' as much as 'strange'.