The New Oxford Picture Dictionary (English/Russian Edition)

Although its great to have pictures and words together, especially for those of us who learn faster with visual aids, this book is difficult to use for native English speakers. Why? Because accent marks are not provided, nor declensions, nor the two dots over the "e" that distinguish between the letters "yo" and "ye." In other words, in order to benefit from this dictionary, an English speaker has to look up every word in a separate dictionary to find out all the above information when learning the words. Otherwise, what is learned will be only part of what is needed. So, since English is my native language, I give this book 2 stars. It would be great to find a book like this one meant for learners of Russian.

I took Russian for nine years in the Chicago Public Schools, and this was one of my greatest references. Granted, it is not meant to be the ONLY tool a student of Russian will use. I compare this book to Richard Scarry's Greatest Word Book Ever, except with Russian words for everything pictured. And don't be fooled by the "Picture Dictionary" title. This is not merely for children. I am 24 years old, and trying to re-learn some Russian, and am still using this great book. This would be a great reference for any student of Russian.

As a native English-speaking, beginning student of Russian language, I am finding this a very useful book. The format is great for me because I learn well visually. Each page is a busy picture (e.g. "In the Living Room", "Outdoor Activities") with relevant items in the picture numbered. Under the picture is a legend to provide the name of each object from the picture in English and Russian (in Cyrillic). It is a fantastic resource because there are so many objects and situations: just about every action and activity in the house, most of the animals in the zoo, etc...

For native Russian speakers, the book provides English pronunciations. Unfortunately, the same is not given for the Russian words (though once I master Cyrillic, I imagine this will be unneccesary.) Overall, this is a great reference for English and Russian speakers to build their vocabulary and easily answer their own questions as they come up.

As an ESL tutor I simply love these books. Each page provides a lesson's worth of vocab for practice in sentences. The latter pages (eg. prepositions) are less useful when tutoring someone illiterate in their own language, especially if the tutor is not bilingual, but because the pictures are so clear, even point-and-say usually works. True, these books don't have any pronunciation guides for Russians learning English or Americans learning Russian, but they are an excellent tool for tutoring; I don't expect everything from a picture dictionary that I would from interactive language software.

Wonderful book!! Saw it first in Spanish/English version. Was very happy to find it in Russian for my wife. It has been very helpful to her.