Langenscheidt's Compact German Dictionary: German-English English-German

I really liked how fast it shipped. I would def. buy from this user again.

As a graduate student in Humanities, I have been using the big Oxford-Duden as a main reference in my research. The big O-D is fantastic for this purpose, but it is way too big to carry around. So I had been looking for a smaller dictionary which fits into my backpack. I own Langenscheidt's universal dictionary to carry arround in my pocket when I'm in Germany, but that one's too brief to use in a more serious setting e.g., studying German at a language school. L's pocket dictionary (which is actually too big to fit in your pocket) is also a little too small. I have thus seriously considered the pocket O-D and L's compact dictionary, and L's is clearly the winner. Here are my reasons: 1. L's has pronunciation keys for german entries, while the O-D doesn't. (The O-D instead has pronunciation keys for English entries.) 2. L's has much more (30,000) words and phrases. 3. L's is much smaller. (They are both very thick. But while L's is a size of a small airport paperback, the O-D is much larger - it's about the size of a penguin classics, only much thicker. The O-D simply wastes much space - its pages have more space than L's, and its font is bigger. L's uses very thin dictionary papers, while the O-D doesn't.) 4. L's has much more idiomatic expressions (There are 15 of them for 'helfen' in L's and 2 in the O-D.). My only problem with L's is that it does not have entry words in blue, as the big O-D and the pocket L's do. (The pocket O-D doesn't either.)

As a German living in the US, I can only highly recommend this dictionary!!! I find really everything I don't know but wanna know. Langenscheidt is well known in Germany, and believe me, I tried a lot of different dictionaries by other publishers so far, but this publisher is still the best! By the way, especially this edition as a well-sized paperback and not too heavy one allows you to carry it wherever you may need it...

I have worn out more than one copy of the LANGENSCHEIDT GERMAN COMPACT DICTIONARY, but that's no criticism: these sturdy little guys are designed for mistreatment and mobility. Let me map out the path of disintegration: the spine of the book eventually detaches from the signature yellow front and back panels. However, duct tape does wonderfully for extending the life for another year or two. My current copy is held together by nostalgia-inducing tape from a luggage repair shop in London Heathrow airport. You don't want the compact LANGENSCHEIDT for home or office use, but it's perfect for taking to class, on the train, etc. LANGENSCHEIDT quality speaks for itself, and is consistent across the range of languages its dictionaries cover. You can't get a better compact bilingual dictionary.

This dictionary simply has the most number of entries in the least amount of space that you can find. That means a portable, easy-to-handle dictionary that you can really use easily. The paper is thin, the fonts are a bit small (so if that is a problem for you, you might want to avoid this particular model) but this fat little 1.58" x 6.04" x 3.88" dictionary has 1,391 pages and will handle most intermediate and even advanced needs. They are claiming 120,000 entries--that's as many entries as one of their size bigger dictionaries I looked at and almost bought. It works for me!!! I have had it and used it a few days while reading the novel (or collection of Aram stories) "My Name is Aram" by William Saroyan simultaneously in English and German, and so far I haven't NOT found anything. If there IS a word you can't find THEN you can lug out the huge complete Oxford-Duden hard copy(or whatever) or log onto one of the several free internet German/English dictionary sites and find what you need there. This is the dictionary for me!!