The Oxford Picture Dictionary English/Arabic: English-Arabic Edition

The Oxford Picture Dictionary is a great line of language books, helpful and extremely easy to use and learn the contents. In the English/Arabic edition the goal is reached, but the main focus is the arabic student who wants to learn English, so there are some parts of the book that do not fit the best interest of the student interested in learning the Arabic language. Overall is a excellent aquisition that offers a large selection of new vocabulary and expressions.

While many of the observations of the other reviewers are valid, their conclusions are not. Yes, the print may seem small, but as an old man, all arabic print seems small to me. It is not any smaller than other texts. The words are not fully voweled, but neither is most arabic text. If you are a serious student and have to speak and write arabic, this is a fast and painless reference to keep your conversation or flow of thought moving.

Although this book was designed for beginning and low-intermediate Arabic students learning english, it's still useful for english students learning arabic mostly at the intermediate levels wishing to learn everyday arabic. I've been consistently studying arabic for 6 years and find this book very useful. There is no need to know how to use an arabic dictionary because there is an english index and table of contents. On the other hand, one must know how to read and speak arabic before using this book because there is no arabic pronuciantion guide. In this book there are 12 chapters consisting of different topics such as food, plants and animals, clothing and recreation. I bought this book because I was wishing to improve my fluency by being able to talk about mundane things in arabic. For six years, I've been mostly bogged down in grammar, profound Quranic terms and tajweed (proper recitation). Now I have a renewed motivation for learning more spoken arabic. .. with over 3,700 words and detailed illustrations this book is a must for any serious arabic student.

I have been learning Modern Standard Arabic every day for more than a year and a half now, and I am not exaggerating when I say that I have used every Arabic-English/English-Arabic dictionary out there from the Hans Wehr to the Al-Mawrad, and this dictionary does something that none of them can. This dictionary gives you not only the word, but also the scenario in which they are used. Anyone who speaks, or is learning, Arabic knows that there is always more than one word, or way to say anything. With this dictionary, you are able to look up the setting in which the particular word would be used, and the most common word for that item will be displayed next to the picture, and this dictionary contained every scenario I could of, and then some! Also, unlike other language dictionaries, this one is fun too! Flipping through the pages and stopping at the barber shop or on the auto mechanics page is a fun way to learn new, USEFUL words, and also a great tool to practice with. Although this dictionary can not substitute for grammar dictionaries, in my opinion it is an indispensible companion.